POLLAK, WALTER HEILPRIN

POLLAK, WALTER HEILPRIN (1887–1940), U.S. attorney. Born in New Jersey, Pollak was admitted to the New York bar in 1911 and entered private practice in New York City. During World War I he worked on the legal staff of the War Industries Board. He was a special assistant attorney general for the Arnstein bond theft case (1923–1924) and was counsel, consultant, and chairman of a number of important federal and state commissions. One of the most prominent lawyers at the U.S. bar, Pollak rendered services for the defense of those who were persecuted for unpopular views and causes, and inspired his younger associates to follow this same path. He helped in the drafting of the brief of Arthur Garfield Hays in the Scopes evolution case. He argued the Whitney and Gitlow free speech cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and in 1932 and 1935 was counsel before the Supreme Court in the Scottsboro case involving the issue of a fair trial for blacks in the South. (Michael Hart Cardozo)