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5 Alaska L.J. 1 (1967)

handle is hein.barjournals/alaskalj0005 and id is 1 raw text is: LAW Vol. 5 JANUARY, 1967 No. I STATE BAR ASSOCIATION URGES REFORM LEGISLATION ON ATTORNEY ADMISSION LAWS AND REPEAL OF CLERKSHIP Memorandum of Board of Governors Clerkship Provision In Law Falls Below Cities Dissatisfaction With Standard Of American Bar Association (The following is the memorandum of the Board-Ed.) Attorney Admission Laws a part of the legislative pack- age involved in Chapter 47 SLA usual justification advanced for a 1965, the Legislature adopted pro- clerkship program is that in the (The following is the memorandum of the Board-Ed.) visions allowing for the substitu- absence of an Alaska law school . .. . (Continued on Page 2) Few problems have so vexed the government of the Alaska Bar Association as the administration of admissions. In meeting after meet- ing after mieting of- the Board of Governors, the problems of admis- sions have usurped all or nearly all of the time available for the Board's deliberations. After these meetings, each member is still left with a deep sense of dissatisfaction. In an area of public concern popularly as- sumed to be closely subject to control by attorneys, the Bar finds itself a party to a system characterized by arbitrariness, confusion and fun- damental unfairness. The disrepair of the existing system strongly suggests that the legislature overhaul the admissions procedures and substantive stand- ards now prevailing to provide for the growth of the- Alaska Bar through the efficient admission of qualified attorneys .and law grad- uates. The central problem is this: it makes no sense to subject individ- uals to the rigors of a law school education and these law school grad- uates to an exacting and comprehensive examination as a, qualification to practice in the State when various other avenues are available offering admission to practice without examination to persons who will, on the average, have significantly. inferior qualifications to practice law. While the amendments to the Bar Art. provided by Chap- ter 47, SLA 1965 did much to contrubute to the admissions problems by providing for the special admission of some persons unwilling or unable to take an examination, and not qualified by reason of past practice, a serious, inequitable situation preceded this event in the pro- visions of staute or rule relating to admissions by. reciprocity. Admissions Without Examination. It is the position of the Board of Governors that admission with- out examination should be abolished entirely. There are many good reasons for this, the principal among which may be summarized as follows: 1. The justification for allowing admission without examination is the logical presumption that the additional requirements asked of candidates for admission without examination are sufficent to assure the ability of the attorney in question and that an examination is there- fore superfluous. This assumption is not borne out in fact. Although the observation is of necessity subjective, the general quality, on the aver- age, of applicants for admission without examination has been inferior (Continued on Page 2) uon or a course oT study in me oi- fice of a practicing attorney for the requirement that a person be a graduate of an accredited law school for purpose of establishing eligibility for admission to the Alaska Bar. Although similar legislation exist- ed prior to statehood, an early legislature abolished those provi- sions in keeping-with the standards for admission recommended by the American Bar Association. In to- day's world, admission by clerk- ship is just as out of place as ad- mission to the practice of medicine by apprenticeship. Any clerkship program is an illusion insofar as it suggests that a legal education is practicably obtainable without go- ing to law school. The net effect of leaving these provisions on the books will be to build up a back- log of persons who have registered under the program but are incap- able of passing a regular examina- tion. Inevitably, these people will create pressure for the lowering of admissions standards on examina- tion and the public will end up the loser as unqualified persons become common in the practice of law. Since there are about a dozen people presently enrolled in the clerkship program, who should, in all fairness, be given grandfather rights, it is recommended that the repeal legislation contain provis- ions specifically upholding the au- thority of the Bar Association to regulate compliance. While the -I- L .o IN THIS ISSUE SPECIAL. FEATURE: Dis- cretional Reductim of Sen- tences W i t h i n Statutory Limits By Appellate Courts, by Atty. James C. Horna- day (complete article) 3 State Bar Assn. Urges Re- forms in Attorney Admis- sion Laws I -And Repeal of Clerkship 1 SUPREME COURT No. 372-State v. Pete (Crim- inal Procedure; Ill e g a 1 Liquor Sales) . . 6 No. 373-Solomon v. State (Criminal Appeals; When Additional Court Appointed Counsel Not Necessary 8 No. 374-Allen v. State (Crim- inal Law; Larceny by Prostitute From Custom- er) ................... 8 No. 375 Stanberry v. Manson (Oral Contract of Employ- m ent) .. .. .... ... .. 9 No. 376-Lowman v. State (Criminal Appeals; Mur- der; New Trial Denied) . 10 No. 377-Oughton v. State Criminal Appeals; Suffi- ciency of Knowledge by Ap- pellant-Defendant of Effect of Guilty Plea) .........11 No. 378-McDonough v. Lee (Attorney's Fees; When Trial Court May Deviate from Fee Schedule in Civ. Rule 82(a)(1) to Make Re- duction) ...............12

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