Fraternal Law Celebrates Our 100th Issue

The 1^st issue of Fraternal Law was published in September, 1982.  This is issue Number 100.  The first story in issue Number 1, written by Fraternal Law’s founder, the late Robert E. Manley, described the publication’s purpose in the following way:

Most legal problems of fraternities can be avoided.  Almost every legal problem that develops for a fraternity is a “people problem” which has been allowed to get out of hand.  Any interaction between individuals or groups has the potential for escalation to the level of a legal problem.  A well-run fraternity that abides by the fraternal principles would not normally let this happen.  The purpose of Fraternal Law is to discuss the numerous people problems that the fraternal organizations encounter to help the reader prevent those problems from evolving into legal problems.

The purpose of Fraternal Law has not changed over the years.  We have consistently strived to present the most pressing legal issues concerning fraternities and sororities in an easy to read and informative manner.  The most common topics that have appeared over the years are hazing (34 articles), alcohol (41), First Amendment (29), university relations (13), and economic issues, including taxes.

While the attorneys at Manley Burke have always published and written a great deal of the articles, many recurring and outside authors have made significant contributions to Fraternal Law.  We would particularly like to acknowledge the contributions from Barbara Bromberg on economic and taxation issues (63 articles), James C. Harvey (12 articles) and Gregory Hauser (7 articles).  Additional prominent authors, such as the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones (the now retired judge from the United States Sixth Circuit of Appeals and the former General Counsel to the NAACP), Cecil Mackey (the former President of Michigan State University), and Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (the current Congresswoman for the District of Columbia and the former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) have also contributed articles to Fraternal Law.  Numerous other authors have contributed articles and their expertise as well to make Fraternal Law the preeminent legal newsletter devoted exclusively to the legal issues affecting Greek organizations.