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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024523486 
 
THE 
 
 LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 BY 
 
 P< f^ 
 
 &S 
 
 FREDERICK J.j^LEN 
 
 'lAssistanl JDireflor, ^ureau of Vocational Quidanee 
 "Dimsion of EJuStton, Harvard Umiiersily 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
 
 1919 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1919 
 BY EKEDEEICK J. AIXEN 
 
 AVI rights reserved 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IT is the purpose of the following pages to present a 
 clear, accurate, and impartial study of the law in 
 the hope of offering assistance to those who are at- 
 tempting to choose a career or who are about to enter 
 upon the profession. This necessitates a review of the 
 nature of the law, present-day legal conditions, per- 
 sonal and educational entrance requirements, the dan- 
 gers and disadvantages incident to practice, the high 
 professional demands made upon the lawyer, the varied 
 fields of service open to him, his probable earnings and 
 emoluments, — in a word, all that has a distinct and 
 important bearing upon the law as a vocation. 
 
 If this book confirms the young man of abiHty in his 
 choice of the profession and keeps out of its ranks those 
 who have not the natural and acquired fitness neces- 
 sary for success, the purpose of the book will have been 
 accomplished. It is sent out to young men and their 
 advisers with this end in view. 
 
 While this publication does not claim to be exhaus- 
 tive or final, the investigations upon which it is based 
 have been made with extreme care. Lawyers of high 
 professional standing and people connected with many 
 divisions of the profession have been interviewed. All 
 available sources of information have been used and 
 the material, both in its rough draft and in its final 
 form, has been submitted to many authorities. 
 
IV PREFACE 
 
 Special acknowledgment is due the following per- 
 sons: — 
 
 Dean John H. Wigmore, of the Law School of North- 
 western University, who contributed valuable sug- 
 gestions and material and read the proof of the first 
 edition of the book. 
 
 Dean Homer Albers, of the Law School of Boston Uni- 
 versity, who read the original manuscript in full. 
 
 The late Dean Ezra R. Thayer, of the Law School of 
 Harvard University. 
 
 The Librarian of the Social Law Library, Boston, for 
 use of the resources of the Library. 
 
 Mr. Arthur W. Spencer, Editor of The Green Bag, for 
 helpful suggestions on legal publications. 
 
 My associates in the Bureau of Vocational Guidance, 
 who have contributed valuable material for Chapter 
 V ia this revision of the book. 
 
 Frederick J. Allen. 
 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
 January, 1919. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction by William Howard Taft . . . vii 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The Field of the Law 3 
 
 The nature of law — Changing functions of the lawyer — 
 Classes of lawyers : The general practitioner — The crimi- 
 nal lawyer — The tort lawyer — The real-estate lawyer — 
 The patent lawyer — The admiralty lawyer — The cor- 
 poration lawyer — Office practice and court practice — 
 Private practice — Public practice — The notary public 
 and justice of the peace — A court — Court officials — 
 The court practitioner — Sumn^ary and outline. 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 
 Service and Opportunities in the Profession . 12 
 Common forms of practice — Routine of law work — 
 Public prosecutors — The bench — The judiciary — 
 Clerk of court — Member of special commission or court 
 — Master and auditor — Register of probate — Register 
 of deeds — The lawyer in business — In education — In 
 authorship — In government — In social service — As 
 counsel for the people. 
 
 CHAPTER in 
 
 Preparing for the Profession 23 
 
 Qualities required in the lawyer — Early office training — 
 View of Lincoln — Passing of the office method — Growth 
 of law courses — Collegiate law courses — Special law 
 schools — Graduate schools of law — Requirements for 
 
VI CONTENTS 
 
 admission — Raising the standard — The case method — 
 Introduction of the case method at Harvard — Purpose of 
 a legal education — Degrees in law — Legal publications 
 
 — Wide study necessary — Leadership in the law. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Entering into Practice 35 
 
 The bar and bar associations — Admission to the bar — 
 Rules adopted by American Bar Association — Rules of 
 admission in various states — Code of ethics of the Ameri- 
 can Bar Association — Disbarment — Where to begin 
 practice — Acquiring a practice — Assistant in law office 
 
 — Independent practitioner — Customary fees of the pro- 
 fession — Minimum fee — Drawing deed or mortgage — 
 Drawing wills — Court service — Settling case out of 
 court — Settling small cases — Larger cases — Bank- 
 ruptcy cases — Examining titles — Writing legal opinions 
 
 — Fixing amount of legal fee — Salaries of legal officials 
 and judges — Objections to entering the profession — Low 
 average earnings — Statement from " American Law Rec- 
 ord " — Table of earnings — Incompetent practitioners 
 
 — The law a fighting profession — Ethics in taking a case. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Present Tendencies in the Profession .... 54 
 Increase in the number of law schools — Longer courses 
 offered • — Changing standards for admission to the bar — 
 Obligations of the lawyer to the state, courts, and clients 
 
 — The lawyer's connection with goveriunent — Examina- 
 tions for admission to the bar — Private relarion to the 
 community — Summary of state examination require- 
 ments — Overcrowding in the legal profession — Sug- 
 gested remedies — The attitude of the bar toward 
 commercialism. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE importance of the law as a profession has not 
 been reduced but is greatly increased by the new 
 era which is to follow this war. The formulation into 
 a practical advance of the new ideals must be the 
 work of lawyers. Lawyers in their profession are syn- 
 thetic and constructive. Many a man can deliver an 
 oration, painting in beautiful colors the principles 
 which should guide and the purposes which should be 
 achieved, but the number of men who can draft the 
 statutes and prepare the machinery by which the prin- 
 ciples can be sustained and the ideals realized is lim- 
 ited. The study of the profession of the law giving, 
 as it does, familiarity with the actual operation of 
 statutes, the difficulty of their enforcement growing 
 out of the defects of human nature in those whose 
 compliance with the law is necessary, and a knowl- 
 edge of the administration of ju^ce — all fit lawyers 
 to lead in the real progress of a nation. More than 
 this, in the progress likely to take place, the nice bal- 
 ance between private right and public necessity must 
 be preserved in order that individual initiative and the 
 spur of the advance of all by the advance of each shall 
 not be lost. It is lawyers who are to defend this pri- 
 vate right. It is lawyers who are to assert the neces- 
 sity of the public weal. It is lawyers on the bench who 
 
viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 are to hold the balance even between the two. Never 
 in the history of the world is the profession of the law 
 to play a greater part than in the century to follow this 
 great upheaval of fundamental elements of society. 
 
 William H. Tapt. 
 
 Washington, D.C. 
 
 January 14, 1919. 
 
THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE FIELD OF THE LAW 
 
 ANY yovmg man who approaches the study of the 
 law as a possible future profession is more than 
 likely to get his first impression of the lawyer from the 
 stories of famous court practitioners, or from the biog- 
 raphies of statesmen, poKticians, and successful busi- 
 ness men. It is probable that if he tries to form a 
 concrete picture of the lawyer, he imagines him either 
 as an attorney advising his clients upon legal matters 
 or in a court room pleading a case. That there are 
 many other activities in which a lawyer may engage, 
 and that his profession includes not only interesting 
 possibilities for service, but also a great variety of pos- 
 sible connections with industrial, municipal, and edu- 
 cational matters will be made clear by the account 
 which follows. 
 
 In its historical development law followed the estab- 
 Ushment of govenmient. It gradually came to consist 
 of the body of rules and practices relating to the con- 
 duct of men in communities. All law may be regarded 
 as an expression of public will and custom, slowly de- 
 veloping with the advancement of civilization. Its 
 principles constitute a science; its practice is an art. 
 Preparation for the profession must involve both the 
 study of the science and the application of its principles. 
 
4 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 The profession of the law has always appealed to 
 young men and especially was this true during the 
 early years of our Republic when its practice opened 
 many avenues to usefulness and distinction in public 
 life. Its modem demands are so high, and the condi- 
 tions of genuine success so exacting that it is inevitable 
 that many of the iU-equipped and misgtdded begiimers 
 who flood the ranks of the legal profession should fail 
 of success. 
 
 The early service of the lawyer in England was as an 
 attorney in the courts, as one ofl&cer of a system to 
 establish or maintain justice. It was necessary that 
 each of the litigants or disputants in a case at law 
 should be represented by a person especially trained in 
 the law, who could present his cHent's case in its strong- 
 est aspect and call the attention of the presiding oflScer, 
 judge, or jury to the law set forth as applying to the 
 case. This was the lawyer's first service in the com- 
 mimity. He has always been regarded as an officer of 
 the court, to assist in the working out of the law's just 
 application between man and man. 
 ' The functions of the lawyer as attorney in the courts 
 have greatly enlarged. With the gradual evolution of 
 society and the development of the complex system of 
 law in our modem civilizatiQn the profession of the law 
 has broadened into various and clearly defined fields of 
 service. ' Thus the lawyer of the present day may 
 choose fields of activity that were not open to his pred- 
 ecessors. Court practice, while still a conspicuous part 
 of his duty, has given way in large degree to many 
 
THE FIELD OF THE LAW $ 
 
 other kinds of service, ranging from the writing of legal 
 papers to acting as counselor for corporations. 
 
 In the main fields of practice lawyers may be classi- 
 fied into five leading divisions. Any lawyer may have 
 the bulk of his practice in one of these major fields, and 
 have at the same time some activity in any other field. 
 The main divisions are, the General Practitioner, the 
 Criminal Lawyer, the Tort Lawyer, the. Real Estate 
 Lawyer, and the Patent Lawyer. A sixth division is 
 the Admiralty Lawyer. 
 
 The general practitioner performs various kinds of 
 legal service, such as may be caUed for in any com- 
 munity. These are treated at length in Chapter II. 
 
 The criminal lawyer is one whose chief practice lies 
 in the criminal courts, deahng with offenses against 
 society or the state. 
 
 The tort lawyer tries damage stiits, as in case of tres- 
 pass, accident, or other injury. Industrial accident 
 cases figure largely in this division, which is an exten- 
 sive and distinct field of the profession. One may be a 
 plaintiff lawyer, regularly handling cases for parties 
 who claim damage; or a defendant lawyer, generally 
 serving a Uability insurance company, corporation, or 
 other employer, that may be sued for damages. 
 
 The conveyancer or real-estate lawyer is chiefly an 
 examiner of titles, mainly for savings banks, coopera- 
 tive banks, and individuals. He acts, also, as trustee, 
 and holds funds for investment. He is in close touch 
 with the real-estate business, as agent in buying and 
 selling, and may himself engage in that business. He 
 
6 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 may be called to practice in the probate courts in the 
 administration of estates, handling trusts, and in the 
 appointing of guardians. Because of his knowledge of 
 the law, the lawyer is very generally chosen for services 
 of this nature. 
 
 The patent lawyer acts as an agent in securing pat- 
 ents from the national government and as'general at- 
 torney in patent cases. 
 
 The admiralty lawyer deals with htigation arising 
 from accidents or other causes at sea. This is a highly 
 speciaHzed division of the law and one of increasing 
 importance. 
 
 Ofl&ce practice and court practice are closely related 
 and both may enter into the work of any lawyer. The 
 general term used upon lawyers' signs is " Attorney 
 and Counselor-at-Law," thus indicating this double 
 form of activity. The collector of accounts may sue a 
 debtor and take the case to the courts, thus passing 
 into the field of court practice. Yet the legal adviser, 
 or counselor-at-law, in a multitude of instances brings 
 about the settlement of cases out of the court. 
 
 In England the terms " barrister " and " solicitor " 
 have long been used to distinguish kinds of practice. 
 The barrister is the court practitioner; the solicitor, 
 the office practitioner. The latter is not allowed, as in 
 this country, to appear as pleader in the courts, but 
 must be regularly represented by a barrister. On the 
 other hand the latter very generally employs a solicitor 
 to prepare a case for presentation in the courts. While 
 we have adopted the EngKsh common law we have 
 
THE FIELD OF THE LAW 7 
 
 abandoned these restrictions imposed in that country 
 upon its practice. 
 
 Many lawyers appear but little before the courts, 
 often but a few times a year, and some never enter 
 court at all. Such are ofl&ce practitioners and general 
 counselors, and their practice is largely of a private 
 nature. 
 
 In such practice lawyers examine the validity of 
 titles to property for persons about to make purchases; 
 they draw up wills, contracts, corporation papers, or 
 other legal documents; they act as trustees for estates 
 in cases calling for legal training, as administrators and 
 executors of estates, as guardians for minors, as col- 
 lectors of accounts for individuals or for corporations, 
 as general advisers on questions of law, or as legislative 
 agents. 
 
 Such private practice constitutes a large part of the 
 work of the profession, and young men who study law 
 must look forward in the main to this kind of activity, 
 often commonplace and uninspiring but useful and 
 necessary in modem communities. 
 
 On the other hand the work of the oflSce practitioner 
 may be public, semi-official, or of a distinctly judicial 
 nature. In this case the lawyer acts as public admin- 
 istrator, master in chancery, referee in bankruptcy 
 proceedings, auditor of public accounts, and justice of 
 the peace or notary public. 
 
 Such duties, especially of the notary and justice, 
 may be combined with those given above as belonging 
 distinctly to the private field. 
 
8 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 Lawyers, whether in court or cflSce practice, usually 
 become notaries or Justices for the convenience of their 
 cKents who may desire to acknowledge deeds or other 
 legal papers. Sometimes men outside of the profession, 
 whose business or associations offer opportunity for 
 such service, obtain appointments and act as notaries 
 and justices. 
 
 Appointments to these offices are made by the gov- 
 ernors of states, upon the payment of a small fee and 
 for a definite term of years. 
 
 A court is a place for the administering of justice 
 under the law. It is an organized body, having clearly 
 defined powers, and meeting at fixed times and places, 
 to hear and decide upon cases at law and other matters 
 that may be brought before it. Its head is the judge 
 who presides, and decisions are rendered by the judge 
 or, in jury session, by a jury of twelve men chosen from 
 the voting list of the district in which the court meets. 
 
 The usual officials of a court are the following: 
 
 1. Attorney and counsel, who present and manage 
 the business of the court. 
 
 2. A Clerk, who records and attests its acts and 
 decisions. 
 
 3. Court Officers, who maintain decorum. 
 
 4. A Probation Officer, in recent times. 
 
 5. Interpreter. 
 
 6. Stenographer. 
 
 7. Attendants and assistants.^ 
 
 ' See Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure, American Law Book Co., 
 ii, 654- 
 
THE FIELD OF THE LAW 9 
 
 The court practitioner, who may deal with criminal 
 cases, damage suits, real estate or other property, pat- 
 ents, or cases of less frequent occurrence, comes before 
 the federal or state courts according to the nature of 
 subjects in dispute and the law involved. A simple 
 offense in a small coiranunity may be treated before a 
 justice of the peace; in a larger town, before the police 
 court; in a city, before the police or municipal court. 
 A more important matter may come within the juris- 
 diction of the higher state courts, or pass by appeal up 
 to the Supreme Court of a state. In Massachusetts 
 the Superior Court is the great trial court. Still other 
 cases, affecting the laws or interests of the national 
 government, or affecting the interests of more than a 
 single state, or of citizens in different states, may come 
 before the United States district courts, and go by ap- 
 peal to the United States Supreme Court. 
 
 In earUer times in this country the lawyer very gen- 
 erally entered into all the divisions of the profession, 
 and the majority of lawyers stiU have a varied practice. 
 As in other professions, however, there is now a tend- 
 ency toward specialization in some part of the great 
 field. 
 
 To simimarize and show the various divisions of 
 practice as a whole, and especially to make clear the 
 federal and state courts, the following outhne is 
 presented: ^ 
 
 1 There are various other special forms of courts or functions of 
 courts that necessarily are not included in this list. 
 
lO THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 The Office Peactitioner as a General 
 coxjnselor 
 
 Practice of a Private Nature 
 
 1. Examination of Titles. 
 
 2. Drafting Wills, Contracts, and Similar Legal 
 Papers. 
 
 3. As Trustee in the Management of Estates. 
 
 4. As Administrator or Executor Upon Estates. 
 
 5. As Trustee or Guardian for Minors. 
 
 6. As Collector of Accotmts. 
 
 7. As General Consultant and Legal Adviser. 
 
 8. As Legislative Agent. 
 
 Practice of a Public Nature 
 
 1. As Public Administrator. 
 
 2. As Master in Chancery. 
 
 3. As Trustee or Referee in Bankruptcy. 
 
 4. As Auditor. 
 
 5. As Notary and Justice. 
 
 The Court Practitioner, in the Various 
 Courts 
 
 The Federal Courts 
 
 1. The United States Supreme Court. 
 
 2. The United States Circuit Courts of Appeals. 
 
 3. The United States District Courts, one in each 
 district within the circuit. 
 
 4. Admiralty Courts. 
 
 5. The Courts of the District of Colimibia. 
 
THE FIELD OF THE LAW II 
 
 The State Courts 
 
 1. The State Supreme Court, held in the various 
 counties of a state, called the Appellate Court in sev- 
 eral states. 
 
 2. The Superior Court, held in each county. 
 
 3. The Probate Court, in each county. 
 
 4. The Land Court. 
 
 5. The District, Municipal, or Police Court, in large 
 towns or cities. 
 
 6. The Court of the Trial Justice, in small cities or 
 towns. 
 
 Public Offices Based on Legal Training 
 
 1. Register of Probate. 
 
 2. Register of Deeds. 
 
 3. Clerk of Court. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SERVICE AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 
 PROFESSION 
 
 THE attomey-at-law is occupied mainly by litiga- 
 tion between private individuals or corporations. 
 This form of practice, with the minor duties constitut- 
 ing office practice, as outlined in the preceding chap- 
 ter, makes up the larger part of the activity of the 
 profession. Very frequently individuals of fair intel- 
 ligence, honesty, and judgment in business matters, 
 but having no training in the law, serve as trustees, 
 administrators, executors, or guardians. The lawyer, 
 however, by virtue of his legal training, is eminently 
 fitted to act in these and similar forms of practice. In 
 the examination of titles and the drafting of all sorts 
 of legal papers a considerable technical knowledge of 
 the law, beyond that usually acquired by the layman, 
 is indispensable. Such minor activities, especially in 
 connection with the preparation and execution of legal 
 papers, in some instances compose the lawyer's main 
 practice. 
 
 The lawyer spends a part of his time in studying law, 
 reading statutes, decisions, reports, and treatises. The 
 printed decisions in various states range from one to 
 eighteen or twenty volumes a year. With these and 
 
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PROFESSION 1 3 
 
 other legal material the lawyer is bound to have some 
 acquaintance. Furthermore, the lawyer spends part of 
 his time studying miscellaneous topics, which become 
 the subject of litigation, such as street paving, the coal 
 business, the chemistry of wall paper, and so on. Every 
 science may have something to say to the lawyer. Part 
 of his time is spent in consultation with his clients ; first 
 of all to ascertain the facts of their case, and afterwards 
 to explain to them their rights on the facts. He also 
 spends time writing letters, and doing sundry business 
 incidental to giving advice to his client. This work for 
 the client branches out into a search for missing wit- 
 nesses, examination of records of deeds to discover the 
 ownership of real estate, the perusal of the account 
 books of a cHent to find out the balance of a claim, or 
 similar investigations. Furthermore, part of his time 
 is spent in the writing of pleadings and briefs; the 
 pleadings are the statements of claim or defense made 
 by lii'm to the court; the briefs are his written argu- 
 ments of law giving the legal reasons why the law 
 favors his client's case. Finally, he spends much of his 
 time in argmnents to the judge and the jury; and in 
 the examination of witnesses and other proceedings in 
 court. Here, as in aU occupations, nine-tenths of the 
 work is what may be called routine work, or even 
 drudgery. This cannot be escaped. The lawyer does 
 not spend his time in preparing and delivering eloquent 
 orations. As in other occupations, the really interest- 
 ing work, full of perpetual zest, is usually a small part 
 of the whole. 
 
14 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 The time for the lawyer's work is not fixed. He may 
 work four hours a day, or twenty-four hours a day. 
 He has few holidays and vacations; and the more suc- 
 cessful he is, the fewer he is likely to take. 
 
 The clients with whom the lawyer has to do are of 
 all sorts, rich and poor, old and young, bankers, car- 
 drivers, public ofl&cials, ragpickers, railroad superin- 
 tendents, and persons in all the walks of life. Some 
 lawyers who have specialized in their practice may 
 meet only one class of cHents, for example, bankers; 
 but this is not usual. 
 
 An attorney who is conducting a case in court often 
 has the advice and aid of other lawyers as counsel or 
 associates. 
 
 There are many lawyers throughout the country en- 
 gaged in the public service as salaried prosecuting 
 officers, both by appointment and by popular election. 
 They serve as attorneys for town, city, county, district, 
 state, and nation. These positions, in state and fed- 
 eral service, are as follows: 
 
 1. Town or City Solicitor. 
 
 2. County or District Attorney. 
 
 3. The Attorney General of a state, and his assist- 
 ants. 
 
 4. The United States District Attorney, and his 
 assistants. 
 
 5. The Attorney General of the United States, and 
 his regular and special assistants. 
 
 There are also lawyers connected, as federal offi- 
 cials, with various government bureaus, such as the 
 
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PROFESSION IS 
 
 Bureau of Insular Affairs or the Bureau of Engraving 
 and Printing. 
 
 The duty of the public prosecutor is obviously to 
 prosecute all offenders against the laws of the jurisdic- 
 tion, or district, which he represents. Thus a county 
 attorney would prosecute offenders for offenses com- 
 mitted within his county; a district attorney, for of- 
 fenses within his district. The city solicitor seldom 
 conducts a prosecution. He advises* city officials and 
 defends the city in civil suits brought against it. 
 
 The attorney general of a state has jurisdiction 
 throughout the state, and usually takes personal 
 charge of the more important cases on trial. Such an 
 official must defend his jurisdiction in suits brought 
 against it for any cause. He is also regularly called 
 upon for legal opinions on questions arising in govern- 
 mental affairs, and is the official legal adviser of the 
 chief executive over him, as mayor or governor. 
 
 The bench is the term used for the body of the judges 
 who preside over the various courts, state and federal. 
 Judges are usually appointed or elected from the ranks 
 of lawyers of extended court practice and of judicial 
 temperament. The trial justice or the police-court 
 judge may be a layman appointed to the office, but the 
 higher positions demand the utmost legal training, the 
 fullest knowledge of law, and known honesty and fair- 
 ness of mind. 
 
 The judiciary in this country includes the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
1 6 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 In the State Courts 
 
 1. Judge of the Court of the Trial Justice. 
 
 2. Judge of the Police Court, Municipal Court, or 
 District Court. 
 
 3. Judge of Probate. 
 
 4. Judge of the Superior Court of a State. 
 
 5. Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court or 
 of the Appellate Court. 
 
 6. Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court. 
 
 In the Federal Courts 
 
 1. Judge of a District of Columbia Court. 
 
 2. Judge of a special court, such as Court of Claims. 
 
 3. Judge of the United States District Court. 
 
 4. Judge of the United States Circuit Court of 
 Appeals. 
 
 5. Associate Justice of the United States Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 6. Chief Justice of the United States Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 The clerk is an officer of a court of justice who has 
 charge of the clerical part of its business. He is the 
 recording officer of a court. He has the custody of its 
 seal, keeps its records, issues processes, administers the 
 oath to witnesses before the court, enters judgments 
 and orders, gives out certified copies of the records, or 
 performs such other duties as are connected with its 
 records. He is appointed to office by a court or judge 
 
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PROFESSION 1 7 
 
 or elected by popular vote, for a term fixed by statute 
 or other provision. 
 
 The clerk may or may not be a lawyer, but must be 
 skilled in court procedure. Unofl&cially he sometimes 
 advises with the attorney or counsel for either side of 
 a case upon its conduct in the court. Frequently, also, 
 the clerk of a court becomes a practicing attorney. 
 
 A lawyer at the bar or a judge on the bench may be 
 appointed a member of a special commission, board, 
 or court, such as the Boston Transit Commission, the 
 Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board, The Massa- 
 chusetts State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation, 
 or the Hague Court of Arbitration. Such bodies are 
 created, generally, to investigate and determine ques- 
 tions in which vital points of law are involved, and 
 draw their members largely from the legal profession. 
 A special board or commission often employs legal 
 counsel to aid in the conduct of its work. 
 
 In equity cases a lawyer may be appointed by the 
 court, usually upon the recommendation of the oppos- 
 ing lawyers in a case, to hear the evidence and report 
 to the court upon the facts of a case. The master's 
 ofl&ce is a branch of the court. The lawyer appointed 
 for this service in law cases is called an auditor. 
 
 The registry of probate is the recording division of 
 the probate court. The register of probate is the re- 
 cording officer of a county for the probating of wills. 
 He has the care and the custody of all books, docu- 
 ments, and papers belonging to the court or filed in 
 the registry of probate, such as records of the admin- 
 
r8 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 istration of estates, of the appointments of guardians 
 for minors or other persons, of the adoption of children, 
 or of changes in the names of individuals. 
 
 The register is elected for a term of years by popu- 
 lar vote. He must be fully trained in the law. His 
 office is an important one, along with that of the judge 
 of probate, and is regularly filled by a lawyer. 
 
 The register of probate generally has an assistant 
 who is appointed by the judge of probate. 
 
 The register of deeds is the keeper of land records 
 for a coxmty or district of a coimty. His duty is to 
 record all deeds and other legal instrimients relating 
 to land transfer which must be kept on file in the reg- 
 istry of a county or district, and to attest and give out 
 copies to persons entitled to them. 
 
 The register of deeds is nearly always a practicing 
 lawyer. He is elected for a term of years, and ap- 
 points his own assistant. 
 
 Some lawyers serve as the salaried attorneys and 
 counselors of corporations. In the increasing complex- 
 ity of modem industrial conditions, in which business 
 is becoming largely professionalized, this form of serv- 
 ice is of growing importance. It may be the lawyer's 
 only activity, and it sometimes leads to his becoming 
 a general manager or other official of a corporation, 
 leaving his place as special counsel to be filled by an- 
 other member of the profession. As in state affairs, 
 especially in earlier times, the influence of the lawyer 
 is now permeating the fields of industry and com- 
 merce. 
 
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PROFESSION I9 
 
 The general work of the profession falls into two 
 major divisions of practice, office practice and court 
 practice. Office work in turn divides into private and 
 public. 
 
 While a few lawyers enter business at the top, 
 through becoming attorneys for large business enter- 
 prises, very many young men with legal training, 
 which is of value in all forms of business activity, go 
 into various positions in the business world instead of 
 undertaking the practice of law at all, or after prac- 
 ticing for some length of time. In many cases young 
 men take the law school course as a preparation for 
 business, especially the courses offered by evening law 
 schools. 
 
 Sometimes lawyers who conduct an active practice 
 are engaged also in business enterprises, alone or as 
 partners or associates of others, as in the case of the 
 real-estate lawyer. 
 
 Practicing lawyers and men trained in the profession 
 are engaged in teaching the various branches of the 
 law, as professors, instructors, and lecturers, in many 
 educational institutions in this and other countries. 
 Such institutions include law schools, schools of com- 
 merce and finance, medical schools, colleges, and uni- 
 versities. 
 
 In addition to practice, and frequently out of their 
 practice, some lawyers become writers and journalists. 
 There is an ample field in the law journals, secular 
 magazines, the daily press, and in legal textbooks and 
 treatises on legal subjects. By deahng with the great 
 
20 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 pubKc questions of the day, the lawyer as writer may 
 become a publicist of far reaching influence. 
 
 Even more than in other coxmtries lawyers in this 
 country have borne a large part in public life from the 
 founding of the Republic. Not only has the profession 
 filled the judicial department of government, but it 
 has contributed very largely to the legislative and ex- 
 ecutive branches. This is due to several causes, the 
 public nature of the lawyer's practice, his wide ac- 
 quaintance, his knowledge of men and of civil and po- 
 Ktical affairs, and frequently his experience and ability 
 in pubHc speaking. This place of the profession in 
 poHtical Kfe is to be expected, also, from the fact that 
 those who know the law are well equipped to take a 
 leading part in its making and enforcement. 
 
 Lawyers are found in considerable numbers in the 
 governing bodies of towns and cities, in state legisla- 
 tures, and in the National Congress. Many governors 
 of states, some of our presidents, and members of their 
 cabinets have been lawyers. 
 
 The lawyer's training and his place in the commu- 
 nity should make him naturally an adviser and leader 
 in movements for the pubHc good. When public- 
 spirited, he enters into many social, civic, educational, 
 and philanthropic enterprises. In the Free Legal Aid 
 societies the lawyer renders one of his most useful 
 services. 
 
 In practice before a legislative body public interests 
 are involved. Here the lawyer may render the highest 
 service to the community, like that of the founders of 
 
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PROFESSION 21 
 
 the Republic. The great social, economic, and indus- 
 trial problems of the present time, such as the regula- 
 tion of trusts, the fixing of railway rates, the munid- 
 paHzation of pubHc utiUties, and the relation between 
 capital and labor call for the exercise of legal abihty of 
 the highest order. 
 
 " Here, consequently, is the great opportunity of the 
 bar. The next generation must witness a continuing 
 and ever-increasing contest between those who have 
 and those who have not. The industrial world is in a 
 state of ferment. The ferment is in the main peaceful 
 and, to a considerable extent, silent; but there is felt 
 today very widely the inconsistency in this condition 
 of poHtical democracy and industrial absolutism. The 
 people are beginning to doubt whether in the long run 
 democracy and absolutism can co-exist in the same 
 community: beginning to doubt whether there is a 
 justification for the great inequahties in the distribu- 
 tion of wealth, for the rapid creation of fortunes, more 
 mysterious than the deeds of Aladdin's lamp. The 
 people have begun to think; and they show evidence 
 on all sides of a tendency to act. Those who have 
 never had an opportunity of talking much with labor- 
 ing men can hardly form a conception of the amoimt 
 of thinking that they are doing. With many it is the 
 aU-absorbing occupation, the only thing that occupies 
 their minds. Many of these men otherwise uneducated 
 talk about the relation of employer and employee far 
 more intelligently than most of the educated men in 
 the community. The labor question involves for them 
 
22 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 the whole of life and they must in the course of a com- 
 paratively short time realize the power which lies in 
 them. Many of their leaders are men of signal ability, 
 men who can hold their own in discussion or action 
 with the ablest and best educated men in the commu- 
 nity. The labor movement must necessarily progress; 
 the people's thought wiU take shape in action, and it 
 lies with us to say on what lines the action is to be ex- 
 pressed; whether it is to be expressed wisely and tem- 
 perately or wildly and intemperately; whether it is to 
 be expressed on Knes of evolution or on lines of revo- 
 lution. Nothing can better fit one for taking part in 
 the solution of these problems than the study and 
 preeminently the practice of law. Those who feel 
 drawn to that profession may rest assured that they 
 will find in it an opportunity for usefulness which is 
 probably unequaled. There is a call upon the legal 
 profession to do a great work for this country." * 
 
 ' From an address upon The Opportunity in the Law, by Louis D. 
 Brandeis, before the Harvard Ethical Society on May 4, 1905; 
 printed in the American Law Review for July-August, 1905. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 PREPARING FOR THE PROFESSION 
 
 CERTAIN personal qualities are fundamental for 
 success in the law; others, though of high value, 
 are secondary. The fundamental quahties are as 
 follows: 
 
 Moral Integrity, worthy of the trust often involved 
 in handling the property and other interests of clients, 
 or able to withstand inducements to unprofessional 
 conduct. This involves intellectual honesty. 
 
 Persistence, to carry on to completion any piece of 
 work vmdertaken. This means unlimited capacity for 
 hard work. 
 
 Sound judgment, to take a right and well-informed 
 attitude in questions involving law and facts. 
 
 S^if^coi^^ideMce, a behef in one's ability successfully 
 to handle a task when once entered into. 
 
 Concentration, power to bring all one's thought and 
 activities to bear on a case in hand. 
 
 These basal quahties, with adequate training in the 
 profession, are hkely to bring at least a fair degree of 
 success; the lack of any one of them is a serious handi- 
 cap, and accounts for most failures. 
 
 The following characteristics are of decided advan- 
 tage in the law: 
 
24 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 Tact, so to conduct one's seK towards clients and 
 others as to ensure cooperation and good-will. 
 
 Spirit oj fellowship, towards professional and other 
 associates, ability to mingle with men. 
 
 Business sense, for handling trusts and for wise ac- 
 tion in general business matters. 
 
 Accuracy, in noting and presenting details. 
 
 Poise, to act deUberately in matters involving excite- 
 ment or haste. 
 
 Decision, the power of decisive action in case of need. 
 
 Vigilance, to guard the interests of cHents. 
 
 Foresight, to see in advance the probable result of a 
 course of action or of a sequence of events. 
 
 Caution, in reaching conclusions and in making state- 
 ments to clients or others, in private or in public. 
 
 Fair-mindedness, fair play towards an adversary. 
 
 Power of analysis, to resolve a case or an argument 
 into its component parts. This means logical capacity. 
 
 Power of original thought, to work out problems in 
 which no precedent is found. 
 
 Power of clear expression, to present facts clearly to 
 a client, judge, or jury. The court practitioner must 
 be able to speak effectively. 
 
 Knowledge of human nature, to understand rightly 
 the personal and human element in a case. 
 
 Gift of sympathy, to take the part of a chent properly. 
 
 Nature of a student, to keep in touch with the prog- 
 ress of the common law, with changes in the statutes, 
 and with decisions of the courts, along with one's own 
 special practice. 
 
PREPARING FOR THE PROFESSION 25 
 
 Nature of an investigator, to study a case in its deep- 
 est relations and most intricate bearings. 
 
 High-mindedness, to rise above the petty contentions 
 of the profession and to aim at absolute justice in legal 
 causes; to dignify practice with character. 
 
 A lawyer of wide reputation, the dean of a well- 
 known American law school, has suggested the follow- 
 ing requirements for the successful practice of law: 
 Mental capacity, ability to deal with abstract ideas; a 
 mind capable of receiving polish, by educational proc- 
 esses; the full training of modern courses in law; 
 general culture. 
 
 In the earlier history of the American bar young 
 men prepared for the profession by " reading law," or 
 stud3Tng, in a lawyer's office. They then perfected 
 themselves by long years of practice. Prospective 
 students generally sought to study with lawyers of abil- 
 ity and reputation. Students were frequently taken 
 into lawyers' offices in groups or classes. Such study 
 included the reading of books upon the law, the prepa- 
 ration of legal papers, investigation of facts and cases 
 for the lawyer or firm giving the training, and attend- 
 ance upon cases in court. The results in some cases 
 were satisfactory, as is shown by the eminent lawyers 
 of former years who received their training in this 
 way. 
 
 That even the office method of preparation could be 
 modified, and that the law student was quite independ- 
 ent of school or office, is evident from the following 
 advice of Abraham Lincoln to a young man in 1855 : 
 
26 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 " If you are absolutely determined to make a lawyer 
 of yourself the thing is more than half done already. 
 It is a small matter whether you read with any one or 
 not. I did not read with any one. Get the books and 
 read and study them in their every feature; and that 
 is the main thing. It is no consequence to be in a 
 large town while you are reading. I read at New 
 Salem, which never had three hundred people in it. 
 The hooks and your capacity for imderstanding them 
 are just the same in all places. . . . Always bear in 
 mind that your own resolution to succeed is more im- 
 portant than any other one thing." 
 
 Most young men who entered the profession studied 
 in law ofl&ces and were admitted directly to the bar, 
 without law school training. While the old method of 
 reading law in an ofi&ce is still followed to a slight ex- 
 tent in small towns at a distance from law schools, it 
 has become necessary that the student take at least 
 a partial course in a law school. The increasing com- 
 plexity of the law, the multiplication of decisions year 
 by year, the later widening of the lawyer's practice, 
 and the great complexity of modem business have all 
 tended to this result. The late Chief Justice Waite 
 thus spoke in regard to this change: " The time has 
 gone by when an eminent lawyer, in full practice, can 
 take a class of students into his office and become their 
 teacher. Once that was practicable, but now it is 
 not. The consequence is that law schools are now a 
 necessity." 
 
IPREMRING FOR tHE PkOEESSlON 27 
 
 But before law schools were estabKshed in this coun- 
 try, law was taught to some extent in American col- 
 leges as a part of a liberal education. In a few colleges 
 and universities there were professorships of law, and 
 some of the foremost lawyers of the times taught or 
 lectured in the higher institutions. 
 
 The first special law school established in America 
 was that of Judge Tapping Reeve, a graduate of 
 Princeton. This school was opened in 1782 at Litch- 
 field, Connecticut, and became famous throughout the 
 country. It closed its doors in 1833, having enrolled 
 1024 students many of whom were later eminent in 
 the profession. The Harvard Law School was estab- 
 lished in 1817, and that at Yale in 1824. The number 
 increased slowly, however, until after the Civil War 
 period. 
 
 The law school is a distinct development in the 
 growth of a great profession. It is more than a neces- 
 sity; it is a great advantage. Important gains result 
 from the constant association of students and teachers 
 in the class room and in the general school Ufe. The 
 lawyer must mingle freely with men and the training 
 of the modem law school gives an ideal preparation 
 for active practice. 
 
 While law schools in the past, especially those offer- 
 ing evening courses, have admitted young men having 
 only a high school education or its equivalent, and in 
 some instances less than that, the present tendency 
 is towards increasing entrance requirements. Some 
 schools, especially those connected with the great imi- 
 
28 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 versities, now demand one or two years of college work, 
 and two at least now admit only students having the 
 college degree of A.B. or B.S. 
 
 This demand for a higher standard in entrance re- 
 quirements is clearly indicated by the recent action of 
 many law schools, as shown in the following quotation 
 from the Report of the United States Commissioner of 
 Education for 1910: 
 
 " The need of a higher standard in general education 
 as a preliminary to the study and practice of the law 
 is being generally recognized. Beginning with the 
 school year 1911-12, the entrance requirement in 
 Western Reserve University, Franklin T. Backus 
 School of Law, will be the degree of A.B. or B.S. ; Uni- 
 versity of Minnesota college of law, two years of college 
 work; University of Missouri school of law, two years 
 of college work; University of California, Hastings 
 College of Law, one year of coUege work; University 
 of Illinois college of law, one year of college work; Uni- 
 versity of Kentucky college of law, one year of college 
 work; Cornell University college of law (for three 
 years' course), one year of coUege work; University 
 of Nebraska coUege of law, one year of college work. 
 Beginning with the school year 191 2-13, the entrance 
 requirements in the University of California, Hastings 
 College of Law, will be two years of college work; Uni- 
 versity of Colorado department of law, Colorado Law 
 School, two years of college work; University of Den- 
 ver law school, one year of coUege work; University 
 of Kansas school of law, one year of coUege work; Uni- 
 
PREPARING FOR THE PROFESSION 29 
 
 versity of Michigan department of law, one year of 
 college work. 
 
 " Of the 765 students enrolled in Harvard Law 
 School in 1909-10, all except 6 were college graduates. 
 ' When the bachelor's degree was reqviired for ad- 
 mission there in 1897, exception was made for special 
 students, not graduates of colleges, who might be ad- 
 mitted after examination, and on completing the work 
 of the school with an average grade of B might receive 
 the degree. The number of men who availed them- 
 selves of this opportunity has not been large, and has 
 gradually diminished.' Therefore, ' the faculty of the 
 school voted that hereafter special students should 
 not be eligible for the degree of bachelor of laws.' " ^ 
 
 In addition to the use of case-books or textbooks 
 and lectures in the law school concrete cases at law 
 are studied as in actual practice. The class room is 
 made to serve as a court room. The student is trained 
 to think and reason logically and clearly by a right 
 use of this system. He masters a case by actual study 
 of it, and comes to rely upon himself in handling it at 
 the outset. He is student and practitioner in one. The 
 advantage of this method has commended itself so gen- 
 erally that law schools in all parts of the country have 
 adopted it. 
 
 President Emeritus Eliot in speaking of Professor 
 LangdeU, who introduced the case system at Harvard, 
 
 1 Schools of Law, in Professional Schools, Chapter XXIII of 
 Report of the United States Commission of Education for igio. 
 
30 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 said : " He told me that law was a science. I was quite 
 prepared to believe it. He told me that the way to 
 study a science was to go to the original sources. I 
 knew that was true, for I had been brought up in the 
 science of chemistry myself; and one of the first rules 
 of a conscientious student of science is never to take 
 a fact or principle out of second-hand treatises, but to 
 go to an original memoir of the discoverer of that fact 
 or principle. Out of these two fundamental proposi- 
 tions — that law is a science, and that science is to be 
 studied in its sources — there gradually grew, first, a 
 new method of teaching law; and, secondly, a recon- 
 structioh of the curriculiun of the school." 
 
 The principal degree given by American law schools 
 is that of Bachelor of Laws, LL.B. In the report of 
 the Committee on Legal Education of the American 
 Bar Association for 1906, the latest giving such infor- 
 mation, it is stated that ninety-six schools grant this 
 degree. Of these forty-eight require a fuU high school 
 education for entrance and maintain a three-year 
 course of study. Several schools offer the degree of 
 Bachelor of Law, L.B., Bachelor of Common Law, 
 B.C.L., or Bachelor of Jurisprudence, J.B. Nine 
 schools offer the degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence, 
 J.D., or Doctor of Common Law, D.C.L. Nineteen 
 grant the master's degree, LL.M., after one year of 
 postgraduate study in the profession. 
 
 The degree of Doctor of Laws, LL.D., is almost uni- 
 versally reserved in this country to signify the highest 
 honor a college or university can bestow, for eminent 
 
PREPARING FOR THE PROFESSION 3 1 
 
 attainment in any field, for great distinction in some 
 line of activity, or for high public service. 
 
 The primary purpose of legal education, from the 
 professional standpoint, is to train the mind to think 
 in legal terms, to know where and how to find the law 
 applying to a particular case, and after a due investi- 
 gation of the law and of the facts involved to advise 
 chants and courts. 
 
 " There are two distinct classes of law publications 
 in this country: First, those pubhcations which are of 
 primary authority, such as federal and state constitu- 
 tions, treaties made between the United States Gov- 
 erimaent and foreign powers, ordinances, government 
 orders and regulations, and, last, but by no means 
 least, the reports of judicial decisions. Second, those 
 books that are published for the purpose of ascertain- 
 ing and determining the law — books which should 
 not be depended upon as conclusive in their statement 
 of the law, for the reason that they are not authori- 
 tative, but which are valuable as indexes to and as 
 abridgments of the reports. This class of publications, 
 which may be designated as books of secondary au- 
 thority, consists mainly of digests, encyclopedias, and 
 textbooks. 
 
 " You will find it very useful when you engage in 
 practice to have a familiar acquaintance with all the 
 various kinds of law books and series of law books that 
 fall under these different headings; for example, if you 
 have a case that turns upon the provision of some par- 
 
32 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 ticular treaty made between the United States Gov- 
 ernment and some foreign power, you should know just 
 where to go to look for a published copy of the treaty 
 in question, or, if you have the title of a case decided 
 in the court of last resort in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
 Kentucky, or Texas, or in some other state where the 
 * official ' reports do not contain aU of the cases de- 
 cided, and you find that the decision you want is not 
 reported in the ' official ' series of reports, it would 
 prove very beneficial to you to know where to go to 
 find a report of that case. 
 
 " There are so many matters of importance to the 
 practicing lawyer regarding legal bibliography that it 
 is as essential a student should learn about law books 
 and their use as it is to learn the principles of this or 
 that legal doctrine. . . . 
 
 " The average lawyer, unless he has been properly 
 educated along the line of investigating authorities and 
 is familiar with the classification upon which the lead- 
 ing digest and law encyclopedia publications of the 
 country have been based, is liable to do considerable 
 guessing and to waste a great deal of time before he 
 fimds proper reference to the decisions on the principles 
 of law involved. . . . 
 
 " You had better go to a school where you will be 
 taught the practical end of the business, for I regret to 
 say it seems to be coming more of a business and less 
 and less of a profession every day. I could tell you of 
 many cases that have been lost simply because au- 
 thorities could not be found and cited to support the 
 
PREPARING FOR THE PROFESSION 33 
 
 theory advanced. You may be sure the judges won't 
 take the time and trouble to investigate the cases 
 themselves, unless you call their attention to them by 
 direct citations; nor will they accept your statements 
 as to what the law is, or what it is not, unless your con- 
 tentions are supported by proper reference to the 
 decisions." * 
 
 Our law is a national growth, founded on the old 
 " common law " of England. The student should, 
 however, become familiar with the laws of other coun- 
 tries, in the field of comparative jurisprudence. The 
 first principles of law in all enHghtened countries are 
 the same, — the fundamental rights of man. 
 
 The old aspect of the lawyer as a leader in public 
 thought is now beginning to return and a movement is 
 starting to reshape the law and to improve the courts. 
 In order to take part in these movements and to act 
 intelligently on the various questions that arise in 
 communities, the lawyer must be a man of the widest 
 education and sympathies. 
 
 True leadership in the profession wiU depend upon 
 ability, equipment, and moral and social qualities. 
 Beneath the heading, Leadership in Law, in a conspicu- 
 ous place in a well-known law school, appears the fol- 
 lowing statement: 
 
 " The faculty of the Law School believes that mor- 
 als, as well as learning, are essential to sound leader- 
 
 1 The American Law School Review, November, 1906. 
 
34 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 ship through the law, and that both of these qualifi- 
 cations should be accompanied with judgment, tact, 
 energy, and decision. 
 
 " The training of the Law School will accordingly 
 seek to cultivate and develop these traits and quali- 
 fications." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 
 
 A STRONG fraternal spirit characterizes those who 
 engage in the legal profession. The bar is the 
 term used for lawyers as a class, and bar associations 
 are organizations of lawyers joined together in locali- 
 ties to further their general interests. The bars of the 
 various states, counties, or cities are entirely separate 
 from one another. Each is a brotherhood of lawyers 
 fostering a community of practice and of ethics. 
 
 After the usual course of study the law student may 
 take the bar examination given annually or oftener in 
 each state by a board of examiners composed of mem- 
 bers of the profession. In the past many of these ex- 
 aminations have been conducted upon a low standard 
 of attaiimaent and ability on the part of the student, 
 so that in numerous cases vmworthy candidates have 
 been admitted to practice. One of the most hopeful 
 signs, however, is the generally increasing dissatisfac- 
 tion in the profession itself over this condition, which 
 is likely to be remedied along with the raising of re- 
 quirements for entering the law school. The result 
 will be a higher type of student and candidate for ad- 
 mission to the bar. The one who successfully passes 
 the bar examination and meets the usual requirements 
 
 35 
 
36 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 is regularly admitted to practice in the courts of the 
 state. He becomes a member of the bar of the state, 
 but not of a bar association except by joining one. 
 
 Of the following rules, nine were adopted in 1915 by 
 the section of Legal Education of the American Bar 
 Association. These and the remaining rules were re- 
 ferred in 191 6 by the American Bar Association to the 
 Committee on Legal Education and directed to be 
 printed in full in the Association Journal. 
 
 1. Examinations for admission to the bar should be 
 conducted in each state by a board appointed by the 
 highest appellate court. 
 
 2. A law diploma should not entitle the holder to 
 admission to the bar without examination by this 
 board. 
 
 3. The candidate shall on admission be a citizen of 
 the United States. 
 
 4. He shall also be a citizen of the state in which he 
 is applying for admission, or prove that it is his in- 
 tention personally to maintain an oflSce therein for the 
 practice of the law. 
 
 5. Character credentials on application for admis- 
 sion shall include the affidavits of three responsible 
 citizens, two of whom shall be members of the bar, and 
 the affidavits shall set forth how long a time, when, and 
 under what circumstances those making the same have 
 known the candidate. 
 
 6. Three years' practice in states having substan- 
 tially equivalent requirements for admission to the bar 
 shall be sufficient in the case of lawyers from other 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 37 
 
 jurisdictions applying for admission on grounds of 
 comity. 
 
 7. There is no necessity for the insertion in the 
 rules of a reciprocal comity provision; that is, of a 
 proviso prohibiting the admission of lawyers from 
 other states on grounds of comity, unless the state 
 from which the lawyer comes extends similar courtesies 
 to lawyers from the bar of the state in which the candi- 
 date is appl}dng for admission. 
 
 8. Students shall be ofl&dally registered at the com- 
 mencement of their course of preparation for the bar, 
 but only after a report of the State Board as to fitness, 
 based upon its inspection of the candidate's credentials 
 establishing that he has compUed with the require- 
 ments of rules 8 and 9. The registration shall be with 
 the clerk of the highest appellate court. 
 
 A candidate removing from a jurisdiction having 
 similar standards for registration may have the regis- 
 tration transferred. Nunc pro tunc registration may 
 be permitted, but only when the candidate had the 
 requisite education at the date as of which he desires 
 to be registered and he presents sufficient excuse for 
 not having previously registered. 
 
 A candidate, removing from another jurisdiction 
 where such registration is not required, may be regis- 
 tered nunc pro tunc under similar conditions. 
 
 9. Proof of moral character shall be required as a 
 prerequisite to registration. 
 
 10. No candidate shall be registered as a student at 
 law xmtil he has passed the necessary requirements for 
 
38 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 entrance to the collegiate department of the State Uni- 
 versity of the candidate's state, or of such college or 
 colleges as may be approved by the State Board of 
 Law Examiners, or an examination equivalent thereto 
 conducted by the authority of the state. 
 
 11. All applicants, after being educationally quali- 
 fied, should be compelled to study law for four years, 
 the first three of which must be spent in compulsory 
 attendance upon, and the successful completion of, 
 and passing, the prescribed course of instruction at an 
 approved law school which requires not less than three 
 years of resident attendance for the completion of its 
 course and for graduation therefrom, and then the serv- 
 ice of a continuous year of registered clerkship, as 
 prescribed, exclusive of aU other occupations: Pro- 
 vided, however, that the fourth year may be passed in 
 an approved law school in post-graduate work, and 
 that the applicant's law school course shaU have in- 
 cluded adequate courses in procedure and practice. 
 
 12. Candidates for admission shall present them- 
 selves prepared for examination in the following sub- 
 jects: Constitutional law, including the constitutions 
 of the United States and . . . (the candidate's state), 
 equity, trusts and suretyships, the law of real and 
 personal property, evidence, decedents' estates, land- 
 lord and tenant, mortgages, contracts, partnership, 
 corporations, crimes, torts, agency, sales, negotiable 
 instruments, domestic relations, master and servant, 
 common-law pleading and practice, federal and state 
 practice, conflict of laws, professional ethics, the fed- 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 39 
 
 eral statutes relating to the judiciary and to bank- 
 ruptcy, and the development in . . . (the candidate's 
 state) of the principles of law, as exemplified by the 
 decisions of its highest appellate court and by statu- 
 tory enactment, and other stibjects ordinarily covered 
 in the curriculum of standard law schools. 
 
 13. At least thirty days before the State Board's 
 certificate shall be issued to any candidates who shall 
 have passed the examination, the name of such candi- 
 date shall be published by the Board in a newspaper 
 of general circulation, and also in a law periodical, if 
 there be one within the state jurisdiction. 
 
 14. From the examination fees received the mem- 
 bers of the State Board shall receive such compensa- 
 tion as the highest appellate court of the state may 
 from time to time by order direct. 
 
 15. The fee for examination for admission shall be 
 $25, and passing upon registration credentials in the 
 matter of general education qualifications, $5. 
 
 16. The State Board shall consist of five members 
 of the Bar, no one of whom shall receive student can- 
 didates in his oflSce in preparation for call to the bar, 
 or be connected with the faculty or governing body 
 of any law school presenting candidates for admission, ^ 
 
 The American Bar Association has adopted a code 
 or canon of ethics, which sets forth the professional 
 
 ' Rules for Admission to the Bar In the Several States and Terri- 
 tories of the United States, in force January i, 1917, together with 
 the Code of Ethics adopted by the American Bar Association, an- 
 notated to cases in point, ninth edition, St. Paul, Minn., West Pub- 
 lisliing Co., 191 7. 
 
40 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 duties or ethical obligations of the lawyer. This 
 code may be briefly summarized in its chief points as 
 follows : 
 
 The duty of the lawyer toward the courts 
 
 It is the duty of the lawyer to uphold in all respects 
 the honor and dignity of the court. 
 
 Toward the bench 
 
 Only lawyers of judicial fitness and unselfishness 
 should be elected as judges. 
 
 Toward those accused of crime 
 
 The lawyer may undertake the defense of a person 
 accused of crime, and is bound by all honorable means 
 to help in the securing of justice. 
 
 In conflicting interests 
 
 It is unprofessional to represent conflicting interests, 
 except by the agreement of all parties concerned. 
 
 Advising upon the merits of a client's cause 
 
 A lawyer should advise a chent only upon full knowl- 
 edge of the cause in question, and should then give his 
 candid opinion. It is improper for him to assert, in 
 argument, his personal beUef in regard to the client or 
 the cause in Htigation. The lawyer must follow his 
 own conscience rather than that of his client, and 
 should direct the chent in a right course. 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 41 
 
 Negotiations with an opposite party 
 
 A lawyer should not communicate upon a case with 
 an opposite party represented by counsel. 
 
 Acquiring interest in litigation 
 
 The lawyer should not acquire any financial interest 
 in a case which he is conducting. 
 
 Charges for professional service 
 
 The lawyer's charges should depend upon the value 
 of his advice and his services to a client, on the magni- 
 tude of interests involved, and on the client's ability 
 to pay. Controversies with clients in regard to charges 
 are to be avoided as far as possible. 
 
 Personalities between advocates 
 
 All expressions of personaKty between opposing 
 lawyers are to be avoided. 
 
 Treatment of witnesses and litigants 
 
 Fairness and consideration should always be ex- 
 tended to the witnesses and parties of the opposing 
 side. 
 
 Candor and fairness 
 
 The lawyer should deal candidly with the facts from 
 whatever sources and should act fairly and honorably 
 in the consideration of a case. 
 
42 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 Attitude toward jury 
 
 A lawyer should have no private converse with 
 jurymen or attempt to win their favor by unfair 
 means. 
 
 Advertising 
 
 The most worthy and effective advertisement is a 
 well-deserved reputation for professional capacity and 
 fidelity to trust. 
 
 The lawyer's attitude toward litigation 
 
 Stirring up strife and litigation is unprofessional and 
 is indictable at common law. The lawyer should de- 
 cline to take a case when convinced that it is intended 
 merely to work oppression or wrong. He has the right 
 to decline employment. Every lawyer must decide 
 upon his own responsibility what business he wiU ac- 
 cept and what causes he will plead in the courts. 
 
 The lawyer's duty in its last analysis 
 
 " No client, corporate or individual, however power- 
 ful, nor any cause, dvil or poKtical, however import- 
 ant, is entitled to receive, nor should any lawyer ren- 
 der, any service or advice involving disloyalty to the 
 law whose ministers we are, or disrespect of the judicial 
 office, which we are bound to uphold, or corruption of 
 any person or persons exercising a public office or pri- 
 vate trust, or deception or betrayal of the public. 
 When rendering any such improper service or advice, 
 the lawyer invites and merits stem and just condem- 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 43 
 
 nation. Correspondingly, he advances the honor of 
 his profession and the best interests of his client when 
 he renders service or gives advice tending to impress 
 upon the cKent and his undertaking exact compliance 
 with the strictest principles of moral law. He must 
 also observe and advise his client to observe the statute 
 law, though until a statute shall have been construed 
 and interpreted by competent adjudication, he is free 
 and is entitled to advise as to its validity and as to 
 what he conscientiously believes to be its just meaning 
 and extent. But above all a lawyer will find his high- 
 est honor in a deserved reputation for fidelity to pri- 
 vate trust and to pubKc duty, as an honest man and 
 as a patriotic and loyal citizen." ' 
 
 Lawyers may be disbarred or suspended from prac- 
 tice by a high court for improfessional conduct, such 
 as embezzlement, larceny, or any offense that involves 
 moral turpitude. Complaints against a lawyer, which 
 may be made by any individual, are usually presented 
 to a state bar association. The association acts upon 
 the charge, and if it is sustained lays it before the 
 proper court for final action. 
 
 In the statutes of most states of the Union no ref- 
 erence is made to causes of disbarment. In a few states 
 statutes have been made to cover the specific offenses 
 for which a lawyer may be denied practice in the 
 profession. 
 
 ' Section 32, Code of Ethics Adopted by American Bar Association, 
 Rides for Admission to the Bar, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minn., 
 1911. 
 
44 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 The following are examples: 
 
 Massachusetts: " An attorney may be removed by 
 the Supreme Judicial Court or the Superior Court for 
 deceit, malpractice, or other gross misconduct." ' 
 
 California: " An attorney and counselor may be re- 
 moved or suspended by the Supreme Court, or any de- 
 partment thereof, or by any Superior Court of the 
 State, for either of the following cases, arising after his 
 admission to practice: 
 
 " I. His conviction of a felony or misdemeanor in- 
 volving moral turpitude, in which case the record of 
 conviction shall be conclusive evidence; 
 
 "2. Willful disobedience or violation of an order of 
 the court requiring him to do or forbear an act con- 
 nected with, or in the course of his profession, which 
 he ought in good faith to do or forbear, and any viola- 
 tion of the oath taken by him, or of his duties as such 
 attorney and counselor; 
 
 "3. Corruptly or willfully and without authority 
 appearing as attorney for a party to an action or pro- 
 ceeding; 
 
 " Lending his name to be used as an attorney and 
 counselor by another person who is not an attorney 
 and counselor; 
 
 " In all cases where an attorney is removed or sus- 
 pended by a Superior Court, the judgment or order 
 of removal or suspension may be reviewed on appeal 
 by the Supreme Court." ^ 
 
 ^ Massachusetts Revised Laws, Chap. 165, § 44. 
 '^ California Code of Civil Procedure, § 287. 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 45 
 
 It is advisable in most cases for the young lawyer to 
 settle in the small city or town. In general, living and 
 professional expenses are lower, and competition is less 
 keen, in such places than in the large city. The net 
 income of the average country lawyer is probably fully 
 equal to that of the average city practitioner. Several 
 causes unite to congest the number of lawyers in a 
 metropoHs, to the disadvantage of the profession. 
 Many young men whose homes are in or near the city 
 enter practice on smaller earnings by living at home. 
 Some such have incomes outside of their profession, 
 and do not expect large earnings in it. Students of the 
 law school, which is generally in a city, often plan to 
 remain near it, because of acquaintances formed or 
 inducements presented. 
 
 There is a variety of avenues open to the young 
 lawyer by which he can begin to estabKsh himself 
 in any community. The following paragraphs pre- 
 sent the more usual ways in which the profession is 
 entered : 
 
 I. As employee. A young lawyer usually becomes 
 an assistant in a law ofl&ce. Here he may stay from 
 one to five years. Sometimes this place becomes per- 
 manent, by his being taken into the firm; but this is 
 rare. The lawyer should not be content, in general, to 
 remain a salaried worker. His natural status is as an 
 independent adviser of clients, and it is advisable that 
 ■ most young lawyers should take the earhest opportu- 
 nity to become independent. 
 
46 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 2. As independent practitioner. A practice may be 
 acquired through one or more of the following chamiels: 
 
 (a) Friends. The young lawyer's friends do not 
 particularly give him their own legal patronage, but 
 they mention his name from time to time, and thus the 
 intending cUent hears of him, and comes to him. 
 Hence, the more friends a young lawyer has the more 
 rapidly his clients increase. 
 
 (6) Clients. One client leads to another. Often the 
 party whom an attorney has defeated in a case will 
 seek that attorney as his lawyer in the next case. No 
 matter how small the case is, the client may prove a 
 valuable one. 
 
 3. Membership in Societies. One's circle of acquaint- 
 ances is enlarged by membership in a religious, politi- 
 cal, fraternal, or athletic society. A man who joins 
 such a society solely for the purpose of obtaining 
 clients is, of course, insincere, and this insincerity is 
 soon found out, bringing its own consequences. But 
 every young man has sympathies and interests in some 
 social field, in which he should take an active part, 
 remembering that he will not be sought as a lawyer 
 unless he is known, and he will never be known unless 
 he mingles with men in social ways. 
 
 4. General reputation. Any honorable way what- 
 ever, which leads to the notice of the public, is help- 
 ful to the lawyer; but ordinary, direct advertising is 
 forbidden to him. His repute in the community, based 
 on the good word of those who know him, is the only 
 satisfactory test of a lawyer's merits. Hence the chief 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 47 
 
 publicity of which a lawyer can avail himself is that 
 which thus comes to him indirectly. Sometimes the 
 fortunate conduct of an important case brings a lawyer 
 before the public notice and insures him success as a 
 practitioner. 
 
 Formerly the young man who studied in a law oflSce 
 paid for the privilege, and until recently this was the 
 custom in a few localities even in the case of graduates 
 of the law school. In Philadelphia, for example, the 
 charge was frequently one hundred dollars. At the 
 present time the amounts paid to young law school 
 graduates who serve an apprenticeship of six months or 
 one year or more vary widely. In New York and 
 Chicago larger salaries are paid than in other American 
 cities. The more general figures in law ofl&ces are from 
 three or five to ten dollars a week at the beginning, 
 with an increase after three or six months according 
 to the magnitude of practice in an office. 
 
 Sometimes the assistant has private practice, clients 
 of his own, while still serving in an office. Frequently, 
 also, especially in the large cities, young lawyers com- 
 bine in the rent of an office and its attendant expenses, 
 but conduct each an independent practice. 
 
 The charges for legal services are not at all uniform. 
 They vary according to localities and the conditions 
 involved in each service. It is possible, however, to 
 state figures that very generally prevail in the pro- 
 fession. 
 
 Following are the more usual kinds of service per- 
 formed by the lawyer and the attendant earnings; 
 
48 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 The minimum fee for small services, aside from those 
 of the notary and justice, which are fixed by statute, 
 is usually three dollars or five dollars. Such a service 
 may be giving legal advice or collecting a small bill. 
 
 The fee for writing a deed or mortgage is usually 
 from three to five dollars. 
 
 For drafting a wiU, under ordinary conditions, the 
 charge varies from five to fifty dollars. 
 
 Charges vary greatly in court service, according to 
 the standing and experience of lawyers and the inter- 
 ests involved in a case on trial. The beginner may 
 receive ten or fifteen dollars a day; the lawyer some 
 time in practice, from twenty-five to one hundred dol- 
 lars; and rarely the charge may reach five hundred 
 dollars a day, or any amount necessary to secure the 
 services of an eminent court practitioner. 
 
 In settling a case out of court a lawyer may charge 
 for service actually rendered, according to the magni- 
 tude of the interests involved. 
 
 In a case for collection involving less than one hun- 
 dred dollars, and made without bringing suit, the 
 customary charge is ten per cent of the amount in- 
 volved, though not less than the minimum of three or 
 five dollars. 
 
 Above one hundred dollars the scale of charges usu- 
 ally decreases from ten per cent according to the in- 
 crease in the amount involved, considering always the 
 responsibilities encountered. 
 
 Charges for handling ordinary bankruptcy cases 
 range from fifty to three hundred dollars. 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 49 
 
 The fee for the examination of a title depends upon 
 the length of time consumed. Such research work usu- 
 ally brings from fifteen to twenty-five dollars a day. 
 
 For giving an opinion in writing in legal matters the 
 lawyer may charge from ten dollars up to thousands 
 of dollars, according to the nature of a case, time de- 
 voted to it, and his own professional standing. 
 
 " In fixing fees, lawyers should avoid charges which 
 overestimate their advice and services, as well as those 
 which undervalue them. A cKent's abihty to pay can- 
 not Justify a charge in excess of the value of the serv- 
 ice, though his poverty may require a less charge, or 
 even none at all. The reasonable requests of brother 
 lawyers, and of their widows and orphans without 
 ample means, should receive special and kindly 
 consideration. 
 
 " In determining the amount of the fee, it is proper 
 to consider: (i) the time and labor required, the 
 novelty and difficulty of the questions involved and 
 the skill requisite properly to conduct the cause; 
 (2) whether the acceptance of employment in the par- 
 ticular case will preclude the lawyer's appearance for 
 others in cases likely to arise out of the transaction, 
 and in which there is a reasonable expectation that 
 otherwise he would be employed, or wiU involve the 
 loss of other business while employed in the particular 
 case or antagonisms with other cKents; (3) the cus- 
 tomary charges of the Bar for similar services; (4) the 
 amount involved in the controversy and the benefits 
 resulting to the client from the services; (5) the con- 
 
50 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 tingency or the certainty of the compensation; and 
 (6) the character of the employment, whether casual 
 or for an established and constant client. No one of 
 these considerations in itself is controlling. They are 
 mere guides in ascertaining the real value of the service. 
 
 " In fixing fees it should never be forgotten that the 
 profession is a branch of the administration of justice 
 and not a mere money-getting trade." 
 
 The clerk of court or register of probate receives a 
 salary varying from five hundred dollars to five thou- 
 sand dollars a year; the prosecuting attorney or other 
 public ofl&cial, from one to five or ten thousand dol- 
 lars; the judge, from one to fifteen thousand dollars a 
 year. In most cases these amounts are far below what 
 lawyers of the ability required in such positions could 
 earn annually in general practice, so that these forms 
 of public service are often assumed at a personal sac- 
 rifice on the part of the practitioner. 
 
 There are certain objections to entering the legal 
 profession, arising from conditions and requirements 
 in its practice, which the young man should weigh 
 carefully before deciding upon the law as a life pursuit. 
 In the opinion of the leading members of the American 
 Bar today, as well as of men outside of the profession, 
 the law presents insurmountable objections to the in- 
 competent and poorly equipped. The following con- 
 ditions, however, affect all practice in the profession: 
 
 The field is greatly overcrowded and the average 
 earnings very smaU. This is the great objection. Only 
 the more able or fortunate in securing profitable legal 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE 5 1 
 
 practice can hope to win more than a bare compe- 
 tency. Young men may not only be indebted to their 
 families and friends for a course of study covering three 
 or four years in preparation, but after that for a period 
 of five, ten, or even fifteen years consumed in acquiring 
 a competent practice. Many never reach such a prac- 
 tice, and are obliged to turn to some other occupation 
 for part or fuU income, or to come down to the end 
 of life in straitened circumstances, imable to do for 
 their families what was earlier done for them to place 
 them in the profession. 
 
 " The amount of money that is to be expended in 
 any given locaKty per annum for attorney's service 
 is fixed, although not ascertained; and divide this 
 total sum that will be expended in Boston among Bos- 
 ton lawyers for any given period, and we think that it 
 would be a surprisingly small income to each attorney. 
 If two-fifths of the attorneys, as undoubtedly they do, 
 receive two-thirds or three-fourths of this total in- 
 come, it leaves but a small balance for the remaining 
 three-fifths. 
 
 " The increase of lawyers does not make an increase 
 of law business, nor does their ability or genius add to 
 the sum total to be received, but only tends to distrib- 
 ute it more equally. It is impossible for every lawyer 
 to be financially successful, for there are too many 
 competing for a share of the general fund. 
 
 " Exceptional success in the profession should not be 
 taken as a standard to measure its probable advan- 
 tages, any more than failures should be adopted for a 
 
52 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 like purpose. It is the general average that ordinary 
 talent, application and perseverance should try to cor- 
 rectly understand and appreciate. 
 
 " As a means of accumulating wealth we claim that 
 the profession has always been and always will be 
 crowded, that the supply is greater than the demand, 
 that the fortunes made in the law are few and insignifi- 
 cant when compared with those made in business." '■ 
 
 As to the earnings of lawyers, there are no adequate 
 statistics on which to base any general statement. An 
 earlier edition of this book reported a study of the 
 average earnings of graduates of The Harvard Law 
 School from one to ten years in practice. The results 
 of the study are shown in the following table: 
 
 Years in 
 practice 
 
 Number 
 reporting 
 
 Average 
 yearly earnings 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 694 
 609 
 
 $664 
 1,110 
 
 3 
 
 497 
 
 1,64s 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 411 
 317 
 
 2,150 
 2,668 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 249 
 
 162 
 
 112 
 
 62 
 
 3,118 
 
 3.909 
 4,426 
 
 5,321 
 
 lO 
 
 40 
 
 5,325 
 
 It should be borne in mind that these are only aver- 
 age earnings and that many persons receive an annual 
 income much less than the amount indicated by the 
 table. At the bottom of the profession are many in- 
 
 ' Section 12, Code of Ethics Adopted by American Bar Association, 
 Rules for Admission to the Bar, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minn., 
 1911. 
 
ENTERING INTO PRACTICE S3 
 
 competent men who bring discredit upon their calling 
 in the general estimation of the public. 
 
 There are a number of ethical, problems which con- 
 tinually arise in practice with which the prospective 
 lawyer or the person Just entering upon his career 
 should be acquainted. The work of the law is to es- 
 tabHsh rights, satisfy claims, protect the iimocent 
 against wrong-doers, secure convictions for the guilty, 
 and to maintain a cause in the face of all forms of 
 opposition and misrepresentation. 
 
 The ethical question most often asked about the 
 profession is, " How can a lawyer take a case in which 
 he does not believe?" The profession has by some 
 been regarded as somewhat unprincipled because its 
 practitioners are thought of as regularly taking such 
 cases. In reply to this criticism it may be said that 
 the lawyer is likely to believe in a case on its presenta- 
 tion to him, that he may abandon or settle out of 
 court one in which he does not believe, that it is his 
 duty to present his side of a case fairly in court and 
 to look to his opponent to present the other side, and 
 finally that the decision rests not with the attorney 
 but with the judge or jury in the court. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 
 
 KNOWLEDGE of present tendencies which are 
 likely to lead to future changes in an occupation 
 is quite as truly of interest to the young man who con- 
 siders entering that vocation as are the present con- 
 ditions. What are the tendencies in the profession of 
 law that are specially of interest to prospective stu- 
 dents of law ? 
 
 First we may mention the present tendencies in edu- 
 cation for the law. Legal education is developing in- 
 tensively rather than extensively; that is, it is the 
 increase in the number of courses and in the length of 
 preparation rather than in the number of schools that 
 characterizes the more recent changes in legal educa- 
 tion. 
 
 The increase in the number of law schools from 1870 
 to 191 7 is as follows: 
 
 Year Total 
 
 1870 28 
 
 1880 48 
 
 1890 54 
 
 igoo 96 
 
 1910 114 
 
 1917 132 
 
 Meantime there has been a marked tendency to in- 
 crease the length of the law course. This is shown by 
 the following table : 
 
 54 
 
PRESJENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 55 
 
 
 No. schools 
 
 No. 
 
 schools 
 
 No 
 
 . schools 
 
 No. 
 
 schools 
 
 
 i-year course 
 
 2-year course 
 
 3-year course 
 
 4-year course 
 
 1900 
 
 6 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 46 
 
 
 li 
 
 I9IO 
 
 2 
 
 
 33 
 
 
 73 
 
 
 4^ 
 
 igi7 
 
 I 
 
 
 IS 
 
 
 III 
 
 
 S 
 
 This indicates that standards for a legal education 
 are rapidly rising. The same fact is further emphasized 
 by the changing standards for admission to the bar, 
 advocated by members of the bar. The report of the 
 New York County Lawyers' Association of 1909, in 
 an able discussion of standards of admission to the 
 bar, makes the following criticisms of present methods 
 in legal education: 
 
 First: That the average student when he applies for 
 admission, has no, or a very inadequate, knowledge of 
 his various duties. 
 
 These duties are fourfold: (i) to the State as an 
 oflftcer and citizen; (2) to the Court as an officer and 
 adviser; (3) to his client as a fiduciary; and (4) to his 
 brother lawyers, out of which grows the " esprit de 
 corps" of the profession; — an indefinable code of 
 honor, courtesy and respect, varying or enlarging to 
 meet the requirements of each case and epoch. He 
 owes loyalty to the State, both as a citizen and as a 
 sworn officer of justice; he owes respect and dignity 
 in his deportment to the courts, and candor and hon- 
 esty in his statements and dealings with them; to his 
 client he owes his talents, his knowledge, his time, and 
 his fidelity; and in dealing with his brother lawyers, 
 he should be controlled by a proper esprit de corps. 
 
 ' Evening school. ' Three evening schools, one day school. 
 
56 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 The lawyer cannot perform his duty to one of these 
 parties and neglect the others; he cannot be honest 
 to the State, and dishonest to the Court and his client, 
 any more than he can be dishonest to the State and 
 Court, and honest to his chent. But his duty can be 
 performed to all without infringing or impairing the 
 rights of the others. 
 
 In every employment which the lawyer receives, his 
 primary duty is to the State. In performing this duty, 
 he can fulfill all of his obhgations to cHents and courts 
 with fidelity and honor. If he attempts to go beyond 
 this, he strikes a blow at society. Why ? Because he 
 is a part of the judicial system of the Government. He 
 is appointed to conduct judicial proceedings. If a con- 
 flict arise between his duty to the Government and 
 his client, in which the position of the State in its 
 whole corporate capacity is clear (not a mere question 
 of law, applicable to both, or a question of the rights 
 of the citizens, which is in fact the interest of the State 
 itself), he must decide in favor of the former; for the 
 interest of that client is subordinate to the interest of 
 all the other citizens — constituting the State — who 
 are interested in maintaining the entire integrity of the 
 pohtical system. His oath to maintain the laws can- 
 not be performed by giving advice, or resorting to acts, 
 which cause their violation. Of course, he should not 
 prejudge, and in cases of doubt he is free to act as his 
 conscience dictates — honest doubt as to the law, or 
 honest doubt as to the facts. 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 57 
 
 The tendency of the lawyer, in modem times, is to 
 look to, and think of, nothing but the client's interests, 
 and the question as to how far his professional con- 
 duct affects the administration of justice, and the gen- 
 eral salutary conditions of the State, is almost lost 
 sight of, indeed, students under the existing systems 
 are not taught to analyze their true relations in this 
 respect. 
 
 Second: The student is not instructed in the real 
 nature and functions of his office. 
 
 Perhaps he understands vaguely that he is an " offi- 
 cer of the Court " but that only conveys to his mind 
 the idea that the courts may, therefore, summarily 
 reprimand, degrade or punish him. But he is not 
 taught that in general he is an officer of the Court to 
 advise the Court — in many instances to assist it; that 
 in truth he is a real official friend of the Court; that 
 the Court has always the right to call upon him to aid 
 in the administration of justice. The fact that no at- 
 tention is paid to these fundamental principles in the 
 education of the lawyer, has gradually tended to di- 
 vorce the lawyers from the courts — they hold each 
 other at arm's length — until the courts have grown 
 suspicious of the Bar and regard its practitioners as 
 constantly endeavoring to wrest from the judicial 
 tribunals, orders, judgments, and decrees, to which 
 they are not entitled; to regard them as purely mer- 
 cenary, pitiless advocates, careless of everything ex- 
 cept success. And, unfortunately, there is ground for 
 this suspicion and belief. 
 
58 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 While, as an auxiKary of the Court, the lawyer's vo- 
 cation has been greatly enfeebled, he is still an officer 
 of very great authority and power. 
 
 At the instance of a cHent, he becomes the official 
 author and creator of all judicial proceedings. He is 
 the fountain head of legal procedure at whose com- 
 mand all legal processes flow. 
 
 The lawyer's mandate — the summons, writ, or by 
 whatever name the original process may be called — 
 compels the appearance in Court of the highest or 
 lowliest individual in the land. 
 
 Apart from suitors themselves — who are permitted 
 to appear in their own cases — no judicial action can 
 be put in motion without the sanction of some lawyer. 
 He is the sole officer authorized to cause civil action 
 to be begun. If the lawyer approves the client's de- 
 mand, he can issue, or cause to be issued, process which 
 will bring any individual or corporation before the 
 Court. The demand may be unfounded, the action un- 
 justified, the whole proceeding utterly without merit, 
 in law or in fact, yet the defendant must obey. A 
 lawyer, the day after he is admitted, the veriest tyro 
 in the profession, may, without a title of justice or 
 right, summon the worthiest and purest individual to 
 answer the demands of a professional blackmailer; and 
 although after years, it may be, of Htigation, in which 
 character, property, and expense are involved, the suit 
 is dismissed as unfounded, yet the lawyer sits, serenely, 
 in his office, secure from liabihty, exempted from acts 
 which often, through his negligence or design, have 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 59 
 
 caused untold mischief and damage. His ordinary- 
 mistakes of law, or judgment, cannot be made the 
 basis of a legal demand against him. How many of 
 such mistakes are made, how many causeless actions 
 are instituted, can be easily seen by consulting the 
 records of the courts — which show the number of 
 suits finally dismissed. 
 
 Again, the lawyers fill most of the important offices 
 of the National and State governments. The nature 
 of our political institutions invites and seems to en- 
 courage this tendency, and almost from his entrance 
 into professional life the lawyer's ambition is fixed 
 upon poHtical and official preferment. The operation 
 of governments existing under written constitutions 
 seems to require, naturally, a vast body of lawyers to 
 keep them ruiming steadily and smoothly within the 
 groove of their powers. This condition demands more 
 than a superficial knowledge of the relation which a 
 lawyer and officeholder bears to society and to his 
 respective governments — State and Federal. It is 
 not communicated by reading principles asserted in 
 political platforms; nor does he imbibe it in a formal 
 official oath, to obey the laws of the land. Such knowl- 
 edge can only come from serious preliminary study, 
 and a full comprehension of the purposes of his office. 
 
 Of an importance perhaps greater than any other 
 office which he can hold, is that of legislator. The 
 legislatures, Federal and State, are filled with lawyers, 
 many of whom are young men just entering upon their 
 careers. No office requires so much learning, experi- 
 
6o THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 ence, and training as that of a legislator. As Rousseau, 
 in substance, exclaimed: If it be a rare spectacle to 
 see a great prince, what a phenomenal sight it is to 
 behold a real legislator! It is another name for a 
 statesman. Yet under none of our legal educational 
 systems is any special instruction given to the law 
 student as to the duties of a legislator. He is left to 
 imbibe the necessary knowledge from surrounding con- 
 ditions. He becomes a legislator by absorption and 
 instinct. From the ignorance of legislators largely fol- 
 lows the intricacy and confusion of the law — and the 
 interminable mass of unnecessary legislation. 
 
 Third: The educational tests, preHminary and gen- 
 eral, are wholly insufficient. 
 
 A principal objection to the present system is that 
 there is no oral examination of the candidates. There 
 is no opportunity for the examining board to judge 
 of the general make up of apphcants or of their abil- 
 ity, orally, to explain the nature of the profession 
 which they seek to enter, or of the principles of law. 
 Readiness and versatility show mental development, 
 and are no small portion of a legal education. Oral 
 questioning operates as an indtation to ambition; it 
 brings to the surface many qualities which rest inert 
 without it; the oral examination arouses the candi- 
 dates to exert themselves to pass creditably before 
 the eyes of their associates. Such an examination is 
 conducted with the object of testing the mental readi- 
 ness and address and legal learning of the candidates; 
 one question leads to another, and one subject opens 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 6l 
 
 a different branch of the law, until a substantial in- 
 terrogation soon develops the capacity of the candi- 
 date. It seems to us, when properly and fully con- 
 ducted, an oral examination becomes indispensable to 
 test the sufficiency of the student's qualifications. Full 
 allowances can be made for nervousness on the part 
 of the candidates, and the written examination will 
 always be consulted when the final decision as to the 
 qualification of the student is made. This important 
 adjunct of an oral examination is at present omitted 
 for lack of time, on the part of the examiners. No 
 fault can be found with them in this respect, for it is 
 doubtless true that the allotted time is too short, but 
 under a complete course of study, such as we shall 
 hereafter recommend, there would be a visible diminu- 
 tion in the number of applicants, and if there were not, 
 a second or additional Board of Examiners should be 
 provided for, whose duty it would be to examine the 
 students orally. The consideration of saving time in 
 the process of final examinations is of infinitesimal im- 
 portance compared with securing an improved quaUty 
 of product. No more important subject confronts the 
 State than to provide a thorough system of examina- 
 tion for law students. No money can be more profit- 
 ably spent than that devoted to procuring ample 
 faciHties for such a purpose. 
 
 The written examination, as now framed, is largely 
 a mere test of memory. It covers a field of subjects 
 embraced within the two groups mentioned below,' in- 
 
 • Group 1, Pleading and Practice and Evidence. Group 2, Sub- 
 stantive Law. 
 
62 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 volving the solution of many supposititious cases, where 
 good sense, or quick perception, often supplies techni- 
 cal knowledge. These questions have been from time 
 to time preserved and are now actually published in a 
 separate book, so that all students browse over the 
 fields so often covered by their predecessors, and know 
 the general course of examination to which they will 
 be subjected. The whole examination then becomes 
 one of mental dexterity, and of cramming for the final 
 test. 
 
 The lectures which a student attends in the law 
 schools cover a space of two years — no; not two 
 years actually, for deducting the summer and ordinary 
 vacations, they are not more than about sixteen or 
 seventeen months. The effort of the law schools is 
 to go over the whole field of the law in this short period. 
 The result is that the studies are necessarily scattering, 
 hasty, and superficial. It is a hothouse system which 
 ripens the fruit untimely and unnaturally; and much 
 of it is permanently injured in its artificial rearing. 
 Modem commercial conditions have resulted in almost 
 a complete change in our lives, habits, and modes of 
 thought. The pohtical, economical, social, and legal 
 questions which confront us are of immeasurable im- 
 portance, and profoundly difficult to solve. To com- 
 prehend them, they, at least, require a knowledge of 
 the structural elements of dvil society, and of the fun- 
 damental principles of the different kinds of govern- 
 ment. A change in the form of our government may 
 even be involved in their eventual solution. The tui- 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 63 
 
 ion of the lawyer should therefore keep pace with the 
 progress of the age. His education must be of a higher 
 order; it must be broader and wider, to cover the 
 range of the new and comphcated subjects which are 
 constantly arising. What was a fair legal education 
 before the Civil War, is now a mere preliminary to a 
 full course. 
 
 Fourth: Students are uninstructed in their outside, 
 unprofessional relation to the community. 
 
 With the growth of the country, the increase of pop- 
 ulation, and the evolution of many theories which 
 strike at the roots of our Republican institutions, the 
 lawyer's unprofessional, or outside, relation to the 
 community becomes of the most profound concern. 
 His mission beyond the technical practice of his pro- 
 fession is of immeasurable importance. It is freely 
 to discuss, in private and public circles, constitutional 
 and legal principles. He renders the appHcation of 
 the rule that everyone is presumed to know the law, 
 less hard. He explains the nature of our Federal and 
 State governments to his lay acquaintances; he dif- 
 fuses the doctrines of the origin of society and enforces 
 the necessity of maintaining the integrity of the law, 
 and of absolute acquiescence in the statutes and de- 
 cisions of the courts. He descants upon the import- 
 ance of respecting and preserving existing institutions; 
 of guarding sacredly the rights of persons and property. 
 He explains the various principles of the law so that 
 where they seem harsh and unnatural, he corrects or 
 modifies false or immature judgments. The influence 
 
64 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 which a lawyer can have in this important sphere is 
 altogether measured by his character and learning. 
 Where the system of legal training produces a class of 
 immature and badly educated lawyers, the effect is 
 felt by the whole lay community, and it manifestly 
 operates to diminish or counteract, the legitimate in- 
 fluence which he should exercise over the people. 
 
 In times of excitement, when pubhc passion is 
 aroused to a danger point, the lawyer's voice ought to 
 be almost controlling. He becomes a breakwater be- 
 tween a reckless or lawless multitude and the forms 
 and rules of the law. 
 
 It must be remembered that ours is a federative 
 government, constituted by written agreement. The 
 powers and duties of our ofi&cials largely depend upon 
 the construction of written constitutions. The best 
 legal training is therefore required for the Bench and 
 the Bar. The trend of Federal and State policies is 
 pecuHarly directed by the lawyers. One can assert, 
 then, without exceeding the Hmits of reasonable criti- 
 cism, that the inherent welfare of the people in the 
 United States is with the lawyers. When they know 
 their functions and duties and exercise their legitimate 
 iafluence, the country is sustained by a sound and 
 healthy public opinion which they create and mould. 
 A correct public opinion is the mainstay of every con- 
 stitutional government. It bears the same relation 
 to our govermnent as pure air does to himian health 
 and Kfe.i 
 
 '■ From Report of Committee on Admissions of the New York 
 County Lawyers' Association, 1909. 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 65 
 
 Standards in legal education and requirements for 
 admission to the bar are the final responsibility of the 
 state. " At all times the privilege of practising in the 
 courts has been regarded as a proper subject for state 
 control. Society has always exercised the right to 
 scrutinize closely those callings that contribute noth- 
 ing to its productive wealth, and the legal profession 
 is the one unproductive profession that is made pos- 
 sible only by the existence of organized society itself. 
 Nor is it by any means a mere legal fiction that con- 
 siders the lawyer an ofiicer of the courts. The best 
 system of laws and the ablest judiciary will fall far 
 short of their designed effect if the advocates are un- 
 skilled or dishonest. And if the experience of the past 
 is a criterion, the development of justice and sound 
 public poKcy itself is closely related to the high stand- 
 ard of the legal profession. The right of society to 
 impose restrictions upon such a profession as the law 
 would seem, therefore, to be as strong as any other of 
 its long continued rights. 
 
 "The present regulations (191 1) with regard to 
 state requirements for admission to the bar, in the 
 important details are: 
 
 " 28 states and territories have a single distinctive 
 examining board. 
 
 " 19 require the approximate completion of a high 
 school course. 
 
 "17 prescribe no definite period of legal study. 
 
 " I prescribes a period of eighteen months. 
 
 "12 prescribe a period of two years. 
 
66 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 " 23 prescribe a period of three years. 
 " 10 still accept graduates of some law schools with- 
 out examination." ' 
 
 The above shows a great variation in state require- 
 ments for admission to the bar. The reports which 
 have been quoted so extensively above show the atti- 
 tude of the best of the legal profession in respect to 
 standards for legal education and the tendency towards 
 advocating a uniform standard of admission in the 
 several states and territories. Complete rules for ad- 
 mission to the bar will be found in " Rules for Admis- 
 sion to the Bar," published by the West Publishing 
 Company, St. Paul, Minnesota. 
 
 One of the important tendencies of the present time 
 is to increase rather than diminish the overcrowding 
 of the legal profession, mentioned in Chapter III. 
 "There were in the United States in 1900, 114,000 
 lawyers; in 1890 there were 89,000; in 1880 the num- 
 ber was 64,000; and in 1870 it was 40,000. As the pop- 
 ulation of the United States in these four decades stood 
 respectively at 38 million, 50 million, 62 million, and 
 76 million, it will be seen that this means the progres- 
 sive overcrowding of an already overcrowded profes- 
 sion. It has been estimated that there are twelve 
 thousand lawyers in New York City alone. In no 
 community is there a scarcity of practising lawyers. 
 
 " According to the census tables there were in the 
 United States in 1900, 132,000 physicians and sur- 
 
 ' From the Sixth Annual Report of the Carnegie Foundation for the 
 Advancement of Teaching. 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION (>J 
 
 geons. In the bulletin on medical education issued by 
 the Foundation in 1910 it was calculated after careful 
 investigation that 2,000 gradusates annually from the 
 medical schools would furnish an ample supply of new 
 physicians to take the places left vacant by death and 
 other causes, and to keep pace with the growth in 
 population. Assuming, and it is evidently an extrava- 
 gant assumption, that the proportion of lawyers to the 
 population should be as large as the proportion of 
 physicians, 1,700 graduates annually from the law 
 schools would be sufficient to maintain even the pres- 
 ent crowded state of the legal profession. As a matter 
 of fact, in June, 1910, the number of students gradu- 
 ated by the law schools numbered 4,183; and this 
 takes no account of the large percentage of lawyers 
 who are admitted to the bar without having received 
 a law school diploma. If we place the per capita need 
 of a lawyer at the same figure as the need of a phy- 
 sician, and disregard all who enter the profession with- 
 out completing successfully a law school course, it is 
 evident that the output of the law schools of the pres- 
 ent day is far in excess of any necessary demand." ' 
 
 As the report quoted points out, the tendency and 
 the need are for further imiformity in the standards of 
 admission to the bar in the different states. As al- 
 ready suggested in this chapter, to quote further from 
 the above report: 
 
 > From the Sixth, Annual Report of the Carnegie Foundation for the 
 Advancement of Teaching. 
 
68 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 The remedy for this demoralizmg condition can be 
 achieved only by the states themselves. The require- 
 ments for admission to the bar, both scholastic and 
 legal, should be placed by all the states upon a high 
 plane, and as far as possible, the advice of the Ameri- 
 can Bar Association to make these requirements uni- 
 form should be followed. Furthermore, the states 
 should exercise a strict control over the law schools 
 within their boundaries, and see that requirements, 
 curricula, equipment, and other important features are 
 fairly uniform, and that the schools do not multiply 
 out of proportion to the needs of the state and its 
 neighbors. 
 
 This control is not only legally and morally justi- 
 fiable, but it is indispensable to any sound progress in 
 legal education. It is a good thing for the good law 
 schools to improve their course of study and raise their 
 requirements of graduation, but this influence is lim- 
 ited to the students who attend such schools. As long 
 as the requirements for admission to the bar are low, 
 it will be found highly profitable to conduct schools 
 with inferior standards, and every raising of standards 
 by the good schools will tend to deflect a larger num- 
 ber of students toward the others, and so to perpetu- 
 ate the evil. The advantages to society to be derived 
 from a superior legal education do not manifest them- 
 selves immediately by indisputable signs. The sharp 
 boy in the oflSce of a sharp attorney may at first be 
 more effective in the legal routine than the youth who 
 is carefully trained to grasp the principles and to ab- 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 69 
 
 sorb the multifarious learning of his profession. It is 
 only at maturity that it will appear evident that the 
 latter alone can rise to the full responsibihties of the 
 profession. The small successes that are frequently 
 quickly obtained by graduates of the inferior schools 
 will therefore often attract young men destitute of that 
 counsel which looks ahead. The rise in the standards 
 of legal education, therefore, gratifying as it is, can 
 be effective only when it takes place in the standards 
 enforced by the states. 
 
 One word further ought to be said, even in a pre- 
 liminary statement, as to the relation between over- 
 crowding in the profession of the law and the effective 
 administration of justice. 
 
 The administration of the courts — both civil and 
 criminal — was recently most severely criticized by 
 lawyers of the highest training. Perhaps no critic 
 has been more definite and emphatic than the presi- 
 dent ' of the United States, himself a trained lawyer 
 and a judge of extended experience. 
 
 It is generally agreed that in the administration of 
 the law in this country technicahties are allowed to 
 hamper and often to defeat justice, that the process 
 of the law is unduly delayed, and that legal redress is 
 slow and enormously expensive. In consequence the 
 poor man in the United States is placed at a great dis- 
 advantage in seeking legal redress. These are the criti- 
 cisms of lawyers of the highest character and attain- 
 ment. They constitute a serious indictment of our 
 
 1 Ex-President Taf t. 
 
70 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 whole governmental regime and of our civilization. A 
 democracy in which the courts are so conducted, and 
 in which the law is so administered that justice is out 
 of reach of the poor man, is deficient at the most vital 
 point. Such a condition cannot permanently con- 
 tinue if democracy is to endure. 
 
 Side by side with this situation, and a most natu- 
 ral supplement to it, is the lack of respect for the law 
 among the great body of Americans, a tendency which 
 so far as one can see is increasing, not diminishing. 
 
 For this American disregard of the law there are 
 undoubtedly many contributory causes, but no one can 
 doubt that one of the important factors in bringing 
 about the result is the method under which the courts 
 are conducted and the faulty administration of justice 
 itself. Upon the profession of the law itself rests part 
 of the American disregard of the law, and there is httle 
 hope that this will markedly improve until those who 
 represent the law go seriously to work to make the 
 administration of justice a simple, more direct, and 
 less expensive process. 
 
 One may safely go one step further and say that so 
 long as men are admitted to the profession of the law 
 upon a low basis that enables a larger number of unfit 
 and ignorant men to enter the profession, just so long 
 will it be difficult to reform the methods of our courts. 
 No one can doubt that there is a very real connection 
 between the overcrowding of the profession and the 
 cost and delay of justice. The profession of the law 
 is not a private and personal occupation. It is a quasi- 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 71 
 
 public profession, and as such the public has the right 
 to demand a fair preparation on the part of those who 
 are to enter it. The question of legal education and 
 the number and character of those admitted to prac- 
 tice is directly related to the whole question of the ad- 
 ministration of justice for ninety millions of people. 
 The reform of court procedure and the simpKfication 
 of the administration of justice depend mainly on the 
 patriotism and inteUigence of the legal profession. 
 Much of this betterment can be effected without legis- 
 lation. For some of it legislation wUl be required. And 
 in legislation the members of the legal profession oc- 
 cupy in the United States a unique position. With us, 
 as with no other nation, the door to politics opens 
 through the training of the law. The great majority 
 of both houses of Congress and of most state legisla- 
 tures are lawyers by profession. This situation im- 
 poses upon the members of this profession an unusual 
 responsibility. Not only are the members of the bar 
 directly responsible for the adnunistrative reform of 
 the courts, but they are, in the main, responsible for 
 such legislation as is needed to simplify and improve 
 the conduct of the courts. Moreover, the members of 
 the legislatures, who are to fix the conditions for ad- 
 mission to practice, are drawn in an overwhelming ma- 
 jority from the ranks of lawyers. The governors of the 
 states, who are to approve or disapprove such legisla- 
 tion, are in many cases members of the same profession. 
 In no coimtry in the world does the responsibility for 
 legislation rest so heavily upon a single profession as 
 
72 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 in the states of our American Union. Not only do law- 
 yers legislate for the whole country, but they them- 
 selves fix the conditions that determine the morals and 
 the eflSciency of their own profession. Is the question 
 of standards of legal education brought before the leg- 
 islature of a state ? It is the decision of a group of 
 lawyers that determines the issue. Is the legislature 
 called on to fix the Usts of admission to the bar of the 
 state ? It is the members of the bar who decide, be- 
 cause the legislature is composed overwhelmingly of 
 members of the bar. 
 
 It would be an interesting study to follow the course 
 of legislation in this matter in the separate states. 
 When such a question comes before the lawyer mem- 
 bers of a legislature, wiU it be decided by those of high 
 professional ideals, or by those of a different training? 
 Will the members of a legislature vote patriotically 
 to advance the conditions of admission to the bar 
 beyond the standards of their own day, or will they 
 hold to the inferior standard till some son or nephew 
 has gained his admission ? In other words, lawyers in 
 legislation relating to their own profession stand in a 
 different position from that which any other profession 
 in any other country occupies. Only lawyers legislate 
 as to the standards of their own profession. It would be 
 interesting to inquire how far their treatment of the 
 question has been personal, and how far patriotic. 
 
 Without going into this matter in detail, it can at 
 least be said that the various states are slowly im- 
 proving their standards of admission to the legal pro- 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 73 
 
 fession. Anything like uniform admission to the bar 
 for the different states is still far in the future, but at 
 least it may be said that the disposition to treat the 
 profession as a quasi-public one, having definite pub- 
 lic responsibilities, is growing amongst the various 
 state legislatures, and there is evidence in nearly all 
 states of a willingness to consider the nature of this 
 responsibility to the pubKc. Some state legislatures 
 have in fact been ready to go further than the state 
 executives. 
 
 There is a marked tendency within the profession 
 itself to overcome other existing evils, one of which is 
 commercialism. The report of the New York County 
 Lawyers' Association says: 
 
 No criticisms of the Bar would be fair or complete 
 without considering the influence which commercial- 
 ism has had upon it. As we understand it, this phrase 
 represents the concentration of individual ability, ex- 
 perience and wealth into corporate form, so that the 
 qualities which make success can be used as a unit. 
 The unquestioned effect of such an evolution is to af- 
 fect more or less seriously the intellectual and esthetic 
 tastes of the nation. It has at least been one of the 
 influential causes in turning the profession of the law 
 into a business. An imperfect and unnecessary codifi- 
 cation as some believe took away all there was of 
 science in the profession, and commercialism has given 
 it a blow which has converted it into a trade. It 
 seemed almost impossible that the law should escape 
 the spirit of corporate consolidation which, after the 
 
74 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 Civil War, began to impregnate commercial life. For 
 thirty years most all conveyancing, an honorable and 
 profitable branch of the profession, has been performed 
 by title searching and guaranty companies. A few 
 corporations have thus usurped and annihilated the 
 business of many hundred lawyers. The attorneys em- 
 ployed to transact the business of these bodies lose all 
 their official individuality and force and become noth- 
 ing but trained clerks. 
 
 Other corporations, societies and agencies exist for 
 collecting debts; for writing briefs and transacting a 
 general law business. This practice became so glar- 
 ing that a statute of the present legislature prohibits 
 corporations from practicing law in certain cases 
 therein specified. 
 
 To cap the climax of professional retrogression, cor- 
 respondence schools of law have been established, 
 by which ingenious device, individuals are alleged to 
 be adequately instructed in legal principles by written 
 correspondence, thus avoiding office and collegiate 
 courses of legal study. Every branch of the profession 
 of the law is threatened to be swallowed up by this 
 devouring spirit of consohdation, by which the individ- 
 uality of the lawyer must be extinguished, and almost 
 every valuable attribute of his office, and his relation 
 to the Courts and the government become atrophied 
 or perhaps totally extinguished. For corporations are 
 formed to make money and their first and last inspira- 
 tion is to pay dividends. 
 
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN THE PROFESSION 75 
 
 Certainly this dangerous trend of commercialism 
 cannot be overlooked by the Bar and Bench. How, or 
 whether it can be arrested, is a grave problem, but the 
 community is deeply interested in aiding every earnest 
 and intelligent effort to raise the standards of the pro- 
 fession, by prescribing more rigorous methods for edu- 
 cating the students of the law. By this means we can 
 at least guide existing tendencies if we cannot control 
 them. 
 
 To correct existing defects and evils in the sys- 
 tem of admission to the Bar, the remedies must be 
 deep, if not radical. 
 
 They involve the making of rules which will, inter 
 alia, require: first, a fuU preliminary examination of 
 each applicant under the direction of the Board of 
 Regents; second, the lengthening of the term of legal 
 apprenticeship from three to five years; third, the 
 establishment of a fixed or permanent curriculum of 
 study; fourth, the institution of strict methods to be 
 followed by the committees which pass upon the moral 
 character of the candidates; and fifth, the abolition of 
 rules by which lawyers from other states can be ad- 
 mitted to the Bar by motion upon the mere production 
 of a certificate and placing such applicants upon the 
 same plane as resident candidates, except in extraor- 
 dinary instances sanctioned by special order of an Ap- 
 pellate Division. 
 
 It is not meant to declare or insinuate by the fore- 
 going criticism that the existing system of admissions 
 to the Bar in New York is worse than that which pre- 
 
76 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 vails in other jurisdictions. There is a universal and 
 widespread complaint from all the states of the grad- 
 ual dechne of the intellectual condition and morale of 
 the Bench and Bar in the country. 
 
 New York, as the leading state of the Union, should 
 make the first step to raise the standard, and establish 
 an esprit de corps of the Bar. The inauguration of re- 
 form here would have a most salutary and beneficial 
 influence through the land, and in a few years its effect 
 would be felt everjrwhere. The lawyers would regain 
 their influence in social and political fife. An aristoc- 
 racy of intellect and culture would again be enthroned. 
 The Bar would mould, if not create, a healthy public 
 opinion, and wherever demagogism appeared in our 
 institutions, or pubHc thought, it would be exorcised 
 and driven from them, and new, equal and healthy 
 inspirations of political and professional advancement 
 prevail. 
 
LIST OF LAW SCHOOLS* 
 
 
 Location 
 
 .9 
 a 
 
 §1 
 
 
 Students 
 
 1 
 
 
 Name or Institution 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 , 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 la 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 g 
 
 1 
 
 ■ss 
 
 6.a 
 
 .s 
 
 
 ALABAMA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Alabama, Law 
 Department 
 
 University, Ala. 
 
 day 
 
 4 
 
 130 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 »7S 
 
 ARKANSAS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arkansas Law School 
 
 Little Rock, Ark. 
 
 eve. 
 
 lo 
 
 61 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 75 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Califomiay' 
 School of Jurisprudelice . 
 
 University of Southern Cali- 
 fornia, College of Law.. . 
 
 Southwestern University, 
 Law School 
 
 Berkeley, Cal. 
 
 Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 San Francisco, Cal. 
 San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 Santa Clara, Cal. 
 
 Stanford University 
 
 day 
 
 both 
 
 both 
 
 eve. 
 eve. 
 
 day 
 
 eve. 
 
 day 
 
 day 
 
 13 
 
 40 
 
 22 
 
 9 
 5 
 
 7 
 10 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 149 
 
 S72 
 62 
 ISS 
 
 75 
 117 
 
 67 
 187 
 
 12 
 47 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 92 
 
 9 
 
 I 
 9 
 
 I 
 3 
 
 so 
 
 22 
 
 64 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 19 
 
 32 
 
 3 
 
 3,4 
 
 3,4 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 S6 
 85-60 
 
 Law Department of St. Ig- 
 natius University 
 
 San Francisco Law School. . 
 
 University of California, 
 Hastmgs College of Law 
 
 San Francisco Young Men's 
 Christian Assoc. Law Sch. 
 
 Santa Clara University, In- 
 
 SO 
 SO 
 
 SO 
 100 
 
 Leland Stanford junior Uni- 
 versity, Law Department 
 
 100 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Colorado, 
 
 Boulder, Colo. 
 Denver, Colo. 
 
 day 
 day 
 
 5 
 20 
 
 69 
 76 
 
 I 
 2 
 
 17 
 IS 
 
 13 
 16 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 SO 
 
 University of Denver Law 
 School 
 
 too 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yale University Law School 
 
 New Haven, Conn. 
 
 day 
 
 17 
 
 196 
 
 
 119 
 
 43 
 
 3 
 
 ISO 
 
 DIST. OF COLUMBIA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Catholic University of Amer- 
 ica, School of Law 
 
 Georgetown University, 
 School of Law 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 Washington, D. C. 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 day 
 eve. 
 
 1 
 
 eve. 
 eve. 
 eve. 
 
 S 
 S3 
 IS 
 
 8 
 
 2S 
 
 23 
 
 IIS 
 1001 
 
 414 
 
 107 
 174 
 47 
 
 II 
 
 3 
 
 91 
 
 S 
 
 121 
 17 
 
 s 
 
 9 
 
 300 
 
 76 
 
 27 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 
 ISO 
 100 
 
 George Washington Uni- 
 versity Law School 
 
 Howard University Law 
 School (colored) 
 
 National Univ. Law School 
 
 Washington College of Law 
 
 120 
 
 SO 
 100 
 6S 
 
 • Adapted from Report of the Commission of Education, 
 
 77 
 
 Depart, of the laterior, 1917, vol. II, 
 
78 
 
 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 Naue of Institdtion 
 
 Location 
 
 .9 
 
 k 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 
 Stddents 
 
 
 .S 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 rt-o 
 
 ^■5 
 
 
 day 
 
 6 
 
 6o 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 day 
 
 3 
 
 69 
 
 
 14 
 
 20 
 
 2 
 
 day 
 
 2 
 
 eve. 
 
 S 
 
 6S 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 13 
 
 36 
 33 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 day 
 
 5 
 
 49 
 
 
 S 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 both 
 
 8 
 24 
 
 104 
 245 
 
 10 
 
 25 
 10 
 
 34 
 30 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 eve. 
 
 19 
 
 6x9 
 
 27 
 
 
 146 
 
 3.4 
 
 both 
 eve. 
 eve. 
 
 19 
 
 22 
 l6 
 
 J" 
 82s 
 194 
 
 9 
 
 II 
 
 13 
 82 
 
 20 
 
 125 
 
 50 
 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 
 eve. 
 
 20 
 
 no 
 
 
 21 
 
 23 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 39 
 
 331 
 
 10 
 
 63 
 
 
 3 
 
 both 
 
 3 
 
 24 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 8 
 
 338 
 
 13 
 
 261 
 
 57 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 7 
 
 93 
 
 
 17 
 
 25 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 6 
 
 134 
 
 4 
 
 31 
 
 22 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 2 
 
 33 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 eve. 
 
 17 
 
 59 
 
 I 
 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 day 
 
 14 
 
 lOI 
 
 2 
 
 IS 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 day 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 day 
 
 9 
 6 
 
 177 
 190 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 37 
 45 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 FLORIDA 
 
 John B. Stetson University 
 College of Law 
 
 University of Florida, Col- 
 lege of Law 
 
 GEORGIA 
 University of Georgia, Law 
 
 Department 
 
 Atlanta Law School 
 
 Mercer Univ. Law School . 
 
 IDAHO 
 University of Idaho, Col- 
 lege of Law 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 Illinois Wesleyan Univ., 
 Bloomington Law School 
 Chicago Law School 
 
 Chicago-Kent Law School 
 De Paul University Law 
 
 School 
 
 Hamilton College of Law 
 John Marshall Law School 
 Loyola University, Law 
 
 Department 
 
 Northwestern University, 
 
 Law School 
 
 Northern Illinois Univer- 
 sity, Law Department . . 
 University of Chicago Law 
 
 School 
 
 University of Illinois, Col- 
 lege of Law 
 
 INDIANA 
 Indiana Univ. School of Law 
 Central Normal College, 
 
 School of Law 
 
 Benjamin Harrison Law 
 
 School 
 
 University of IndianapoUs, 
 
 Indiana Law School .... 
 Mmicie Normal Institute 
 
 Law Dept., Muncie 
 
 Law School 
 
 University of Notre Dame, 
 
 Law Department 
 
 Valparaiso Univ. I.aw School 
 
 Deland, Fla. 
 Gainesville, Fla. 
 
 Athens, Ga. 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 Macon, Ga. 
 
 Moscow, Idaho 
 
 Bloomington, lU. 
 Chicago, HI. 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 Chicago, 111. 
 Chicago, HI. 
 
 Chicago, m. 
 
 Chicago, HI. 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 Urbana, HI. 
 
 Bloomington, Ind. 
 Danville, Ind. 
 Indianapolis, Ind. 
 Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
 Muncie, Ind. 
 
 Notre Dame, Ind. 
 Valparaiso, ]jid. 
 
LIST OF LAW SCHOOLS 
 
 79 
 
 
 
 .9 
 
 
 Students 
 
 
 
 
 
 h 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^. , 
 
 
 
 Name of Inshtdtion 
 
 Location 
 
 ■Si 
 ■§>> 
 
 1 
 
 S 
 
 i 
 
 ■ss 
 
 1 
 
 o.s 
 
 
 
 .a 
 
 i 
 
 IOWA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Drake Univ. College of Law 
 
 State University of Iowa, 
 
 College of Law 
 
 Des Moines, Iowa 
 Iowa City, Iowa 
 
 day 
 
 day 
 
 7 
 7 
 
 lOI 
 
 155 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 40 
 
 33 
 33 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 (120 
 
 so 
 
 KANSAS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Kansas, 
 
 Lawrence. Kansas 
 Topeka,' Kansas 
 
 day 
 
 dav 
 
 7 
 l8 
 
 171 
 87 
 
 ,S 
 
 4 
 
 17 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 Washburn College, School 
 of Law 
 
 60 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 State University of Ken- 
 tucky, College of Law. . . 
 
 Jefferson School Of Law. . . 
 
 State University, Central 
 Law School (colored).. . , 
 
 University of Louisville, 
 Law Department 
 
 Lexington, Ky. 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 
 day 
 eve. 
 
 both 
 
 day 
 
 7 
 14 
 
 S 
 
 7 
 
 136 
 80 
 
 14 
 
 41 
 
 I 
 21 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 5 
 
 29 
 36 
 
 S 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 75 
 SO 
 7S 
 
 LOUISIANA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 State University of Louisi- 
 ana, Law Department.. . 
 
 Loyola University, School 
 of Law 
 
 Tulane University of Louisi- 
 ana, College of Law 
 
 Baton Rouge, La. 
 New Orleans, La. 
 New Orleans, La. 
 
 day 
 eve. 
 day 
 
 S 
 
 17 
 13 
 
 6S 
 62 
 77 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 13 
 II 
 
 14 
 19 
 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 90 
 105 
 
 MAINE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Maine, Col- 
 
 
 day 
 
 4 
 
 100 
 
 z 
 
 10 
 
 21 
 
 3 
 
 fi 
 
 MARYLAND 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Maryland, 
 Law Sdiool 
 
 Baltimore, Md. 
 
 day 
 
 26 
 
 42s 
 
 
 so 
 
 54 
 
 3 
 
 80 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 100, 
 
 Boston Univ., Law School. 
 
 Portia Law School 
 
 Suffolk School of Law 
 
 Northeastern College, School 
 of Law 
 
 Boston, Mass. 
 Boston, Mass. 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 Boston, Mass. 
 Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 day 
 eve. 
 both 
 
 eve. 
 day 
 
 ro 
 
 IS 
 II 
 
 416 
 
 ;6o 
 
 396 
 791 
 
 li 
 
 67 
 3 
 
 786 
 
 'I 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 3 
 
 ISO 
 60 
 60 
 
 75 
 
 Harvard Univ., Law School 
 
 ISO 
 
 MICHIGAN 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Michigan, 
 Department of Law 
 
 Ann Arbor, Mich. 
 
 day 
 
 17 
 
 567 
 
 6 
 
 221 
 
 149 
 
 3 
 
 B 
 
 University of Detroit, Col- 
 
 Detroit, Mich. 
 Detroit, Mich. 
 
 both 
 both 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 72 
 220 
 
 
 S 
 16 
 
 ZI 
 
 46 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 75 
 
 Detroit College of Law (con- 
 ducted by Det. Y.M.C.A.) 
 
 75 
 
8o 
 
 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 Naue 07 Institution 
 
 Location 
 
 .9 
 
 is 
 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 
 Students 
 
 
 .S 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 1 
 
 ■as 
 
 J.9 
 
 both 
 eve. 
 eve. 
 
 II 
 14 
 14 
 
 171 
 178 
 271 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 22 
 10 
 9 
 
 ^1 
 
 SI 
 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 day 
 
 2 
 
 88 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 day 
 eve. 
 
 8 
 32 
 
 121 
 287 
 
 
 178 
 
 S3 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 eve. 
 
 27 
 
 13s 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 both 
 
 32 
 
 190 
 
 10 
 
 so 
 
 S3 
 
 3,4 
 
 day 
 
 8 
 
 132 
 
 S 
 
 27 
 
 34 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 8 
 
 89 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 8 
 
 196 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 49 
 
 4 
 
 both 
 
 13 
 
 176 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 36 
 
 3.4 
 
 eve. 
 
 10 
 
 S8 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 * 
 
 both 
 
 lo 
 
 196 
 
 9 
 
 16 
 
 4S 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 IS 
 
 233 
 
 9 
 
 26 
 
 60 
 
 3 
 
 both 
 
 l6 
 
 267 
 
 23 
 
 33 
 
 59 
 
 3 
 
 both 
 day 
 day 
 day 
 both 
 a 
 
 S3 
 6 
 19 
 II 
 13 
 17 
 
 147 
 271 
 526 
 4SS 
 603 
 612 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 93 
 
 26 
 II 
 429 
 146 
 126 
 124 
 
 35 
 49 
 134 
 119 
 112 
 
 3 
 3.4 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 21 
 
 246 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 68 
 
 3 
 
 MINNESOTA 
 University of Minnesota, 
 
 College of Law 
 
 Minnesota College of Law. 
 St. Paul College of Law. . . 
 
 MISSISSIPPI 
 Millsaps College of Law . . 
 University of Mississippi, 
 School of Law 
 
 MISSOURI 
 
 University of Missouri, 
 School of Law 
 
 Kansas City School of Law 
 
 City College of Law and 
 Finance 
 
 St. Louis Univeisity, In- 
 stitute of Law 
 
 Washington University, St. 
 Louis Law School 
 
 MONTANA 
 
 University of Montana, 
 
 College of Law 
 
 NEBRASKA 
 University of Nebraska, 
 
 College of Law 
 
 Creighton Univ., Creighton 
 
 College of Law 
 
 University of Omaha, Oma- 
 ha School of Law 
 
 NEW JERSEY 
 New Jersey Law School . . . 
 
 NEW YORK 
 Union University, Albany 
 
 Law School 
 
 St. Lawrence University, 
 Brooklyn Law School . . . 
 University of Buffalo, Buf- 
 falo Law School 
 
 Cornell Univ., Col. of Law . 
 Columbia Univ., Sch.of Law 
 Fordham Univ., Sch.of Law 
 
 New York Law School 
 
 N. Y. Univ. Law School. . . 
 Syracuse University, Col- 
 lege of Law 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 St. Paul, Minn. 
 
 Jackson, Miss. 
 University, Miss. 
 
 Columbia, Mo. 
 Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Missoula, Mont. 
 
 Lincoln, Nebr. 
 Omaha, Nebr. 
 Omaha, Nebr. 
 
 Newark, N. J. 
 
 Albany. N. Y. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y, 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y. 
 Ithaca, N. Y. 
 New York, N. Y. 
 New York, N. Y. 
 New York, N. Y. 
 New York, N. Y. 
 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
LIST OF LAW SCHOOLS 
 
 8l 
 
 
 
 .3 
 4| 
 
 
 Students 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 i« 
 
 
 
 Name ot Instituiion 
 
 Location 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 i 
 
 
 go 
 
 9 H 
 
 S ^ 
 
 .a 
 e 
 
 1 
 
 J 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of North Caro- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lina, Law Department . . 
 
 Chapel HiU, N. C. 
 Durham, N. C. 
 
 day 
 
 4 
 
 132 
 
 2 
 
 43 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 $70 
 
 Trinity College Law School 
 
 day 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 
 9 
 
 s 
 
 2,3 
 
 60 
 
 Wake Forest Col. Law Sch. 
 
 Wake Forest, N. C. 
 
 day 
 
 2 
 
 17s 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 88 
 
 NORTH DAKOTA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of North Da- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 kota College of Law 
 
 University, N. D. 
 
 day 
 
 7 
 
 87 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 24 
 
 i 
 
 SO 
 
 OHIO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio Northern University, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ada College of Law 
 
 Ada, Ohio 
 
 day 
 
 2 
 
 S6 
 
 
 
 IS 
 
 3 
 
 46 
 
 Cmcinnati Law School 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio 
 
 day 
 
 7 
 
 73 
 
 2 
 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 100 
 
 Y.M.C.A. Night Law Sch. . 
 Baldwin-Wallace College, 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio 
 
 eve. 
 
 14 
 
 134 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 3 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleveland Law School.. . 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio 
 
 eve. 
 
 12 
 
 250 
 
 II 
 
 23 
 
 
 4 
 
 70 
 
 West. Reserve Univ., Frank- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lin T. Backus Law School 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio 
 
 day 
 
 12 
 
 no 
 
 
 86 
 
 23 
 
 3 
 
 I2S 
 
 Ohio State University, Col- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lege of Law 
 
 Columbus, Ohio 
 
 day 
 
 6 
 
 i6s 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 3 
 
 60 
 
 St. John's University, Col- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lege of Law 
 
 Toledo, Ohio 
 
 eve. 
 
 26 
 
 42 
 
 
 S 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 SO 
 
 AVgb «i AJtKI, ........... 
 
 OKLAHOMA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Oklahoma, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 College of Law 
 
 Norman, Okla. 
 
 day 
 
 S 
 
 ISS 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 28 
 
 3 
 
 t 
 
 OREGON 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Univ. of Oregon, Law School 
 
 Eugene Ore. 
 
 day 
 
 5 
 
 30 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 Willamette University, Col- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 IpEre of Law 
 
 Salem, Ore. 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 IS 
 
 I 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 60 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dickinson College, Dickin- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 son School of Law 
 
 Carlisle, Pa. 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 day 
 
 6 
 
 167 
 
 X 
 
 24 
 
 26 
 
 3 
 
 los 
 
 Temple Univ. Law School.. 
 
 eve. 
 
 8 
 
 167 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 7S 
 
 University of Pennsylvania, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Department of Law 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 day 
 
 IS 
 
 2SS 
 
 
 134 
 
 66 
 
 3 
 
 200 
 
 Duquesne Univ., Sch. of Law 
 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 both 
 
 IS 
 
 4S 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 100 
 
 University of Pittsburgh, 
 Pittsburgh Law School . . 
 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 day 
 
 l6 
 
 167 
 
 2 
 
 92 
 
 
 3 
 
 100 
 
 PORTO RICO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of Porto Rico, 
 
 San Juan, Porto 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 College of Law 
 
 Rico 
 
 day 
 
 4 
 
 S3 
 
 I 
 
 
 iS 
 
 3 
 
 2S 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 University of South Caro- 
 Ima Law School 
 
 Columbia, S. C. 
 
 day 
 
 3 
 
 7S 
 
 
 23 
 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 6s 
 
82 
 
 THE LAW AS A VOCATION 
 
 Name of Ihstiiution 
 
 Location 
 
 .9 
 
 
 
 Students 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 .9 
 J" 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Ms 
 is 
 
 3 
 
 cdto 
 
 3 H 
 
 •a 01 
 O.S 
 
 day 
 
 * 
 
 go 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 23 
 
 3 
 
 eve. 
 
 17 
 
 88 
 
 z 
 
 9 
 
 3Z 
 
 2 
 
 day 
 day 
 
 7 
 4 
 
 4° 
 197 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 zo 
 
 Z29 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 day 
 
 7 
 
 S6 
 
 z 
 
 z6 
 
 z8 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 n 
 
 398 
 
 9 
 
 SO 
 
 79 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 13 
 
 91 
 
 z 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 S 
 
 254 
 
 
 S3 
 
 52 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 day 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 146 
 35 
 
 
 26 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 1 
 
 both 
 
 8 
 
 171 
 
 7 
 
 z6 
 
 34 
 
 3 
 
 eve. 
 
 21 
 
 42 
 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 both 
 
 6 
 
 S8 
 
 .. 
 
 Z3 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 day 
 
 8 
 
 222 
 
 3 
 
 60 
 
 37 
 
 3 
 
 both 
 
 17 
 
 163 
 
 4 
 
 ZS 
 
 IZ 
 
 3 
 
 SOUTH DAKOTA 
 
 University of South Dakota, 
 
 College of Law 
 
 TENNESSEE 
 Chattanooga College of Law 
 University of Tennessee, 
 
 Law Department 
 
 Cumberland Univ. Law Sch. 
 Vanderbilt University, Law 
 
 Department 
 
 TEXAS 
 University of Texas, De- 
 partment of Law 
 
 UTAH 
 University of Utah, Col- 
 lege of Law 
 
 VIRGINLi 
 
 University of Virginia, De- 
 partment of Law 
 
 Washington and Lee Uni- 
 versity, School of Law . . 
 
 Kicbmond Coll., Sch. of Law 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 Univ. of Wash., Law School 
 Gonzago Univ., Law Dept. 
 
 WEST VIRGINIA 
 
 Wrat Virginia University, 
 
 College of Law 
 
 WISCONSIN 
 Univ. of Wisconsin, Law Sch. 
 Marquette University Col- 
 lege of Law 
 
 Vermilion, S. D. 
 
 Chattanooga, Tenn. 
 
 KnoxviUe, Tenn. 
 Lebanon, Tenn. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 Austin, Texas 
 
 Salt Lake City, U. 
 
 Charlottesville, Va. 
 
 Lexington, Va. 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
 Seattle, Wash. 
 Spokane, Wash. 
 
 Morgantown, W. 
 Va. 
 
 Madison Wis. 
 Milwaukee, Wis. 
 
 $50 
 
 8S 
 
 zoo 
 100 
 
 I2S 
 
 so, 75 
 
 45 
 7S 
 
 ^ Bay and afternoon. 
 
 * Afternoon. 
 
 ' $25 to residents of Kansas; $35 to nonresidents. 
 
 * $100 to all students not residents of the United States. 
 B S70 to residents of Maine; $130 to nonresidents. 
 
 * $67 to residents of Michigan; $77 to nonresidents. 
 ' Free to residents of Missouri. 
 
 B Morning, afternoon and evening. 
 
 B Free to residents of Oklahoma. 
 «> Afternoon. 
 
 u $25 to.students residents of West Vlr^ia: $50 to students nonresidents. 
 13 Free to students residents of Wisconsm; $50 per semester to students nonresidents. 
 

 2 
 
 .S^^ 
 
 u 
 
 bibliographV^x 
 
 FoOTE, Mary S. The Need for College Instruc^urinthe Use of 
 Law Books. The Law Library Journal, vol. x, no. 2, July, 
 1917, pp. 25-31. The H. W. WUson Co., New York City. 
 
 Hakkis, Arthtir M. Letters to a Young Lawyer. West Pub- 
 lishing Co., St. Paul, Minn., 191 2. 
 
 Hill, Frederick Trevor. Lincoln the Lawyer. Century Co., 
 New York, 1906. 
 
 Reed, John C. Conduct of Law Suits out of and in Court. In- 
 troduction by John H. Wigmore. Little, Brown, & Co., 
 Boston, 191 2. 
 
 Root, Elihu. Public Service by the Bar. The Docket, 1705- 
 
 1708, January, 1917, St. Paul, Minn. 
 Tajt, William Howard. Four Aspects of Civic Duty: Yale 
 
 Lectures on the Responsibilities of Citizenship, pp. 35-60; 
 
 second lecture. The Duties of Citizenship Viewed from the 
 
 Standpoint of a Judge on the Bench. Charles Scribners' 
 
 Sons, New York, 1908. 
 The Lawyer of Ideals, n. s., vol. i. New Jersey Law 
 
 Review, pp. 1-19, May, 1915. 
 Warren, Charles. A History of the American Bar. Little, 
 
 Brown, & Co., Boston, 191 1. 
 Rules for Admission to the Bar in the Several States and Terri- 
 tories of the United States. West Publishing Co., St. Paul, 
 
 Minn., 1917. 
 
 Periodicals 
 
 The leading journals in this field frequently contain articles 
 which are of interest to the general reader, and many of the 
 technical articles are of such a character as to help one in gaining 
 a clearer conception of the opportunities and tendencies in the 
 legal profession. The Law Library Journal, published by the 
 Harvard Law School, gives a complete list of all legal publica- 
 tions together with the names of publishers. Nearly every large 
 law school issues a journal or edits a bulletin which may be pro- 
 cured upon request. 
 
 83 
 
PBINTED AT 
 
 THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, UASS., V. S. A. 
 
KF 297 A9^ 
 
 
 Author 
 
 Atlen. Frederick James 
 
 Vol. 
 
 Title 
 
 Law as a vocation 
 
 Copy 
 
 
 
 Date 
 
 Borrower's Name