Los Angeles County
Biographies
WILLIS I. MORRISON
One of the most prominent representatives of the bench and bar of Southern California is Judge Willis I. Morrison who has been actively engaged in law practice in Los Angeles during the past three decades save for the period of his service in public office. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 16, 1881, his parents being the late Captain T. W. Morrison and Adele (Wilmot) Morrison. Hon. John I. Morrison, the paternal grandfather of Judge Morrison, was a prominent educator who was instrumental in the establishment of the public school and university system of Indiana and who served as state treasurer during the Civil war. His son, Captain Morrison, was reared in Indiana and became an officer in the United States regular army, serving throughout the period of hostilities between the north and the south. He was killed in action at San Juan Hill, Cuba, July 1, 1898, and it was in recognition of his distinguished services to his country that the government named one of its war vessels in his honor.
Willis I. Morrison acquired his early education in military posts and received his collegiate training at Princeton University, from which he was graduated in 1902, while three years later, in 1905, he won the degree of LL.B. from the Harvard Law School. Following the completion of his law course Judge Morrison came to the Pacific coast and was admitted to the California bar in 1905, since which time he has continuously devoted his attention to the practice of his chosen profession with the exception of his period of service in public office.
Judge Morrison was very active in the organization of the Good Government Movement in Southern California and had much to do with the enactment of the progressive legislation of this state, particularly the enlightened laws for the betterment of the conditions surrounding the men and women and children engaged in industry. Appointed by Governor Hiram Johnson as a member of the industrial accident board of California in 1911, he was charged with the responsibility of presenting before the state legislature the workmen’s compensation insurance and safety act of California, which was universally received as a model piece of legislation, although bitterly opposed in the first instance by many of the employers of the state. Concerning his work in this connection, Governor Hiram Johnson, now United States senator, had this to say: “The man who is responsible for this act is a man who lives right here in this community, and who now sits on your superior court bench—Judge Willis I. Morrison. Nothing you can do to honor him will repay the obligation California owes him for this splendid work.” The California State Federation of Labor commented as follows: “In our official report, an effort will be made to give credit where credit is due, but we realize that no amount of eulogy can fully repay you for the long hours of earnest thought and intelligent effort which you have so unselfishly devoted to the men and women of labor.”
From 1913 to 1915, W. I. Morrison served as a judge of the superior court of the state of California, in and for the county of Los Angeles, being one of the youngest judges to hold office in the commonwealth. After retiring from the bench he became particularly interested in Farmers’ Cooperative Marketing Associations, and has represented a number of such associations while engaged in the general practice of law in Los Angeles, where he ranks with the leading members of the bar and has long been accorded an extensive and important clientele. His offices are in the Rowan building.
In 1922 Judge Morrison married Mabel Colyer and by this union there are three children, Frances Adele, Willis Irwin, Jr., and Barbara, aged ten, eight and seven years, respectively. The family residence is at 6147 Temple Hill drive in Hollywood.
Transcribed
2-21-13 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
627-628, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2013 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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BIOGRAPHIES