Karen Morris:
And now casino law

Teaching, Morris said, is stimulating both intellectually and socially. "I really like working with students," she said. "They help me see the material fresh every year." The judgeship in Brighton Town, she said, is intellectual:

"You look at the law a different way as a judge than as a lawyer. As a lawyer you're an advocate, as a judge you step back from advocacy and your role is to look at law objectively. It's a different way of utilizing rules and statutes."

She enjoys being a lawyer too: "Lawyers have to be very clever. They have to keep up with new twists on the law and use the law relatively." She also enjoys the research and writing aspects and dealing with lots of people.

Morris likes to know that people are learning based on her words. "My textbooks form a foundation for learning about a discipline," she said. "After dealing with lots of people (in my other jobs), it's nice to just sit at my computer -- just me, my computer and my writing."

Morris writes year-round but finds summer the best. She needs at least an hour to get into the writing. Anything less than that she says is wasted time. "I push everything else aside when I write," she said. She prefers to write later in the day and evening during the week and mornings and afternoons on weekends. When she's finally finished with a project, she sees it as a major accomplishment. "With my first text, I took a picture of myself handing the FedEx guy the first copy of the manuscript."

To new authors, Morris gives this advice: Make sure you're serious about the pursuit of writing a textbook, make sure it is a priority and be a member of Text and Academic Authors. "The networking and advice of other members has helped me tremendously," she said. Morris took over as president of Text and Academic Authors in 1999 for a one-year term.

Morris didn't know what she wanted to do as a career while in college. "I went into law by default," she said. After working in legal clinics her junior year, she applied for law school and says she has enjoyed law ever since. "Law is everywhere," she said. "What you study in class can be seen in movies, on television and in newspapers." Real-life cases and TV dramas about law can be used as a vehicle, Morris said, to explain the law, examining whether the portrayal is accurate or slanted and helps students to learn the law.

She wrote the fifth edition of Hotel, Restaurant & Travel Law in 1998 and New York State Cases in Business Law, a textbook supplement, in 1991. She has also written an instructional software program called "You Be The Judge!" in 1992 and various editorials and articles on topics such as the selection of Supreme Court justices, sexual harassment, free speech, privacy and domestic violence. She also produced a video presentation on shoplifting called "Shoplifting From Legal, Management and Retailing Perspectives."

Hotel, Restaurant & Travel Law is intended for hotel and restaurant management majors, travel and tourism majors and students who want to be travel agents. It discusses the law relating to issues that arise between a hotels and guests, restaurants and customers, casinos and gamblers, and travel agents and customers. The 1998 edition of Hotel, Restaurant & Travel Law contains a new chapter on casino law. "Casinos are a major new interest in this field," she said. "The interest in casino law has expanded as casinos have increased in regularity. Many hotel and restaurant management graduates have gone to work in casinos."

A feature to the new text is a section at the end of each chapter called "Preventive Law Tips for Managers." The section reinforces chapter information helpful to hospitality managers in avoiding lawsuits. "The book takes the preventive approach: Learn from other's mistakes and thereby avoid them," Morris said. "Protect your facility from expensive law suits."

Morris received a Juris Doctor degree from St. John's University in 1975 and a master's of law from New York University in 1980. In 1999, she began her sixth year as a Brighton Town justice, her 20th year as a professor at Monroe Community College, and her 24th year as a lawyer.

In her spare time, she participates in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program in Rochester. She said she takes her role as a big sister very seriously. "My 'little sister' is a priority for me," she said.

Morris also coaches soccer for 8- and 9-year-olds. "We were undefeated this year," she said proudly after the 1998 season. When she's not working or volunteering, Morris enjoys in-line skating, biking, running and reading. Dean Koontz is her favorite author.

— reported by Kim Pawlak, 1999