ABSTRACT
Billings Learned Hand was born in Albany, New York, on January 27, 1872. Hand received his early education at a small private school, the Albany Academy, in New York. In 1902 he moved to New York City, where he spent seven years in what he described as the 'dull and petty' work of a New York law firm. Hand began his judicial career in 1909. President William Howard Taft was eager to improve the quality of the federal judiciary, and upon the recommendation of Attorney General George W. Wickersham and a number of prominent New York attorneys, Hand was appointed to the federal District Court for Southern District of New York, the lowest level of the court system. Hand became one of the most respected and honored jurists in America. His commitment to tolerance and rigorous thought helped transform and modernize American law in the twentieth century.
