For many years I worked for the law firm of Bernstein & Bernstein (not Sam). The firm started business in 1923, I believe in the Majestic Building in downtown Detroit.
When I started there, some time after 1923, the firm’s main office was on the 16th floor of the 3000 Building what was then the Prudential Town Center in Southfield.
In 2009, the firm moved to its present office on 12 Mile Road in Lathrup Village.
The item shown above is the 1923 Detroit College of Law diploma of Jacob Bernstein, one of the original Bernsteins. By the way, Sam Bernstein was Jacob’s nephew. There are several unconfirmed stories as to why Sam never worked for B&B. I won’t relate them here.
Jacob was born in 1900 and died much too young in 1945. His son, Newton, ran the firm when I started with the firm, and still came in to the office after his 2005 retirement. He died in 2009, before the move to Lathrup Village.
I never saw Jacob’s diploma while I worked at the Town Center. It apparently had been stashed behind a file cabinet, and forgotten about, for decades. It was discovered during the move.
It is now hanging in the firm’s main conference room. A great piece of firm history, lost for many years, but fortunately not forever.
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