Page 54 - Briefcase Volume 36 Number 2

University of Houston Law Center Professor Raymond L. Britton died
in May 2017 at the age of 92, leaving behind a legacy of 59 years as a legal
educator where he taught generations of law students as one of the longest-
tenured professors in the school’s history.
First arriving at the Law Center as an adjunct professor in 1958 and then
joining the faculty as an assistant professor that same year, Britton was later
promoted to associate professor in 1961 and then full professor in 1966.
Britton is survived by his two sons, Law Center alumnus Raymond “Lee”
Britton, Jr. ’88 and Samuel Britton ’95. They agree their father’s devotion to
law and legal education had a profound impact on their choice of careers.
Lee Britton has a private practice in Houston, primarily focusing on civil
litigation, along with labor and securities arbitration. Samuel Britton works
throughout Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar as the Indochina Legal Director
at Carlsberg Group.
“Our dad being an attorney had more of an influence on us than I
realized at the time,” Lee Britton said. “We grew up with it. You couldn’t
help but learn growing up with him, and he couldn’t help but point things
out to us. It was kind of a natural fit to go into law.”
Samuel Britton said his father was constantly thinking of ways to
enhance his students’ classroom experience. If he approached his father
with a law-related idea or thought, Britton would quickly seize the
opportunity to consider how it could be applied to helping students
RAYMOND L. BRITTON learn better.
“Some of my strongest memories of my dad were his tenacity,
1924 – 2017 commitment and passion for perfection,” Samuel Britton said. “I can recall
times after entering the workforce I sought out his help to revise my CV or
Remembering Professor Raymond L. review some work-related legal writing, and he would always have time for
Britton: Nearly six decades of service to the me, patiently going through the subject matter — sentence by sentence —
like a hardened magazine editor carefully weighing the prose and trying to
UH Law Center improve it.
“He would try alternate words, phrasing and rearrange the sentences,
and without a moment’s hesitation, he would be ready to reference a
dictionary or legal thesaurus in search of a more perfect word choice that
he might have missed.”
Samuel Britton said his father’s willingness and spontaneity would also
be shown when he needed help in understanding various legal concepts
that he had trouble fully grasping.
“Whether it be the various corporate law doctrines or the inner workings
of securities law, he would always be around to discuss, inspire and bring
clarity to a particular topic, and never lose patience to repeat it again and
again until it sank in,” Samuel Britton said.
Lee Britton had the unique experience of being taught by his father while
attending the Law Center.
“I had a little trepidation because I knew my fellow classmates had the
mistaken belief that I had the inside track on what was going to be on the
exam,” Lee Britton said. “One of the reasons I took his class was because
I thought, when was I ever going to have that opportunity again? I was
maybe a little more self-conscious than in the other classes knowing this
was my father teaching, and most of my friends in the class knew that. I’m
glad I did it. It was a good experience.”
Britton taught Admiralty, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Arbitration
and Securities Regulation. Despite his decades as a legal educator, he valued
feedback and interaction with his students and believed he could learn
from their perspective just as much as they could from his.
“He got a lot of joy being able to work with law students,” Lee Britton
said. “Overall, he enjoyed the law, and he loved teaching. He loved
conversing with the students.” ■

54 UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER