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22 Gavel 1 (1977)

handle is hein.barjournals/gavel0008 and id is 1 raw text is: THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE STATE BAR ASSOCIATION OF NORTH DAKOTA Volume 22 Number 1 January 1977 U From the President's Desk On my honor, I do solemnly promise:... Sound familiar? If not, check page 62 of the 1976 North Dakota Directory of Judges and Attorneys. I have been wanting to write on this particular subject for some time now but have not known how --- I'm not too sure I do now --- but I'm going to try. After receiving my copy of the Code of Professional Responsibility, I was paging through it when, among other things, Canon 1 E.C. 1-5 kind of slowed my reading progress. Among other things it says: A lawyer should maintain high standards of personal conduct and should encourage fellow lawyers to do likewise. It goes on and uses such words as temperate, dignified, and then continues ...he should refrain from all illegal and morally repre- hensible conduct. Because of his position in society, even minor violations of law by a lawyer may tend to lessen public confidence in the legal profession. Obedience to law ex- emplifies respect for laws. To lawyers especially, respect for the law should be more than a platitude. Canon 9 goes a bit further and states that the lawyer should avoid even the appearance of professional impropriety. As you ponder these thoughts, have you ever stopped to consider what your contribution has been to either lessen or enhance public confidence in the legal profession? One of our lawyer legislators has recently made known his great concern about the low esteem in which the legislature holds the lawyers. Other people have expanded this to include the general public as well. A bit of exaggeration, you say? Maybe --- but not according to a recent conference of leaders (non-lawyers) sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association, whose objective was to focus on the work of the legal profession. They came up with this rather sobering evaluation: Very few people really understand what lawyers do and how their pro- fession fits into the main stream of human existence. If nothing else emerged from the Woodberry Conference, there did emerge a plea from the public that lawyers come down from Mount Olympus and let people know in ordinary day-to-day terms what they do, how the public can effectively use their services, how they charge, and what the public should expect from the profession. The report goes on to state that these participants were people who for the most part are highly educated, highly intelligent and concerned, who have dealt with lawyers professionally and socially for years. It would seem that these people should have been best informed about the legal profession, yet found themselves woefully ignorant about the professionand how it functions in today's society. (continued on p 8 ) I | I II IIIIII

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