Morgan accused Harvard of over-rationalizing the law: "It's all procedural. It's a way not to do anything for folks--that's what Frankfurterism is. There are plenty of true American heroes in the law, but this law school makes a hero out of Frankfurter."

Had they heard of Judge Frank M. Johnson, a liberal district court justice in Alabama, who made several landmark civil rights decisions? Morgan challenged the audience. Silence. Morgan smiled. How about Judge Skelly Wright, lately of New Orleans? One law student answered in the affirmative. "Oh yeah," Morgan came back. "He left New Orleans and moved to Washington--got close enough to Boston for the shuttle."

Morgan began slinging punches as the defender of "the people." He talked repeatedly about the trend of American life--and especially of the legal profession--away from the rights of individuals. "Lawyers start to think of themselves as different from the people--as a class unto themselves," he said.

Morgan went into a digression about international corporatism as the greatest enemy to individual freedoms, and said he would not defend corporate rights even though they are legally defined just the same as individual rights: "No Supreme Court is ever going to convince me that a corporation is an individual. I didn't have to watch Allende's death to learn what multinational corporations are doing."

He charged that law schools downplay criminal as opposed to corporate law because of a direct correlation between the money a case brings a lawyer and the "intellectual challenge" he draws from it. "Lawyers are the handmaidens of American corporate enterprise," he declared.

Was Harvard teaching students to ask such questions? Morgan took a quick pot shot at the fact that the Law School offers no course in ethics: "Now most law schools have ethics courses. I presume that if you come to Harvard, that means you already have ethics. That's right. You proved it on the LSAT."

Few law students took issue with Morgan. Only one--at an evening session at Mather House--actively argued for Harvard's side. He asked whether Morgan would defend President Nixon, if requested. "Yes," Morgan replied, "if he had come to me before I got involved with the other side."

The student pressed on: Wasn't that a rationalization? Wasn't Morgan sidestepping the question of right versus wrong on the legal issue of everyone's right to a trial? Was Nixon any more entitled to a defense than ITT?

Morgan thought so. Any individual has a right to a defense against the state, he said. "If I felt my personal feelings would interfere with my work, I'd have to refuse the case. Otherwise, I'd have an obligation to take it." The student wasn't quite convinced of the distinction. But Morgan kept swinging.

LIBERALS were his next target: "The intellectual community and the liberals are self-serving. Liberals have a fear of winning. If you win, that means you have responsibilities. If you lose--well, then you're still a good fella and you've fought the good fight."

Morgan told his audience that he didn't believe in the natural saving powers of the younger generation. "I just believe in stamina--that's one thing you've got to learn if you're working in convictions, if you're working in individual liberties. People don't have enough of it," he said. "You're no better than the old folks--the only reason I put more stock in you is that you have longer life spans."

Then who's going to save the country? "Individual folks," Morgan says. He reaches back into American history and reels out examples of individuals who, he said, influenced historical currents. "If it hadn't been for John Brown, the Civil War wouldn't have come when it did. If it hadn't been for Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, there wouldn't have been a Southern Christian Leadership Conference."

And today? "I think the impeachment movement is a chance to break loose--a chance for the people in this country to connect government with human beings again," Morgan said. "The intellectual community needs to ally on the issue of oppression--I think their alliance with blacks brought them to their better days."

Despite his distrust of the current state of legal education and public vigilance, Morgan said he turns to them as his last resort--with a little regeneration from "individual folks." "My whole experience has taught me to be hopeful," he told the students. "Educated people don't do the right thing unless they're confronted. You've got to learn to use the law as a weapon."