Planning an Inn program with a theme Brown v. Board of Education? How fortunate would your pupilage team be to have someone with intimate, first-hand knowledge of that landmark case? If you were a member of the W. Edward Sell American Inn of Court, Eric W. Springer would be the ideal mentor. He worked with Thurgood Marshall in preparing some of the related litigation.
Springer’s interest in the law was sparked by a summer job between his junior and senior years in college at Rutgers University. He had been working as a research assistant for a family friend who was an attorney. His job was researching laws regarding race and color in various states. “I became fascinated with the law, legal language and legal research,’’ said Springer. “The outcome of the effort was a significant publication called ‘States’ Laws on Race and Color,’ which was a major contribution to the then emerging fight to attain civil rights for people of color.’’
His fascination for the law took him to NYU for law school. After graduating and serving in the U.S. Army for a couple of years, he clerked for Mathew Levy, a justice on the Supreme Court of New York. In 1956, he moved to Pittsburgh. There Springer accepted a joint appointment to the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh as associate professor in the School of Law and research professor in the Graduate School of Public Health. This was the genesis of a career that would make him one of the premier health care lawyers in the country. He served as director of compliance for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1968, and served as vice president and director of publications for Aspen Systems Corp. from 1968 to 1971.
In 1971, he co-founded and became a senior partner in Horty, Springer and Mattern in Pittsburgh, This firm was one of the first health care law firms in the country, pioneering the establishment of healthcare and hospital law nationwide. Today, he is retired as senior partner from his firm, but maintains his associa¬tion as “of counsel.”
With the patience and encouragement of his beautiful wife, Cecile, Springer stretched his interests well beyond law. He was Senior Editor of “Action Kit for Hospital Law” and served on the Faculty of Estes Park Institute. He has edited and authored several books, including “Nursing and the Law,” “Group Practice and the Law,” and others. He has served as a member of the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, the Pittsburgh Branch of the NAACP and the Pittsburgh Urban League. He has served on the Boards of numerous hospitals, healthcare facilities, corporations and foundations. He is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Hospital Executives, a charter member of the American Academy of Hospital Attorneys as well as a Fellow of the American Public Health Association. He serves on the Board of Duquesne Light Company and he is a Trustee Emeritus of the Presbyterian-University Hospital of Pittsburgh as well as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
His involvement in the legal community is equally broad. He was the first African-American to lead the Allegheny County Bar Association. He has also been involved in the New York Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and the Homer S. Brown Law Association.
His most enjoyable association was with the W. Edward Sell American Inn of Court, which he co-founded more than 10 years ago. Although he has earned honorary status, he continues to take his Inn membership seriously. He regularly attends meetings and takes an active role in his pupilage group. He continues to make himself available to talk with and mentor all of the Inn’s members, from pupil to master, giving generously and willingly of his time to others.
Of his professionalism, a colleague wrote, “he is a role model for how good lawyers practice law. He treats opposing counsel with the utmost courtesy, while diligently furthering his clients’ interests.” Another colleague said that even though Eric has practiced law for over 50 years, he still looks at the law with wide-eyed admiration and passion.
Springer is still going strong, but what an amazing career he has had. It is a career that his role model, Thurgood Marshall, would be impressed by. As a humble man, don’t expect Eric Springer to step into the limelight to talk about it.