This address should not be compared with the masterpieces of diction and erudition which have preceded it, but should rather be considered in the prosaic nature of a report. Attention is called to the fact that between annual meetings your affairs are conducted by a president, a secretary, and an executive committee consisting.of these officers and five vice-presidents representing the five congressional districts into which the state is divided, also an executive secretary, besides various committees

Allen, Edward W.

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Washington Law Review Volume 5 Number 4 11-1-1930 President's Address Edward W. Allen Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr  Part of the Legal Profession Commons Recommended Citation Edward W. Allen, President's Address, 5 Wash. L. Rev. 156 (1930). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol5/iss4/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at UW Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington Law Review by an authorized editor of UW Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact cnyberg@uw.edu. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESSThis address should not be compared with the masterpieces ofdiction and erudition which have preceded it, but should rather beconsidered in the prosaic nature of a report.Attention is called to the fact that between annual meetingsyour affairs are conducted by a president, a secretary, and an execu-tive committee consisting.of these officers and five vice-presidentsrepresenting the five congressional districts into which the state isdivided, also an executive secretary, besides various committees.The present incumbents are Glen Madison of Bellingham, RayGreenwood of Bremerton, J. C. Stewart of Aberdeen, D. H. Bonstedof Yakima, Ray Venables of Spokane, vice-presidents, G. H.Heinly of Tacoma, secretary, and A. J. Schweppe of Seattle, execu-tive secretary It is only fair to these men that you should knowthat they broke away from the practice of transacting all businessby correspondence and instead came to Seattle from all parts of thestate to hold actual meetings.In an attempt to make this annual convention entertaining andpractical, precedents have been disregarded. Three half-day ses-sions are planned. At each session only one formal address, butthis of the highest order, will be heard. A series of fifteen-mmuteaddresses of special appeal to the younger lawyers, but profitablefor all, will open the Friday morning session. Finding that similarassociations have successfully employed the round'table discussionplan, no session will be held Friday afternoon, but instead threesuch round tables will be conducted concurrently, one on lawenforcement, one on the problems of the courts and judges, andone on a proposed complete new corporation code and stock transferact.Two recommendations were submitted to you and were approvedat your last meeting.The first was the employment of a paid executive secretaryNegotiations commenced by Mr. Kizer were continued, resultingin a treaty between the Judicial Council, the Seattle Bar Associa-tion and the State Bar Association, that each should contribute toa fund of $200 a month wherewith to employ an executive secre-tary for all three organizations. Mr. A. J. Schweppe, who as Deanof the Law School of the University of Washington, had consented.PRESIDENT'S ADDRESSto organize the work, agreed, at least temporarily, to accept theposition although he had re-entered the general practice.A big forward step has thus been taken, but only a step, for it isthe opinion of your officers that it is absolutely essential that theState Bar Association employ a full-time adequately-paid executivesecretary The right man can save you his salary many times over.The second of Mr. Kizer's recommendations was the adoptionof the WASHINGTON LAW REviEw as the official organ of this Asso-ciation. This has been carried out and two issues of. that Rviwhave been mailed to each of you, one containing the report of lastyear's convention, the other the program for this meeting.In the selection of committee membership, in addition to indi-vidual fitness, consideration was also given to place of residencewith the idea of facilitating the holding of meetings. Thus if aTacoma lawyer were selected for a chairmanship, at least a major-ity of his committee would be from Tacoma or its vicinity. AWalla Walla chairman would be assigned committeemen fromSouthern Washington and soforth. Undoubtedly this system hascontributed to the fact that this year more committees have actuallymet and reported than ever before.Another new feature m committee membership was of the ap-pointment of members of the law faculty to. act upon committeeswhen research work is desired. Thus Acting Dean Leslie J. Ayerand Professors O'Bryan, Nottelmann, Ashley and Mechem allserved upon committees.Another innovation was to have the various committees file theirreports with the executive committee a month in advance of thismeeting. A summary of these reports was published in the lastissue of THE WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW. It is hoped that, in thefuture, reports may be printed and placed in the hands of everymember sufficiently in advance of the annual meeting to enablehin to familiarize himself with their contents.The work of committees falls naturally .into three classes:1. Service to the members of the bar.2. Service to the judges.3. Service to the public.Nothing is more expensive or unjust to the public than to permitpeople who are unfit to do so to attempt to practice law. When,therefore, we take steps to restrict the practice of law to those whohave proven themselves equipped at least with legal study andWASHINGTON LAW" REVIEWtraining, we may, to some extent, be benefiting ourselves, but surelywe are also protecting the public from imposters.There is little doubt that many real estate men and bankers, aswell as business solicitors and claim chasers, are not only practicinglaw, but are doing so in a manner decidedly injurious to the. public.In various jurisdictions, these practices have been largely elimin-ated by means of agreements entered into between bar associationsand bankers or real estate associations, and by criminal prosecutictragainst persistent offenders.Whether for better or for worse, it is becoming apparent thatthe radio is breaking the newspaper control of public opinion. Ibelieve that bar associations should avail themselves of this instru-mentality to lay before the public the facts concerning the profes-sion and make people see that it is to the public interest to restrictthe practice of law to those who are properly qualified.It is the belief of your officers that judges should not be forcedinto politics in order to receive fair treatment at the hands of thepublic or the legislature. It should be a part of the professionalduty of lawyers, and particularly of this organization, to shoulderthis load. Accordingly committees have been at work upon thesubject of judges' salaries, and a judges' pension and retirementlaw. If the affirmative action recommended meets with yourapproval, you should not stop there but each should pledge himselfto do his part to carry these proposals into effect.It has become fashionable among demagogues seeking publicityto attack every part of our form of constitutional government.Our courts have not been immune from these scurrilous attacks.Yet I venture the unqualified assertion that at no time in theworld's history, nor in any place, can any group equaling thenumber of the judges who have held office in this country since1789, be found which has been characterized by such an almostuniform display of unimpeachable integrity, courage and ability ashave the judges of our Federal and our higher state courts. Evenamong our trial courts corruption is practically unknown exceptin such of our largest cities as have suffered almost complete break-down in municipal administration.Do not understand me to assert that our judges are perfect. Onthe contrary they are essentially human, and it must be remem-bered that we are operating under a system of inadequate pay, shortterms and popular elections, for all of which the public, and notthe bar, is primarily responsible.A MODERN TITANIn my opinion not only should the lawyers defend the courts, butcourts, prosecuting attorneys and lawyers generally should supporteach other m the interest of sound government and the welfareof the legal profession as well as of the public at large. We hearmany laments that the public holds the bar in poor esteem. Per-haps these reports are exaggerated. Nevertheless we must franklyadmit that-there is too much truth back of these laments.The vast majority of lawyers are honest, sincere, exceedinglyindustrious, and absolutely faithful to the interests of their clients.Why, then, does the public think so poorly of us 7 In my opinion,it is because we tolerate a small, unethical minority in the profes-sion, a minority small but brazen and blatant, a minority which byvery reason of its disreputable methods makes news for the dailypapers. Because this is the element generally mentioned ih thepress, we find that the entire bar is characterized in the publicmind by its worst element.Although other matters have been dealt with, those efforts whichhave attracted most attention concern law enforcement.The term reformer has come to mean an impractical theorist con-demned by his own generation and dying a failure, but whose ideasare accepted by a succeeding generation which erects a monumentto his memory.The members of your administration did not seek the glory ofmartyrdom. Hence they avoided the practices of reformers. Theyhave sought no radical upsets. Seven committees, however, wereappointed to study various phases involved in the problem ofcurbing crime. These have considered the provisions of the stateconstitution and laws, the Federal constitution, the police system,crime publicity, prisons and other detention institutions, and themethods of other jurisdictions.The reports of these seven committees were submitted to a gen-eral committee of seven, the chairman of which is the Professor ofCriminal Law at the University of Washington. The other mem-bers consisted of a United States district attorney, a prosecutingattorney, and four other lawyers, some of whom were experiencedin the defense of criminal cases, and all of whom were general prac-titioners.One suggestion which will be submitted for your considerationis the adoption of a state police system and the establishment of astate clearing house for information concerning criminals.In my opinion-and each one probably has ins own-two of theWASHINGTON LAW REVIEWmost vital difficulties are-an indifferent or even adverse publicattitude, and an inefficient and too often corrupt police system.Conditions in this state have not yet become nearly as bad as insome of the Eastern commonwealths. Let us profit by our good for-tune and take steps in time to prevent racketeering from evergaining a foothold in the State of Washington.At present a most disconcerting element besets us which cannotbe ignored-the prohibition question. The American people seemto have divided themselves into two groups of irreconcilable fan-atics. On the one hand are those who seem to consider the takingof a drink of Scotch a more heinous offense than murder. On theother hand are those, including some otherwise rational lawyers,who believe that the United States Constitution contains no rightsto which a dry agent can lay claim, but that he is an outlaw to beshot on sight.The excessive stress laid on prohibition to the disregard of allother criminal laws is unfortunate. This is a dangerous subjectto discuss, nevertheless I venture the assertion that as lawyers weshould remember the words of Abraham Lincoln when dealing withan even more delicate subject-the fugitive slave law--"It is theduty of every citizen to obey the law. If he does not like the lawhe must change it in the due form provided by our constitutionalsystem."Your officers have endeavored to arrange meetings with thelocal bar associations in order to present to them the aims andaccomplishments of the state association, and also to call to yourattention the present attitude of the Judicial Council in endeavor-ing, first, to ascertain and then to express the ascertained will ofthe bar rather than to force reforms upon the bar against its willTo this end the Judicial Council has evolved a system of submittingits proposals to a referendum of the bar.Insufficient attention has been given in this state to the restate-ment of the law by the American Law Institute. No work morecomprehensive nor more intelligently eonceived or diligently pur-sued has ever been undertaken by lawyers. It deserves your sup-port.In conclusion, let me thank the many members of the bar through-out the state who have lent their enthusiastic support and gen-erous encouragement to your officers in their humble efforts toserve your interests, and permit me to submit the following recom-mendations.PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS1. That the Association should procure a full time, adequately-paid ezecutive secretary.2. That the work of protecting the profession and the publicagainst those who are attempting to perform legal services withoutthe training, knowledge or professional qualifications, be con-tinued.3. That the present committees dealing with the problems ofrelief for the courts and judges should be continued with therequest that they draft laws to carry out their recommendations.4. That the study of. the problems of law enforcement be con-tinued.5. That each year the Association undertakes the revision ofsome definite branch of law, just as this year we have attemptedto revise our corporation laws.6. That a committee be appointed to bring about closer cooper-ation between the bench and bar in solving their respective prob-lerIns7. That a committee of cooperation between thins Associationand the law schools of the state be appointed.8. That a committee be appointed to cooperate with the Amer-iean Law Institute, particularly with-the object of securing Wash-ington annotations to all of its publications.9. That the incorporation of the bar be given serious considera-tion, and-that if this plan be not adopted that the annual assess-ments against the local Bar Association be raised from year to yearuntil equivalent to $5.00 a member in order that the Association maybe in position to render the service to its members that they them-selves should be entitled to demand.EDwAuD W ALI.0*President of the Washington State Bar Association.

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