The State Bar Association of North Dakota Summer 2013 Gavel Magazine | Page 37

A World War II veteran in the Asia-Pacific Theatre, Bright attained the rank of captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He holds both a BSL and a JD from the University of Minnesota. He was admitted to the North Dakota bar in 1947 and practiced law at Wattam, Vogel, Vogel, Bright & Peterson in Fargo, ND, where he became known as a skilled litigator in torts, First Amendment rights, privacy, and human rights cases. His mentor, Mart R. Vogel, received the same award in 2003. “It was a lucky accident that I became a lawyer,” Bright says. “My brother was a lawyer, but he wasn’t making a very good living at it, so he went to work for the state of Minnesota. When I graduated from the university with my bachelor’s degree, I took an aptitude test. It said I would be good at law or advertising. I went to law school and loved it.” Bright says that the idea of professionalism was prevalent during his law school days. “Everyone in the school was a friend; we cooperated with one another. Our professors instilled the idea that we were all colleagues,” he remembers. “It wasn’t an environment of cutthroat competition as it is now.” A sought-after lecturer at law schools both nationally and internationally, Bright has displayed a special commitment to legal education. He was a distinguished professor of law at Saint Louis University School of Law from 1985 to 1990 and professor emeritus from 1990 to 1995. Bright was an early pioneer for the Jurists-In-Residence programs at several law schools. While serving on the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, he supported a program for foreign lawyers attending American law schools to be observers with federal and state judges. In nominating Bright, James S. Hill wrote, “He is a person deeply committed to professionalism and particularly to improving the legal system and profession, by teaching new generations of lawyers.” Considered a model of professionalism, ethics, service, and civil rights by his peers, Bright has received numerous awards, including, the State Bar Association of North Dakota’s Liberty Bell Award and the American Judicature Society’s Herbert Harley Award. His former law clerks honored him by endowing the Judge Myron H. Bright Scholarship at the University of Minnesota Law School. In 1990-1991, Bright authored a book, Objections at Trial, that includes information on how

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