SABR member Len Levin joins Rhode Island Supreme Court

From Sandra Muller at the American Journalism Review on April 4, 2013, with mention of SABR member Len Levin:

After 60 years on the job, the only thing many people wish for is retirement – most of them probably wished for it much earlier than that. But Len Levin is not one of those people. The former Providence Journal editor is not yet ready to slow down.

Levin, who turned 82 in March, recently accepted a new challenge: He’s the grammarian at the Rhode Island Supreme Court, replacing Joel Sekeres, who died in January.

In this role, which he started March 25, the Pawtucket, Rhode Island native will – on a part-time basis – comb through the judges’ opinions, searching for typos and errors in grammar.

“Basically, the same thing as copy editing,” Levin says. “The goal is to make bad copy good and good copy better.”

The grammarian position at the Rhode Island Supreme Court goes back to the early 1970s, Communications Director Craig Berke says. The five justices write about 100 opinions each term, so Levin will be scrutinizing about 600 pages a year. The position pays $18,200 annually.

“Of course, the grammarian needs to be careful not to change the meaning of the opinion,” Berke says. Levin’s mandate does not include checking the opinions for legal mistakes.

Read the full article here: http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=5516



Originally published: April 4, 2013. Last Updated: April 4, 2013.