Robert “Bob” G. Storey, the founder of The Center for American and International Law, was a prominent Texas lawyer whose illustrious legal career included being elected the president of the Dallas Bar Association, of the State Bar of Texas, and later of the American Bar Association.
Storey was a strong advocate for the advancement of legal education. He dedicated much of his career to advancing the legal industry and promoting the rule of law both domestically and abroad.
Storey firmly believed that world peace could be accomplished through law and maintained a lifelong interest in international law.
Storey began his law career at the University of Texas in Austin. Interestingly, he initially attended U.T. to become a physician like his father. Storey switched to law after entering the university.
Storey served in both World Wars. During WW1, he served as a first lieutenant in the Coast Artillery. After the U.S. entered WW2, he served as a major in the U.S. Army Air Corps before later serving as a senior U.S. intelligence officer at the Fifteenth Air Force headquarters at Caserta, Italy. Storey was awarded the Bronze Star for collecting data and material on German war criminals in that region. After WWII, Storey returned to the U.S. as an Army colonel, assigned to the Senior Officers Air Intelligence School at Orlando, Florida.
Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson asked Storey to gather evidence against top Nazis ahead of the Nuremberg Trials. Storey returned to Europe to start this task, which led to his involvement in the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials from 1945 to 1946.
“The rule of law does not mean that the powers of government are derived from the law, for this is true of even the most despotic government. The powers of Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin were derived from law, even if that law was only that which the dictator saw fit to make…The rule of law is therefore something difference that governmental power. The main element of this distinction is the extent of discretion permitted in the administration of justice. The rule of law envisions definite curbs on discretion. It envisions trained, experienced, and independent judges who are bound by basic principles leaving but a marginal element of discretion. When justice is administered by untrained men with almost unlimited discretionary powers, you no longer have rule of law.” – Robert G. Storey (Article: Law and Lawyers in a Divided World; Author: Robert G. Storey; Source: Washington University Law Quarterly, Vol. 1958, No. 03 (June 1958))
Storey was a big proponent of what came to be called the “legal center movement.” He envisioned training centers that would not only offer the best quality education for people pursuing legal careers but also provide practicing lawyers a place where they could continue to build on their education and refresh their knowledge of the law.
Storey founded the Southwestern Legal Foundation (now The Center for American and International Law) in 1947 following his involvement as a prosecutor during the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials. When he founded the SLF, it was the first legal center of its kind in the United States.
“[The Southwestern Legal Center] is designed to modernize legal education. It will be a “clearing house” for legal problems, a forum where lawyers, judges, interested laymen, public officials, professors, and students may coordinate their efforts for the improvement of the law and the administration of justice.” – Dean Robert G. Storey (Article: Southwestern Legal Center: Plans Announced To Establish It at Dallas; Source: American Bar Association Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2 (February 1948), pp. 121-123)
Leadership
Throughout the course of his career, Storey was elected and served as the President of the Dallas, the Texas, the American and the Inter-American Bar Associations. He was also the Dean of Southern Methodist University’s Law School.
Commissions
Storey was appointed to several commissions, including the New Hoover Commission, the Commission on Human Rights, the Atlantic Pacific Inter-Oceanic Canal Study Commission, and vice chairman for the first Civil Rights Commission.
Special Counsel
Storey, alongside Leon Jaworski, was asked by Texas Attorney General to contribute as special counsel to the investigation of the Texas Supplemental Report on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Storey firmly believed that world peace could be accomplished through law and maintained a lifelong interest in international law and international affairs. He promoted foreign scholarship by establishing the Korean Legal Center, through service as Chairman of the Board of Fulbright Scholarships, and his intense interest in the World Peace Through Law movement.
Robert G. Storey Sr. was born in Greenville, Texas, on December 4, 1893, and lived in Dallas from 1923 until his death. In 1917, Storey married his first wife, Hazel Porter, with whom he had two sons, Robert G. Storey, Jr. and Charles Porter Storey. Both sons became lawyers who worked at the family’s firm, Storey, Armstrong & Steger in Dallas. After Porter’s death in 1962, he married Jewel Hope Osborn in 1965. Storey died in Dallas on January 16, 1981.
In a day when all concerned with youth are seeking exemplars, we can ask our young to consider the career of Colonel Storey. May we have many of our young inspired to the ideals which led him to his extraordinary service to his country.
Fellow Assistant at Nuremberg Trials
