Louis G. Isaacson

• Publication year: 2004
• Pages: 19
• Citation: Vol. 33 No. 7 Pg. 19

33 Colo.Law. 19 Colorado Lawyer 2004.

2004, July, Pg. 19. Louis G. Isaacson

---

19

Vol. 33, No. 7, Pg. 19

The Colorado Lawyer
July 2004
Vol. 33, No. 7 [Page 19]

Features
Six of the Greatest
Louis G. Isaacson
by Bradley A. Friedman

Louis G. Isaacson

by Bradley A. Friedman

Bradley A. Friedman, Denver, is a lawyer and grandson of Louis Isaacson. He serves as Director of Endowment and Planned Giving for the Endowment Fund of the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado

Stanton Rosenbaum is a senior partner at the firm that continues to bear the name of Louis Isaacson: Isaacson Rosenbaum, Woods & Levy. As Rosenbaum tells it, "In all the years I knew and worked with him, I never heard anyone call him Lou; it was always, Mr. Isaacson. He commanded respect simply by his presence. He was a big man with a wonderful voice and a memory like no one I've ever known." Certainly, he was one of Colorado's greatest attorneys, as well as a fine human being.

Early Years and Mentoring

Some men succeed because they are destined to, but most men because they are determined to.

- Anonymous

Louis Isaacson was born in Denver, Colorado, on February 26, 1910. In 1929, he graduated from the University of Colorado, which he attended on an academic scholarship, and received his law degree from the University of Chicago in 1932. He was admitted to the Colorado Bar that same year. After graduation, he went into private practice. On June 14, 1935, he married Henrietta "Hank" Freund, in Chicago. Later, they had two daughters, Ellen and Linda.

For nearly thirty years, Lou Isaacson employed and trained many of Colorado's most outstanding lawyers and judges. Lou said, "I was a one-man band, doing everything. But it was the trial work that was fun. It was the happiest time of my life."1

Supporting Civil and
Legal Rights

In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is
the peer of the most powerful.2

During the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy brought attention to the alleged communist threat. Seven people were arrested in August 1954 "in the shadows of the Colorado State Capitol" by the FBI and charged with conspiring to teach the violent overthrow of the United States.3 The defendants could not find lawyers to defend them. Judge Jean S. Breitenstein4 turned to the Denver Bar Association ("DBA") to find appropriate counsel. Lou Isaacson was the DBA President at the time.

Isaacson went to the "large" law firms in town, none of which at the time had more than fifteen lawyers, and asked each to contribute a lawyer on a pro bono basis.5 During his entire career, Isaacson felt strongly about the need for attorneys to provide their services on a pro bono basis. He implored the firms to assist these defendants, which they did.

For six months, the attorneys worked full time on the case The trial then lasted two months and, at its conclusion, all the defendants were found guilty. The attorneys were paid by their own firms, but the firms were not compensated by the federal courts. All the defendants appealed, the case was reversed, and the defendants were tried a second time - and found guilty. They appealed...