DELAND - A well-worn copy of a Bouvier's Law dictionary rests on a desk in Ted Husfeld's office.  Crumbled and yellowed with age, its pages hold a wealth of information.

    Husfeld picked up the Bouvier's, a combined dictionary and encyclopedia, to define "chattel" for a visitor.  He uses a custom-designed magnifying glass to find the word.

    The definition was prompted by his recounting of the history of the law firm where he has practiced for more than 43 years, now called Landis, Graham, French, Husfeld, Sherman and Ford.

    The firm's documented history dates back to 1902.  Husfeld said the firm's earliest days could date back to the mid-1800's, based on documents such as chattel mortgages on slaves found years ago in the firm's office safe.  The safe sits in a corner of Husfeld's office.

    The duct tape-reinforced book describes chattel as a form of property, movable or immovable, other than an interest in real estate.

    The Bouvier's may not see as much use in the coming days.  Husfeld, 69, has retired, although some of his partners insist he's only semi-retiring.  It's not exactly a willing retirement.  He has been sidelined by kidney failure, which requires dialysis three times a week.

    "It really takes the starch out of me," Husfeld said.  His partners, associates and staff threw a surprise party in his honor last week, presenting him with a scrapbook full of mementos.

    Legally blind, Husfeld's vivid blue eyes nevertheless gazed clearly into the past, seeing the day he was offered the job with Landis, Graham and French.

    He was inspired to become an attorney after he caddied for a lawyer when he was a kid in Springdale, Conn.  He graduated from Stetson University's law school in 1952, winning the Dean's Cup as an outstanding law school student, he said.  He had rented an office in Jacksonville, planning to move there and set up practice.

    "I was packing to move, when I got a call from John Graham.  He invited me to become associated with the firm.  I said 'Yahoo'," Husfeld remembered.

    He went to work right away performing legal research, "For the first five years the only thing I did was research law.  I loved it, and still love it."

    He clearly remembers his first case:  "I suspect the reason they gave it to me was because it was a loser."

    He was assigned to defend Atlantic Coastline Railroad in a wrongful death case where a widow had sued because of the death of her husband at a railroad crossing.

    "I went to every bar in the neighborhood.  I found out that he had been run out of a bar just before the collision.  He was seen driving off having trouble keeping his car on the road.  The jury said the railroad wasn't guilty.

    "I walked back to the office and apparently the word had preceded me.  Erskine Landis was standing at the door with a cigar."

    Clearly he's proud of the firm's history and partners, who have included such notables as the late Judge Bert Fish, a U.S. ambassador to Egypt, and Francis Whitehair, who once was under secretary of the Navy.  Pictures of several of the former partners are displayed around his office.  The firm has produced several judges including Circuit Court Judge Edwin P.B. Sanders and County Judge John Roger Smith.

    "Landis, Hull, French, all of them were gentlemen.  I was fortunate to be associated with them." he said.

    "I think we were all workaholics.  It was nothing to come to the office at 11 at night and find someone with their nose in a law book."

    Two cases are the most memorable of his career.  One because of the victory he won and the other because of the grave injustice he said occurred when he lost the case.

    The victory was the release of a mentally retarded man, Jesse Daniels, from the state asylum for the criminally insane.  Husfeld got involved 17 years after Daniels had been committed to the asylum, charged with rape.  Eventually, the charges were dropped and Daniels was freed.

    Husfeld's wife, Ann, said he always treated each case like it had happened to him personally, "no matter how little it was or how big it was."

    Husfeld said he has "never gotten over" a case he tried against a large pharmaceutical company.  A six-member jury decided the company was guilty of fraud and awarded the victim the largest compensation ever awarded by a jury in Volusia County at that time.  The ruling was overturned by an appeals court.

    "When I got that order I cried," he said.

    For years, Husfeld tried to think of a way to get that decision overturned again.  His dedication to a cause is one of the things that most impressed another of the firm's attorneys, Alex Ford, when he was first starting.

    Husfeld is known among his peers for his participation with the Volunteer Legal Services project.  He received an award from the Florida Bar in 1984 for his pro bono work.  Pro bono means for the public good, explained Husfeld.

    "It's for the public good that lawyers give of themselves to help support the legal rights of the poor.

    "Poor people have rights too." he said.  "I am a first generation American.  My mother came from Ireland, and my father from Germany.  They came here looking for freedom and a happier life.

    "When I was going off to World War II, my grandfather said, "Fight hard for America, she has kept her promise to us."

    "If the rights of the poor aren't protected then America doesn't mean much to them," Husfeld said.

    "It's really lawyers who preserve our democracy.  It's no fun to have someone tread over you and to not have equal power to protect yourselves against them.

    "The legal advertising today bothers me," Husfeld said.  "I believe it was the intent of the U.S. Supreme Court to permit lawyers to factually inform the public of their attainments in law so the public could evaluate and consider that person as the lawyer they should choose."

    Pulling out a large phone book advertisement by an area law firm, he said "It's absolutely disgusting.  It promises litigation."

    Husfeld and his wife have been married 48 years.  They have two children, Martha Husfeld Bibby of Jacksonville and Samuel Husfeld of Deltona.

    Over the years he was interested in golfing, fern growing and farming.  He laughed as he remembered a correspondence course he took once to get a degree in agriculture.  "When I completed the course, I put on my cap and gown and marched down to the post office to get my degree."

    The firm's most senior living partner, who is now "Of Counsel" to the firm, J. Compton French, wrote in a letter to Husfeld that he remembers his partner most for his "complete honesty and integrity."

    "That has been the hallmark of his private and public life," French wrote.

    If he could give just one piece of advice to new attorneys today, Husfeld said it would be: "Roll up your sleeves and go to work."

    

This article originally appeared in the June 22, 1995 issue of  The Volusian
and is printed with permission