"Seeing Eye" Lawyer

Just seven years from the day he was blinded when an enemy artillery shell exploded near him on a battlefield in Germany, John Sirignano Jr. '46 was sworn in as an attorney in New York City, April 2. With him was Juno, a nine-year-old German shepherd dog who has been his seeing eye for the last six years, both at Dartmouth and later at Yale Law School. Mr. Sirignano, who passed his bar examinations last June, expects to specialize in trial work. For the immediate future he plans to do volunteer work with the Legal Aid Society.

He has many interests, a main one being his love of music. While still at Dartmouth he had an exceptional collection of records which he has been adding to ever since. He also enjoys traveling, a taste he claims is shared by Juno, and together they have made long journeys by bus, plane and train. John Sirignano likes to walk, too, and Juno, not a dog to dawdle, gets to places at a brisker pace with her master than most people can manage.

At Dartmouth, Mr. Sirignanowon the Lockwood English Prize for excellence in English Composition during his junior year. Although he can read Braille, he found that as a student it was more practicable for him to hire readers, and to make use of recorded readings. He has learned to absorb facts rapidly, the first time he hears them ... an accomplishment which would surely prove an asset to any trial lawyer.