His steps were slow, but Saul Litvinoff held his head high as he made his way to the podium.As Litvinoff, Boyd professor of law, stood before a crowd of friends, former students and faculty members, the room erupted in laughter at his witty personality.”It’s not that I teach, it’s [that] I stand in front of a class and make noises, and they tolerate it,” the visiting professor said in a video honoring him. Jack Weiss, Paul M. Hebert Law Center chancellor, announced Litvinoff’s retirement Friday as he was honored for his 43 years of service. Weiss proclaimed the 2008-2009 academic year “The Year of Litvinoff.”   Weiss placed a yellow hat, with the letters “YOL” written on the front, on his head and walked to the retiring professor’s seat to give him one. “I hope the baseball cap has not disturbed my expensive hairdo,” Litvinoff said. Litvinoff was also honored with a Distinguished Endowed Professorship in his name presented by Ava Haymon and her husband Cordell Haymon, who could not be present at the ceremony.Litvinoff was born and raised in Argentina where he received his first law degree. He received his master of laws degree at Yale Law School in 1964. Litvinoff said he was in Chicago “many, many years ago” when he ran into “the legendary” Paul M. Hebert, who was dean at the Law Center at the time. Herbert invited him to come to Louisiana and teach civil and common law, Litvinoff said, and he became a visiting professor to the Law Center in 1965.”Then I wanted to go back home, but my wife and daughter liked Louisiana very much,” he said. “The dean gave me an offer to be a permanent teacher, and they accepted — so I had to.”  Litvinoff also said he fell in love with Louisiana because of the flowers, the culture and the people, and he plans on staying in the state after his retirement.Cheney Joseph, Law Center vice chancellor of academic affairs, said his office was across from Litvinoff for many years and described him as a sharp man with a cutting wit, much to the delight of his students and colleagues.”He is well known for just walking into class with a role sheet and a cigarette,” Joseph said, explaining a time when that behavior was permissible. “He didn’t need to carry books like the rest of us.”Weiss said very few people who have crossed the Law Center’s threshold have made such a contribution as Litvinoff.Oliver Richard, Clean Fuel USA chairman and former president of Columbia Energy Group, said he made his highest grade as a freshman in Litvinoff’s class. Richard said Litvinoff was the “most rewarding and most intense” professor he ever had.Litvinoff’s work includes his revisions to the Louisiana Civil Code on obligations and sales. He became the reporter for rewriting Louisiana’s law on obligations and it was enacted as Louisiana’s law in 1984. He spent 10 years revising the civil code title of Sales. Litvinoff said he wrote the four volumes of the Louisiana Civil Law in his “spare time.””My spare time was at the time when people sleep,” he said.William Crawford, Law Center professor, said he had a close friendship with Litvinoff and would often ask him to check his work. He said Litvinoff labored over his work to make sure there was a practical application for lawyers.But Litvinoff said his fondest memories of his time at the Law Center aren’t his many accomplishments. He said his sweetest memories are “the men and women who have been my students.”—-Contact Joy Lukachick at [email protected]