After college, he studied at the University of Illinois College of Law, receiving his LL.B. in 1930. Following law school, he served as the reporter for the Illinois Civil Practice Act. He joined the firm of Poppenheusen, Johnston, Thompson and Cole (the precursor of Jenner & Block) in 1933 and became a partner of the firm in 1939. Jenner thrived at the firm and, in 1947, at age 40, he became the president of the Illinois State Bar Association. He would later serve as the eighth president of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Years as prominent attorney
In his practice at Poppenheusen, Johnston, Thompson and Cole, Jenner would develop relationships with several prominent clients. By the 1940s, Jenner had already become the top earner at the firm.[citation needed] In 1955, he was rewarded by becoming a named partner at the firm. (The firm eventually became known as "Jenner & Block" in 1964.) As a lawyer, Jenner was dedicated to pro bono work and, in the 1960s, he supported partner Prentice Marshall's efforts to found Jenner & Block's pro bono program, one of the first in the country. Jenner had a history of representing figures from Jack Rubenstein's (AKA Jack Ruby) criminal milieu, such as Allen Dorfman, an insurance agency owner, and consultant to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Central States Pension Fund who was a close associate of longtime IBT President Jimmy Hoffa, and associated with organized crime via the Chicago Outfit. Dorfman was convicted on several felony counts, and was murdered in 1983.[1] Jenner was counsel for General Dynamics in 1963 when it was deeply involved in a series of scandals in Texas that were exposed by the U.S. Department of Justice.[1]
In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court named Jenner chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Evidence—he would continue in this post until 1975.
1968 also saw Jenner argue his first major case at the U.S. Supreme Court, Witherspoon v. Illinois. In the following years, he would argue Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite (1970); Reliance Electric Co. v. Emerson Electric Co. (1972); Gonzales v. Automatic Employees Credit Union (1974); and Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for the United States of America and Canada v. Milivojevich (1976). Jenner himself was mentioned as a preferred candidate for the Supreme Court by Johnson's Secretary of Defense, Clark Clifford, over Johnson's choice, Homer Thornberry.[3] With the impending retirement of Chief Justice Earl Warren, Johnson hoped to elevate Associate Justice Abe Fortas to that post and Thornberry to Fortas' seat. Clifford thought Jenner would be a more acceptable candidate for Senate Republicans than Thornberry and help make them more amenable to Fortas as Chief Justice.[3] Fortas' nomination was derailed by various scandals and withdrawn, which also ended Thornberry's nomination.[3]
Jenner served on the board of General Dynamics.[4] He was a friend of an attorney for the family of Henry Crown.[4] Jenner represented Lester Crown, president of Material Service Corporation, in a 1972 bribery scandal and obtained for client immunity from prosecution in exchange for cooperating with the grand jury.[4]
The University of Illinois College of Law bestowed an honorary doctorate on Jenner in 1981. In 1982, Jenner endowed a professorship at the University of Illinois College of Law. The University of Illinois College of Law's library is also named in his honor.
When the soul of our nation was torn by the assassination of a president, our nation reached out to Bert Jenner. And when the fabric of our Constitution was threatened by the actions of a president, our nation reached out to Bert Jenner. When the wounds were deep and grievous for all Americans, when some impoverished soul was threatened, when some unpopular cause would have been extinguished but for the bravery and perseverance of that man, they all reached out for Bert Jenner.
