The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-03-06
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SgNnerAlly the private concern Of
the cItent Svho pays them and the law
Yer who Mgceives them. II Dorsey saw
& tQs@pay Col. Ingersoli $1OO, 600 for
@4h1S 4ervtees sin tho star-route cases,
dorsey Efobably got the worth Of his
Mo1Sy 1 have observed that lawyers
S~0ssN0sEcare to Measure the value Of
4 th4jEs Aervices by the amount of the
yerdiNs except when they win. It is
n0tsSSSHnfair rule that LAWYERS fees
should be governed by the Importance
4 ~ tkssinterests involved. Mr.. Tilden
2sraGkived q fortune for his services in
railroad litigation and negotiations:
but az lone as those who paid the
money were satisfied, lido not see
whose business it was but that Of the
parties Interested. Henry L. Clinton
4s reported to have charged William II.
Vanderbilt over $500, 900 in the Van
derbilt will case, and to have actually
received $4,000. But there were mil
lions involved in that case. 1t is a
common thing for big lawyers to
charge 300 per day for their attend
Anceln court. Practitioners of the
rankof Joseph 81. Choate, F. N. Bangs,
John =. BurrilI, William Fullerton,
y. r. Porter, ID. D. Field, Thomas o.
Shearman, and many others find no
difficulty in collecting such fees for
actual attendance in court.
5fss Big fees arc common in will cases,
bnt allowances by the courts out Of es-
tatcs are now limited to $4,000 a side.
Those were halcyon days for the law.
yers when the surrogate could divide
the estate among the gentlemen of the
bar, leaving the Gtigants in debt. In
q Taylor will case, a few years ago,
the lawyers got not only all the estate,
but actually left the widow in debt af-
ter selling her clothes.
lin the Parish will case Charles
OhConor received a small fortune. In
She Hardin will case John X. Porter
got, ! believe, about $28, 600. He rep-
resented the claim OF the alleged
widow. Henry Nicol has charged as
high . $500 day. George Ticknor
Curtis had such 9 big bill in one of the
celebrated india-rubber cases that he
charged $1,000 for making it out.
Many big fees have been received
by patent lawyers, Prof. Morse spent
afortune in tho courts defending his
first patents, but he got it all back in
n value OF hepatents. Every inven-
lion OF Importance has cost its inven-
9 or owner dearly for legal services.
Signal instances of this fact have been
seen in the ~vulcanite rubber, barbed
iron fence, nickel-plating, burglar
alarm. sewing machine, and other pat.
emit cases, in allof which fortunes were
paid to lawyers. In such cases the la
Dor of lawyers is enormous, the respon-
sibility great, and the pay of course
appropriately large. Good patent law
yers get rich, but their brows are gen.
sMr, Evarts has had some very big
fees from corporations, from will cases,
and long contested suits. He could
show the record of great many 3d.
600 fees. When a sutton has q hard
case he does not hesitate ut paying a
few thousand dollars to q good lawyer.
a poor lawyer is a very expensive lux
ury. When y sutton with a good case
has been two Or three times to the
court Of appeals in consequence of his
lnwyer's hlunders, he begins to think
It pays to get . good one
.NotlOng ago it was unlawful and
unprofessional for q lawyer to have a
personal interest in the cast of his eli
!. This was obviously unjust to
poor litigants. II a man got injured
on a railroad he was absolutely una.
bic 70 get damages because of his pov.
.ertyy. 1t got to be p%roverbial that there
was no use suing a corporation. The
poor sutton was at a disadvantage.
Now 1t is lawful and reputable for d
E.laWVnr fn&5hanAna lnfnracfoH in the
oase OF his client, and to make his fees
contingent upon success. BY the op.
GRAFTON OF the law OF self-interest the
lawyer thus works harder than he 9th
erwise would. Many poor litigants
have IN this way recovered verdicts
VIC would otherwise have become va.
grants. reoollect q memorable case
where John 3. Haskin took up the case
OF a poor woman with five children
who was really the widow OF a wealthy
Wldower who had over and over agar
acknowledged her as his wife, al
though she a her children We're un
known e the flrst family. Mr.. Haskil
supported n poor woman and hel
TOT years, while he fought thu
cas- to the court OF appeals agains
John -. Anthon, backed by the child
ren OF his first wife. OF course Mr.
Haskin Was ! paid handsomely out o
the estate which no recovered for thu
WIDOW.
Many large corporations have sala
rled lawyer to look after their bust
ness: Judge Dillon left the bench o
the United States court to take a sal
AIRY OF 500, 600 fromsthe Union Pacid,
Railway company. Dudley Field ha'
hadenormous fees out OF the Erie Rail
way company and the elevated rail
ways. The lawyers saved the elevated
railways about $l,25O,0O0 in the ia,
suits with the city. as the courts Gu