PJ Gilbert's column this month is
Part II: The remarkable Phil S. Gibson shaped California law through his relentless pursuit of clarity and constitutional justice.- One of our leading appellate lawyers, the late Ellis Horvitz, went straight from Stanford Law School to clerking for Justice Gibson from 1951 to 1953. Years ago, Ellis and I had a leisurely lunch. He related what it was like clerking for, in his words, "one of California's greatest Chief Justices."
- In an article he wrote for the California Review (72 Cal.L.Rev. 503 (1984)), Horvitz described how "[t]he Chief was a stickler for clear and precise writing." Stilted or uncommon language was quickly scuttled. Gibson cautioned, "If you don't talk that way, you can't write that way." Horvitz continued, "and we drafted, redrafted, and redrafted again until all the fat was trimmed, and the written words carried the precise message intended. In short, we were given a graduate course in logic, composition and style."
