For 30 years, radio listeners have tuned in to hear Neil Chayet ’63, creator of thousands of nationally syndicated segments called "Looking at the Law." His one-minute monologues, which typically focus on a recent court decision, are broadcast in hundreds of media markets and have made Chayet something of a legal translator for the general public.

So when the home of Joseph Story--a former Supreme Court justice and a legendary leader of HLS--came up for sale, Chayet decided he had to have it.

"Story wrote commentaries so the average person could understand the law," said Chayet, president of the Chayet Communications Group and a member of the Harvard Law School Association executive committee. "I strive to follow in his footsteps by translating the law and then using it to entertain."

Built in 1811 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Joseph Story House sits near the town green in Salem, Mass., amid a number of expansive homes built by 18th- and 19th-century merchants. Before becoming a Supreme Court justice and HLS’s Dane Professor, Story grew up in Marblehead, Mass., the son of an international shipping magnate. At age 32, he became the youngest person ever appointed to the Court, and he is credited with saving HLS from financial and academic ruin in 1829.

Chayet and his wife, Martha, are planning a year of extensive renovations to the Story House.