Law professor reaches settlement with school

By Christopher DaCosta

Now that his lawsut against the university has been settled, Herman Levy looks forward to continuing his teaching career.

"The stress and anxiety is all gone now and I just want to go ahead with my life," said the 32-year veteran professor.

Levy alleges that the university violated his civil rights by denying him a reduced teaching load under the accommodation of his disability - a condition that limited both his mobility and stamina.

In a court document, the case, which was filed with the Santa Clara County Superior Court, describes the details of the settlement. "Professor Herman Levy and Santa Clara University have reached a mutually satisfactory resolution of the lawsuit brought by Professor Levy against the university," it says.

With regard to the settlement, Levy says that he is unable to disclose any further details due to its confidential nature. Santa Clara media relations officials were also unable to comment due to the requirements of the settlement.

Now that the weight of the lawsuit has been lifted from his shoulders, Levy intends to continue his professorial passion of teaching first-year law students the fundamentals of contract law.

"I like teaching very much," said Levy. "I am always there to support my students and to support their causes when their causes are just."

The Harvard Law School graduate enjoys seeing the marked difference in his first-year students. "I like teaching first-year students because I can see from the time we start in August until we are about to leave in May that they talk differently and analyze differently," Levy said.

In retrospect, Levy recognized his own changes as a result of attending law school. "I think law school trained me in how to function and think as a lawyer," Levy said. "Things I didn't understand when it was happening to me but things which I understand now."

Levy does not look back at his law school days too fondly. "I think that they were terrible years being a student; the classes were fairly big and they were only beginning to take women - I think my year was the third year that they had started to accept women - so you knew who the women were in your classes," he said.

"But I look back on the friends I made in law school and the friendships that I have maintained and those are some of the good things I got from law school."

Levy continues to make lifelong friendships today at Santa Clara. Levy's office is lined with legal texts, labor law posters and an abundance of photographs. Many are of Levy with his former and current students and their families, not just as a professor but also as a friend.

Levy has been a mentor and friend for both alumni Kathy Sure and Brad Jones. Sure, an administrative law judge, has kept in touch with Levy for over two decades. Levy proved instrumental in Sure becoming a partner at the firm in which she worked.

"Herman got me my job as a law clerk in my labor law firm, which became permanent in 1980 and I became named partner in 1986," Sure said in an email interview.

"I have never had a teacher show the personal interest that Herman shows his students in their careers. Herman is a one of a kind - he is generous, honorable and he stands up for what he believes in."

Jones agrees with Sure. "You see this guy who goes through life doing the right thing at the right time for the right people despite the impact it will have on his life, notwithstanding this lawsuit," Jones said. "He's always been this champion of the underdog, taking on issues that have no impact on his life at all - whether they are for the students in the law school or for inadequate parking for people with handicapped privileges."

Jones, the director of North American Field Operations (NAFO) legal services of Silicon graphics in Mountain View, recalls Levy to be an effective professor. "He is the type of professor who is engaging, definitely not one of those Socratic, brow-beating professors who try to embarrass you; he does little things to help illustrate points."

In his first-year contracts course, Jones remembers Levy discussing a point in class and when someone asked a question, Levy lunged around the podium and waved a red flag in the air to drive home his point. "The image of him waving the flag was something that I never forgot and I couldn't forget the applicability of the point he was making," Jones said.

Both Sure and Jones followed Levy's case from its incipience and both are glad that his life can return to a sense of normalcy.

"All he ever wanted to do is retire with dignity and on his own terms and now he has been given the opportunity to do that," Jones said.