Law Review

H. Peter Somers, 88, of Willistown Township, a retired lawyer, equestrian, and conservationist, died of melanoma, Friday, June 17, at Neighborhood Hospice in West Chester. Mr. Somers began his career with a law firm in Boston before joining Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Philadelphia in 1956. He became a senior partner, chaired the firm's personal-law section, and served on its management committee. He retired in 1989. For 50 years, Mr. Somers was a member of the Radnor Hunt Club and was still riding to the hounds with the Cheshire Hunt at 87, his son Stephen said.

ONE person's Great American Success Story is another's irrelevant footnote. All depends on who's telling the tale. Example: Child of Latino immigrants overcomes adversity, works hard, makes it to the Ivy League, then the law review and rises to the highest echelons of the legal profession. Child-turned-accomplished adult gets tapped for a prestigious federal judgeship. And Democrats wage a bitter battle against the nomination, up to and including the rarely used filibuster.

In the short, fractious life of his Western Heritage Society, Lincoln Herbert has antagonized gays, lesbians, blacks, Jews and many, many more at Temple University Law School. On dark red posters that he slapped up by the score, he referred to one student as the "head dyke. " He compared someone else to that "other Jewish fellow . . . Russia's own Mr. Vladimir Zhirinovsky. " He called the student leader of the Temple Law Republicans "Sleaze Ball. " Week after week, students and faculty found it harder to avoid the posters and their provocations.

Bennett G. Picker of Bala Cynwyd has been named a Fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation. The foundation was created in 1984 to expand the public service role of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. The foundation pays for continuing legal education, community service and research through its Fellows program. Fellows represent 2 percent of all practicing lawyers in Pennsylvania. Picker is chairman of Bolger, Picker, Hankin & Tannenbaum, a law firm that concentrates its practice in litigation, corporate, tax, securities and fiduciary matters.

Sometimes the best solution to a court case can be found outside the courtroom. At least, that's what Judge Orvyl Schalick thought. Schalick believed in settling cases by arbitration and negotiation, rather than in the courtroom. Schalick, a retired New Jersey Superior Court assignment judge, turned 90 on Tuesday. To help celebrate, more than 50 sitting and retired judges threw a party for him at Murrassano's restaurant at Main Street, Voorhees. For 25 years, South Jersey's Superior Court benefited from the wisdom of Schalick, who worked long hours and always kept his door open.

Memorial services will be held for Arthur W. Lewis, 88, a former New Jersey Appellate Division judge and a delegate to the 1947 New Jersey constitutional convention, at 6 p.m. Sunday in the Protestant Community Church on Stokes Road in Medford Lakes. Also a former state senator and assemblyman from Burlington County in the 1940s, Mr. Lewis, formerly of Medford Lakes and Medford, died on March 5 in his Juno Beach, Fla., home. "Dad literally lived and loved the law," said his son Robert S. Lewis, also an attorney, of Medford Lakes.

John N. Schaeffer Jr., 76, of North Hills, a retired senior partner in the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and an active layman in the United Church of Christ, died Monday at Abington Memorial Hospital after a lengthy illness. Mr. Schaeffer practiced corporate and securities law at the Center City firm more than 40 years, until his retirement in 1983. He worked on several railroad reorganizations, including that of Penn Central, and his practice included work in South and Central America.

William R. Klaus, 79, of Devon, a lawyer who helped provide legal services for the poor, died of sepsis Oct. 15 at Kindred Hospital in Darby. Mr. Klaus joined the law firm of Pepper Hamilton in Philadelphia in 1952. He became a partner in 1960, chaired the commercial department for 10 years, and was cochairman of the firm from 1982 to 1992. He retired in 1996. He served as chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1974. In 1964, while chairing the bar association's Public Services Committee, he visited city neighborhoods to assess legal needs.

The victim of a West Chester man's apparent murderous jealousy on Monday was a Manhattan lawyer, friends said yesterday. Police said Anthony Ottaviano, 35, was shot by David P. Krieg, 42, of West Chester, around midnight. Krieg, who later killed himself, was waiting in Philadelphia when Ottaviano returned from dinner with his girlfriend, who lived in an apartment complex in the 1200 block of Brandywine Street, police said. "It's a dark day; we lost a good person," said Donn Winn, a lifelong friend.

James McMurrow Ballengee, of Media, 79, a lawyer, corporate executive and civic leader, died of pneumonia Sunday at his home. Before moving to Springton, a retirement community in Media, in March, Mr. Ballengee had been a longtime resident of Bryn Mawr. He was raised in Charleston, W. Va., and earned a bachelor's degree from Morris Harvey College in Charleston and a law degree from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., where he was first in his class and editor of the Law Review.