William O. Douglas

William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 ? January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice.

Yale and the SEC

Douglas graduated from Columbia Law School in 1925. He first took a job with Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a top Wall Street law firm, but quit after four months. After one year, he moved back to Yakima, but soon regretted the move and never actually practiced law there. After a time of unemployment and another months-long stint at Cravath, he went to teach at Columbia. He quickly jumped to join the faculty of Yale Law School.

Related Topics:
Columbia Law School - Cravath, Swaine & Moore - Wall Street - Yale Law School

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At Yale, he became an expert on commercial litigation and bankruptcy, and was identified with the legal realist movement, which pushed for an understanding of law based less on formalistic legal doctrines and more on the real-world effects of the law.

Related Topics:
Bankruptcy - Legal realist movement

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In 1934, he left Yale to join the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Here he met Franklin D. Roosevelt and became an adviser and friend to the President. In 1936, he was named chairman of the SEC.

Related Topics:
1934 - U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - Franklin D. Roosevelt - 1936

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