University of Virginia Library

Bailey Entertains Overflow Crowd

By Jeff Ruggles
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Over-Capacity Crowd Jammed Cabell Hall Auditorium For Bailey Speech.

Harvard Dropout Discarded Prepared Text, Talked Of Aviation Experiences.

Throwing away his prepared text, F.
Lee Bailey treated an overflowing crowd
in Old Cabell Hall to an evening of
personal observations on the law and the
legal profession, mixed with various
incidents from his own life.

Mr. Bailey's speech was twenty
minutes late in starting as the number of
people who had come to hear him far
outnumbered the available seats. Due to
fire regulations, no persons were allowed
in the aisles, but few of those in the aisles
were willing to move and lose their
opportunity to hear Mr. Bailey.

The leaders of the Student Legal
Forum, who sponsored the event, repeatedly
told those in the aisles that speakers
had been set up in the front lobby of the
building. The overflow in the lobby totaled
several hundred.

Mr. Bailey's introduction included the fact
that he was Harvard dropout, and at that he
smiled and the audience applauded.

Mr. Bailey began his speech by saying he had
thrown away his prepared text, because he had
heard that prepared texts didn't go over too
well at the University, referring to the reception
given Richard Kleindienst earlier this year. He
added that Mr. Kleindienst "sends you his
best."

After several humorous stories, which the
audience responded to very enthusiastically,
Mr. Bailey spoke in general terms about the
legal system. He talked about the dissatisfaction
with the dispensing of justice by lawyers, and
the difference between trial lawyers and other
lawyers.

Mr. Bailey said that the law is not what the
books say it is, but what the judge says it is. He
said that lawyers must resort to reading "the
rich man's Joe Pyne" magazine, Time, in order
to keep up with the latest decisions.

He spoke of the many aspects of the system
which were designed as safeguards, but which
often produce long litigation; not what they
were originally intended for. He also said that
depending which side of the fence you're on
innocent or guilty you will take a different
view of the law.

He talked about the process of bringing a
case to court. The legal researcher finds out
about the laws of yesterday, the investigator
finds evidence, and the lawyer brings it all
together before the jury. He also mentioned the
fact that the pay for each of these occupations
is going up all the time.

Mr. Bailey was rather hard on Perry Mason,
whom he talked about for a brief while. He said
he was "unpracticed," never went before a jury,
and whose cases were inevitably fixed. "In
reality," he asked, "How often is the guilty
party broken on the stand?"

Mr. Bailey said that in school one learns
about the rules of evidence, but it is not until
afterwards that one learns of the "non-rules of
evidence." A trial is a "process of opening new
doors," and new evidence and new questions
will come out.

Referring to the system of penology, Mr.
Bailey said that those who were in jail and not
planning to turn to a career of crime, often did
after some time in the state pen. He said that
by mixing different kinds of criminals, "you get
lots of people in even worse shape than they
would be."

Speaking about the Chicago Conspiracy
trial, Mr. Bailey said "I don't think anybody
won anything in Chicago." He said the court
hasn't got the machinery to deal with what no
one else can deal with either. He doesn't envy
William Kunstler, one of the defense lawyers in
the trial who received a contempt conviction of
several years. He said that he knew "Bill didn't
enjoy what he had to do."

Mr. Bailey said that the Administration's
track record at change is not very good, and
that there has also been much resistance to
change in law. He said he was "not for settling
things with a 30-30 slug," but that things do
need some changing. The generation in power
his generation "is moving so slowly that it is
almost imperceptible." He seemed encouraged
by the drive and potential of the current young
generation.