May 10, 2012
U.S. District Court Judge Louis Pollak died Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 at the age of 89 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Before being appointed to the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, Judge Pollak earned a B.A. from Harvard and his LL.B. from Yale Law School, where he edited the Law Review.
After graduation he clerked for Justice Wiley Rutledge of the United States Supreme Court, and then worked the firm now known as Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Following a stint in the United States Department of State, Judge Pollak worked as assistant counsel for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
He taught law at Yale from 1955 to 1974, serving as dean from 1965 to 1970. He left Yale to serve as dean of Pennsylvania Law School in 1974 and was there when President Carter tapped him to the served on the federal bench in 1978. He served on the federal bench until he assumed senior status in 1991.
Judge Pollak will be remembered for his work on major civil rights cases, including representation of the Scottsboro Boys case.