Ralph Halpern, BA '06 & JD '53

50 years overdue

Commencement occasions are punctuated by the usual questions:  What are your plans for next year?  Grad school or working?  Relocating or staying put?  But for Ralph Halpern, BA, '06, JD, '53, the main query he received from his fellow mathematics graduates was, "What did you do before computers and calculators?" 

Halpern, who graduated from UB's Law School in 1953 and has practiced law for more tahn 50 years, received his bachelor's degree from UB this past May.  The 77-year-old attorney marched in the Alumni Arena commencement with 3,000 other undergraduates from the College of Arts and Sciences.  Halpern says, "I was the only one in the procession with a doctor's hood, and I was sort of a curiosity.  The other graduates didn't know what I was doing there, but they finally grasped the situation when I came across the stage."

UB:  the lynchpin to success

Halpern's initial stint at UB began in 1946.  The Buffalo native points out that in those days it was fashionable to attend a local university, and though he majored in mathematics, he set his sights on law school.  "Law had always been one of my goals in life," Halpern says.  "I had an uncle who was a lawyer and my father and all of my uncles were professionals, so it was natural to think about going to professional school."  Caught up in the post-war rush, Halpern was eager to embark on his dream career.  "These were sort of halcyon days.  I was a young kid and all these people had returned from the war - big mature guys - and they were all rushing to make up for lost time," he recalls.  At that time an undergraduate degree was not required for admission to law school, and so Halpern traded his undergraduate courses for a seat in UB's School of Law.

An associate editor of the Buffalo Law Review, Halpern says he has only happy memories of his time at UB Law:  "Those were great days.  We had only 99 people in our class.  It was a small, close knit group."  In the early 1950s the law school was located in downtown Buffalo at 77 West Eagle Street, and Halpern says the school's proximity to the courthouse allowed the students to observe actual trials firsthand.  He praises the great professors he had at UB, saying, "I have always given credit to the law school, and the training we received there to think and to write like a lawyer, as being the lynchpin to success in the law."

In pursuit of his undergrad

After graduating, Halpern taught at Northwestern Law School for a year and then served as an attorney in the U.S. army during the Korean War.  In just three years he received extensive practical trial experience while prosecuting or defending more than 400 cases for the government.  Halpern then returned to Buffalo, where he worked for two private firms.  He has been with Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel, where he is a partner, since 1986.

Despite Halpern's success in the legal arena, he was bothered by the fact that he never received his undergraduate degree.  In 2005 he started researching what he would have to do to obtain his BA.  After reviewing Halpern's records, UB officials determined he would even be able to use some of his graduate courses at Northwestern Law School to fulfill the few remaining requirements of his undergraduate degree.  Thus, Halpern was immediately eligible to become a member of the Class of 2006.

Community ties

Halpern's principal areas of practice include corporate law, antitrust law, defamation law and sports law.  For many years he represented the Buffalo Bills, which he says was "a fun type of client to have."  Halpern's ties to the team led him to work with many of the players, including OJ Simpson, who he represented in the early 1970s after Simpson had published OJ:  The Education of a Rich Rookie and was embroiled in a legal dispute over the rights to a potential second book.  The attorney says in his prime, Simpson was the "Babe Ruth of his day," and humorously recalls how the New York City judge postponed the trial so that his grandson would be able to come and see the famous football player.

Halpern, who is very active in civic affairs, says, "I think most lawyers have a community obligation and that it is part of their calling.  Who better to become active in the various organizations?"  His wife, Harriet, a former teacher, also volunteers in the Buffalo Public Schools.  The couple has three children - Eric, a professor at the University of Toronto; Steven, a nature photographer in Oregon; and Julie, a librarian living in Boston - as well as five grandchildren.  For his own part, Halpern is happy to remain in his hometown:  "Buffalo is wonderful, the people are friendly, the cost of living is low, and the weather is wonderful.  I couldn't think of a better place to live."

Written by Jessica Dudek, BA '94
August 2006

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