Ransom, William L.

English

UND Scholarly Commons (University of North Dakota)

North Dakota Law Review Volume 12 Number 9 Article 6 1936 Typical American Lawyer William L. Ransom Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/ndlr Recommended Citation Ransom, William L. (1936) "Typical American Lawyer," North Dakota Law Review: Vol. 12 : No. 9 , Article 6. Available at: https://commons.und.edu/ndlr/vol12/iss9/6 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Dakota Law Review by an authorized editor of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact und.commons@library.und.edu. BAR BRIEFSed two others to their approved list. Missouri went even further. TheAttorney-General of the State with the aid of several bar organizationshas instituted a number of suits prosecuting collection agencies for theunauthorized practice of law. In one of these cases-the Dudley case-the special commissioner named to hear the case has filed his report hold-ing that the respondent agency had been engaged in practicing law. Hisreport shows that he was impressed with the finding that more than10% of the 5000 claims handled by the agency since January 1, 1933had been placed with attorneys. He concluded as a matter of law thatwhen the efforts of the lay agency failed and it became necessary toplace the claims with lawyers, at that point the field of the practice oflaw was invaded. This case, and others on similar points, are now pend-ing in various stages of appeal, according to the Missouri Bar Journal.TYPICAL AMERICAN LAWYERThe typical American lawyer as I have observed him, is very mucha part of the life and work of his community. He owns his home andusually a little land, may walk to his office, knows by first name thepeople he meets along the street, knows the men with whom he practiceslaw, has a feeling of independence in spite of moderate fees and slow col-Ictions, and is called in to sit at the council table of every communityproject. He has time to read a little, play a little, and think a gooddeal. He takes part in the public affairs and politics of his town, sits inits school board, is active in its churches and lodges, is identified withits banks and industries, knows its people, and is all the while calledupon for judgment as to its problems and for leadership in its publicopinion, cultural life and community activities. His relationship to allthese things is individual and personal, and he becomes the greatest in-dividualist in America. He does not surrender his opinions to clientsor political parties or Bar Associations; he thinks and speaks and actsand votes as he individually see fit; and is generally a most useful andrespected citizen, who has and deserves the confidence of his com-munity as well as of his profession; and lately he has shown, in not a fewStates, a willingness to deal with the problems and duties of his pro-fession as a whole. I do not for one moment suggest that, in any part ofthis country during the past few years, the life and work of the lawyersas a class have been any "bed of roses" or that the highest ideals of theprofession have anywhere been completely realized; but I do suggestthat we would not need to worry about the future of the legal professionin the United States, if it were left to the smaller cities and towns of thiscountry and were not dictated by the conditions of life and practice inthe few largest cities.HON. WILLIAM L. RANSOM, President,American Bar Ass'n, in speech beforeNew York County Lawyers Ass'n.REMEDY FOR SENSATIONALISM AT HANDThe courts now possess ample power and authority to correct theabuses of offending newspapers. The trouble is our judges are placedon the bench by popular vote, and no judge has any desire to incur theenmity of a powerful newspaper. Trials in federal courts are not in-terfered with and the main reasons are that the tenure of the judges issecure and no newspaper is going to take the chance it otherwise wouldtake in a state court.-JUDGE ALBERT B. CHIPMAN, Ind.

Typical American Lawyer

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Typical American Lawyer

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