Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1894-05-05
TIE LAWYER or TO-DAY.


eta Specialist.
There In as much learning here IN
tho legal profession as ever. but Il Il
not ON exhibition, said Philadelphia
lawyer. In the firpt place. the courts
will not countenance its undue display,
In old times an advocate was allowed
great latitude. Formerly. In case oI
damages caused by neglected side
walk. the attorney wonld be allowed "a
expound not only the laws relating d
damages for neglect, but he might
stray of into the realms of medical ju-
nsprudence at great length. and even
perorate with an allusion to tho Magma
Charta. the constitution and the Amer
lean eagle. At present lawyer must
confine himself 10 the real merits at hia
case. The machinery OF our courts has
grown too costly TO permit such waste
Of time. II follows that there Ii leaa
oratorical skill displayed than In former
days, especially at the period when some
of our leading lawyers made speciality
OF criminal defense. Now few lawyers
OF eminenoe. either In Philadelphia or
the east generally. undertake the de-
trhrt III n IxifHiflNt case.
To-day the practice of law, like other
professions. is becoming more and more
specialized. A law Office Is simpiv n
business Office. as you may 1iscover
by visiting some Of the handsome new
Office buildings down town. know Of
one Office where there are several part-
nsrs, that would remind You of = bank
ing Office, and where bookkeeper and
cashier 10 employed TO pay on clerks,
typewriters and other employees. You
will, however, still find veteran members
Of the bar pursuing old time methods In
cozy, quiet office. sitting ut baixe COW
cred table amid a wilderness Of well
thumbed books. They. carry a dark
green bag filled with briefs when they
go to court, precisely as all lawyers did
so years ago, and as London barristers
still do.
As to young lawyers, however tai
ented they may be, II without social or
political prestige, their struggle to ad-
vance in the profession Is sure TO be a
hard one. Practice now is often inher-
tied or transmitted In some other way.
| could point out to you in Philadelphia
law firms that have been confined TO the
members of one family or Its collateral
branches since the Revolution.
II may say that there Is an evident
impetus to change many useless old le-
gal methods. The remark of Lord Cole
ridge, when In this country. that there
were many volumes of English legal de-
cisions which II would do no harm TO
destroy, would answer M the main
spring Of this impetus. Legislation In
certainly advancing In this--that mere
Iy experimental general laws are passed
with greater difficulty than formerly. =
Another lawyer. older than the other,
said: Progress in the legal professionf
Progress Ia hardly term to apply to
law. for il is founded ON precedents,
sometimes the older the better. For this
reason Jurisprudence Is the least pro-
gressive OF the sciences. Still there have
been, no doubt, improvements in meth.
ods Of practice, though am not much
of a code lawyer. have had TO study
hard all my life. The younger lawyers
appear to do little OF that. They seem
TO believe, with Aaron Burr, that law
Is whatever h boldly advanced and
plausibly maintained. "-Philadelphia
Record.