In Memoriam:

Diane P. Wood, Tribute to Judge Irving L. Goldberg: The Consummate Humanist, 73 TEX. L. REV. 977 (1995).

Professor Wood, a former law clerk of Judge Goldberg, memorializes the judge as a model of collegiality, an incisive but humane legal thinker, and a champion of civil rights. Concerned with his fellows, Judge Goldberg worked to take the law to the people—his wife helped him with his opinions in order to avoid them being cloaked in the mysteries of dry legalese. He provided litigants, most of whom would have their last hearing before the circuit court, with extensive opinions on why their complaints were handled as they were. He never failed to soften even the harshest proceedings with the gentle remonstrance that disagreement is essential to the functioning of the courts and the Republic, and should thus be taken not as a reason for fury, but as a tool for reaching a compromise. Judge Goldberg lived from 1906 through 1995.