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12 Law Notes Gen. Prac. [i] (1976)

handle is hein.journals/lwntgen12 and id is 1 raw text is: I (il Published by the American Bar Association's Section of General Practice Winter 1976 EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT I do not know John Harl Campbell, an attorney in Kansas City, Missouri, but I believe I would like him. He recently wrote: We can all ruminate with nostal- gia about the beginnings of the profession: the romantic aura that surrounded the practice and our ancestors at the bar. It was a time 100 years ago when a lawyer was revered for his education and seeming wizardry in solving the problems of his client. He was friend, counselor, advisor, confidant, confessor and path-finder through the lab- yrinth of the law. He seized the Bruce E. Davis highly diversified but reasonably simple problems of his individual clients by the throat and with tailor-made strategy wrestled with each and every one of them. No effort was made to categorize them for purposes of ef- ficient handling because there was no need to do so to meet his goals and the goals of his clients. His goal was to provide personal attention to each detail of his client's affairs while fiercely protecting his client's rights and his own independence. His recompense was an incidental mat- ter which everyone knew would be worked out in a manner reasonably satisfactory to himself and his client. He was engaged in the practice of law in its most laudable and pristine form; the delivery of services to all whose interests he could represent without conflict and all at a fee nego- tiated with each client based on his needs and ability to pay. In such a climate, the lawyer readily satisfied his duty to make counsel available to all people. I like to think (dream?) that my associates still view the legal profession as one in which we seek to be a friend, counselor, advisor, confidant, confessor and path-finder through the labyrinth of the law. However, I have never experienced a time such as now when so many of us were taking so much of our time to comment so often and so critically about so many of our colleagues. We speak publicly about the wrong subjects at the wrong time to the wrong audience. For example, recently a judge, speaking at a swearing-in ceremony for nearly 500 newly admitted lawyers, cautioned our new colleagues: It may not always be possible for unlimited numbers of young men and women to come to the bar and continue to enjoy the style of living that they have seen some of the earlier lawyers enjoy. Is enjoyment of a certain style of living what our profession is all about? I submit that such a comment to such an audience does not enhance our profession and casts shadows upon the ideals we hope our newly admitted colleagues will bring to the bar. I may be wrong about the present nobleness of our profession. It might be well if I were to reread the sage advice Robert Burns gave us nearly 200 years ago: Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, An' foolish notion. I shall conclude my comments on this subject by making reference to observations made years ago by Harrison Tweed and John W. Davis. Mr. Tweed ob- served: I have a high opinion of lawyers. With all their faults, they stack up well against those in every other occupation or profession. They are better to work with or play with or fight with or drink with than most other varieties of man- kind. Mr. Davis wrote of lawyers: True, we build no bridges. We raise no towers. We con- struct no engines. We paint no pictures-unless as ama- teurs for our principal amusement. There is little of all we do which the eyes of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make pos- sible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state. Vol. 12, No. I 24 Pages LAW NOTES FOR THE GENERAL PRACTITIONER Chairman and Editor Bruce E. Davis, Bethlehem Steel Corp., Bethlehem, PA Vice-Chairmen and Associate Editors: Advisory Board, Vice-Chairmen: Richard P. McLaughlin James R. Phelps Wayne Boyce Charles W. Joiner Richard E. Wiley F. Wallace Pope, Jr. Louis M. Brown Harry Wright III EditorialBoard Domenico J. Alfano (Administrative Law) Robert M. Westherg (Corporate) Lionard Kopelman (Miscellaneous) Richard K. Decker (Antitrust) William 0. Bittman (Criminal) Edward F. McKie, Jr. (Patent, Trademark & Robert T. Donley (Coal, Oil & Gas) Ralph J. Podell (Domestic Relations) Copyright) Hon. Francis J. Larkin (Commercial) Mitchell W. Miller (Economics of Practice) H. Henley Blair (Real Estate) Sidney L. Krawitz (Contracts) Marvin A. Cohen (Estate Planning & Probate) David B. Grishman (Taxation) William B. Spann, Jr. (Labor) Harry Sabbath Bodin (Trial, Practice & Negligence) LAW NOTES for the General Practitiolier

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