Prashker, Louis

English

St. John's University School of Law

St. John's Law Review Volume 29 Number 1 Volume 29, December 1954, Number 1 Article 18 May 2013 The American Lawyer: A Summary of the Survey of the Legal Profession (Book Review) Louis Prashker Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview Recommended Citation Prashker, Louis (1954) "The American Lawyer: A Summary of the Survey of the Legal Profession (Book Review)," St. John's Law Review: Vol. 29 : No. 1 , Article 18. Available at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview/vol29/iss1/18 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in St. John's Law Review by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact selbyc@stjohns.edu. BOOK REVIEWSof the sharpness or dullness of its blade will be enabled to obtain both economicsatisfaction and spiritual enjoyment in its use. To that student-in the lawschool, in the law office and in the law court-I commend and recommendPrashker on New York Practice.When I first began to record my thoughts, I assumed that I would pro-ceed as does the experienced book reviewer: I would point out that the thirdedition has about 120 pages more than the second; that important recent changesin the law have received proper mention-such, for example, as Section 50-eof the General Municipal Law (procedural steps preliminary to the commence-ment of an action), Rule 121a of the Rules of Civil Practice (examinationbefore trial), and Section 285 of the Civil Practice Act (interpleader) ; thatthe outline of contents is topical and helpful; that the index and the table ofcases are complete and invaluable; and that there have been other improve-ments. I thought too that I might express some disagreement-in the usualstyle of the reviewer. I thought I might suggest, for example, that, in a bookas compact as this, to devote separate chapters to each type and element of apleading-Complaint, Answer, Reply, Verification, Service and Amended andSupplemental Pleadings, is an unnecessary utilization of valuable space. Or,also for example, I might point out that to place such a topic as Res Judicataunder the heading of Complaint, rather than under or near the heading ofJudgment, is not appropriate. But, in the vein in which these comments arefinally written, to subject this splendid book to minute criticism would, I think,be an act of supererogation. Other defects of emphasis or arrangement I thinkthere are. Quite naturally, the author or even another reviewer may disagree.Since I have informed the author of my views, I hope that when (in conse-quence of the expected demand) the fourth edition is published, ProfessorPrashker will do me the honor to adopt my suggestions although I have nothere made them public.MATTHEW M. LEVY.*THE AMERICAN LAWYER: A SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY OF THE LEGAL PRO-FESSION. By Albert P. Blaustein and Charles 0. Porter, with Charles T.Duncan. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1954. Pp. XIII, 360.$5.50.The Survey of the Legal Profession sponsored by the American Bar Asso-ciation (commencing in 1944) and the Carnegie Corporation is now substan-tially complete. The Survey has involved the work of over 300 researchworkers and has culminated in several thousand printed pages of reports.Twelve volumes and 158 special articles and reports have appeared. They re-flect the education, ideals, and professional and public services of the Americanlawyer. The special articles and reports have appeared from time to time inlaw reviews and legal periodicals. But in many instances, copies of the articlesand reports are not presently available.* Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.19541]ST. JOHN'S LAW REVIEWThe present volume is a very helpful summary of the printed materialwhich originated with the Survey. Reginald Heber Smith, the Director of theSurvey, has written a foreword. He indicates that when the authors of thisvolume did their writing, two major survey reports were not available to them."Bar Association Organization and Activities," by Glenn R. Winters, was pub-lished in book form in May, 1954. "Law Schools in the United States" is tobe published in book form in 1955. After the appearance of the latter volumein 1955 and after the expiration of a reasonable time for criticism and correc-tion, the Director of the Survey will write a final report in the form of"... a synthesis of all the Survey reports and material, together with anintegrated plan for improving our administration of justice, for making thelegal profession a stronger force for the public good and a more splendid in-strumentality to serve our national welfare." 1 After the submission of thefinal report, a layman will make the concluding appraisal of the legal pro-fession. For this task the Survey Council in 1951 selected Mr. GeorgeWaverley Briggs, of Dallas, Texas. Since that time, Mr. Briggs has receivedall the Survey reports, and has had access to all Survey files, and in due coursewill render the final verdict upon the objectives and achievements of theAmerican lawyer.The principal authors of this volume, Albert P. Blaustein and Charles 0.Porter, have been associated with the Survey almost from its inception, andare thoroughly equipped to analyze and present in summarized form the Surveymaterial.The book contains nine chapters titled:I. The Legal Profession: Status in SocietyII. Professional Services By LawyersIII. Availability of Legal ServicesIV. Public Service By LawyersV. Judicial ServicesVI. Legal EducationVII. Admission to the BarVIII. Ethics of the LawIX. Organization of the Legal ProfessionIn prior numbers of the ST. Jorx's LAw REviEw, I had the opportunity ofreviewing Dean Harno's "Legal Education in the United States," 2 written forthe Survey, and the collection of special articles written for the Surveyappearing under the title "Bar Examinations and Requirements for Admissionto the Bar." 3 In consequence I shall abstain from further reference to thetreatment of those subjects in this volume.1 P. X.2 See Prashker, A Critique of Legal Education in the United States, 28 ST.JoHaN's L. Rv. 30 (1953).3 See Prashker, Book Review, 27 ST. JOHN's L. REv. 204 (1952).[ VOL. 2919541 BOOK REVIEWSChapter I, The Legal Profession: Status in Society, and Chapter IX,Organization of the Legal Profession, seemed to me to be the most absorbingchapters of the book and in this review I shall confine my attention to them.Chapter I starts with the query: Who is the American lawyer? "Fromall outward appearances, the American lawyer is much like everybody else." 4He is not dressed better than or differently from most members of his com-munity. He is active in the community and is generally an ardent participantin political affairs. Once he undertakes a case for a client he seems to becomewedded to it, be the case ever so unpopular. He is an American version of theBritish Solicitor and Barrister, rolled into one. But he wears no wig andswears allegiance to his government and its democratically chosen officers.In answer to the query, how many lawyers are there, some interestingstatistics are offered. There are in the United States a little more than 200,000lawyers. This makes approximately one lawyer to every 740 persons. NewYork State has the greatest total number (33,206) of lawyers, and, with theexception of the District of Columbia, New York is the place of highest con-centration of lawyers. Out of every six attorneys in America, one has hislaw office in New York State. ". . . [T]here are more lawyers in New Yorkthan in the twenty-six smallest states combined. Nearly 12 per cent of thenation's lawyer population is located in New York City alone ....." 5 Illinoishas the second largest number of lawyers, 15,643. California has 14,577, Ohiohas 11,020 and Texas has 9,997. The smallest number of lawyers is inNevada which has 313. Delaware has 316. Wyoming has 380. Vermont has383.6 Generally speaking, the states with the highest percentage of lawyersare those with the greatest population. Industrial states have relatively morelawyers than the farming states.Some other queries posed and answered in Chapter I are:With whom do lawyers work?Is the Bar an overcrowded profession?How much do lawyers work?What does it cost to run a law office?What are lawyers' working hours?How do lawyers get jobs?Problems of Retirement, Women as Members of the Bar, The Public Atti-tude toward the Lawyer, and Public Relations of the Bar, are other topicsconsidered in the chapter. Reference is made to a Survey report which dealtwith some aspects of lawyer-retirement. Under the present Social SecurityLaw, self-employed attorneys who comprise the vast majority of the Bar, arenot eligible for Social Security benefits. The editorial columns of the NewYork Law Journal daily attest lawyers' reactions to this unequal treatment.4P. 1.SP. 4.6p. 5.ST. JOHN'S LAW REVIEWIn this area of legislation, the lawyer seems to have done much for a largemajority of the working population, but has done little for himself.Chapter IX, Organization of the Legal Profession, is the concludingchapter of the book. Much of the chapter is based on Roscoe Pound's "TheLawyer from Antiquity to Modern Times" written for the Survey in 1953.Early developments of local, state and national Bar associations are traced.Reference is made to the comparatively recent organization of junior and stu-dent Bar associations and the movement for integration of the Bar.The authors of this volume are to be congratulated for having broughttogether in a very readable volume the fruits of much substantial thinkingand writing by a great many intellects on the problem of the American lawyer.Louis PRASHKER.*SFixcxr Topics ON THE LAW OF TORTS. The Thomas M. Cooley Lectures.Fourth Series. By William Lloyd Prosser. Ann Arbor: University ofMichigan, 1954. Pp. xi, 627. $6.00.Dean Prosser has once again demonstrated that he is that remarkablephenomenon: the scholar of depth who yet writes simply and entertainingly.Not for him the complex and dry-as-dust approach of most. Humor flashesthroughout his writings, and his is the knack of making even the most difficultproblem easy to understand. One need not be a torts scholar to read Prosser.The first year law student can read and readily comprehend his fine hornbook,'and, I dare say, such a student could read and comprehend the Cooley Lectureswith not much more difficulty-and this despite the fact that they deal largelywith little known, frontier problems of the law of torts.In view of that indorsement there is probably no doubt where this reviewerstands on the question of the merits of the Cooley Lectures. They are, in myjudgment, excellent; possibly better, within their scope, than anything Prosserhas yet done in the course of a distinguished career in the field of torts.The volume is composed of two articles written in earlier years on "Busi-ness Visitors and Invitees" and "Res Ipsa Loquitur in California," and the fiveCooley Lectures, "Comparative Negligence," "Interstate Publication," "ThePrinciple of Rylands v. Fletcher," "Palsgraf Revisited," and "The Borderlandof Tort and Contract."The entire content is top-notch. The article most appealing to me was"Palsgraf Revisited," an analysis of Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.2which is, as Prosser says, "perhaps the most celebrated of all tort cases." Hepoints out that the Appellate Division justices in that case saw nothing in itbut "proximate cause" and that it might never have been important at all had* Professor of Law, St. John's University School of Law.1 See PROSSER, TORTS (1941).2248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928).[ VOL. 29

The American Lawyer: A Summary of the Survey of the Legal Profession (Book Review)

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The American Lawyer: A Summary of the Survey of the Legal Profession (Book Review)

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