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Judge: More Education Needed About Abe Lincoln's Legal Career
A judge who sits in the same judicial circuit where Abraham Lincoln practiced law says the public should know more about Lincoln's career as a lawyer.

Judge Ronald Spears of Taylorville says had Lincoln not been elected president, he would have been noteworthy just as a lawyer. He says that was debatable for decades, but thanks to the Lincoln Legal Papers Project, which recently published about Lincoln's legal practice, "I think we can definitively say that Lincoln would have been at the top tier of lawyers in the state, would have been recognized as being one of the pre-eminent lawyers," Spears says.

Except for two years he spent in Congress, Lincoln practiced law from 1837-60.

Spears says President-elect Barack Obama did not have as long a legal career in Illinois as Lincoln did, but that his time as a constitutional law instructor at the University of Chicago was valuable.

The Illinois Judges Association and the Illinois State Bar Association have produced a DVD on Lincoln's law career and given copies to every public and school library in the state.

Spears was interviewed on this week's Eye on Illinois program. Hear the full interview Sunday at 6am on AM 1400 WGIL.

(Illinois Radio Network)
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