The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-06-29
TIE LAWYER OF TO-DAY.



He Is Gradually Becoming aEore and Moro
of a spec;ultst.
Ihere is as much learning hero in
! the legal profession as ever. but it is
not On exhibition, said Philadelphia
lawyer. In the first place, the courts
will not countenance its unduo display.
In Old times an advocate was allowed
, great latitude. Formerly, in a case of
damages caused by neglected side
walk, the attorney would be allowed to
expound not only tho laws relating to
damages for neglect, but he might
stray off into the realms Of medical i'll
rispruGenco ut great length. a1d even
perOrate with an alIusion to the Magma
Charta, tho constitution and the Amer
ican eagle. At present a lawyer must
confno himself to the real merits Of his
case. The machinery Of our courts has
grown too costly to permit such waste
of time. 1t follows that there is less
oratorical skill displayed than in former
days. especially at the period when soma
of our leading lawyers made specially
of criminal defense. Now few LAWYERS
of eminence, either in Philadelphia or
the east generally, undertake tho de-
fense in a criminal case.
To-day the practice of law, like other
professions is becoming more and more
specialized. A law Office is simply
business Office, as you may discover
by visiting so1no of tho handsome new
Office buildings down town. know Of
one Office where there are several part
ners, that would remind you of bank
ing Office, and where a bookkeeper and
cashier is employed to pay off clerks,
typewriters and other employees. You
will, however, still find veteran members
of the bar pursuing old time methods in
coZy, quiet Office sitting at baize Gov
cred table amid wilderness Of well
thumbed books. They carry Il dark
green bag filled with briefs when they
go to court, precisely as all lawyers did
80 years ago, and as London barristccs
still do
AS to young lawyers, however tai
ented they may be, if without social or
political prestige, their struggle to a3-
vance in the profession is suro to bo
hard one. Practice now is often inner
tied or transmitted in some other way.
I could point out 10 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 it would do no harm to
destroy, would answer as the main
spring of this impetus. Legislation is
advancing i'll this-that mere
ly experimental general laws are passed
with greater difficulty than formerly"
Another lawyer, older than the other,
said: Progress il the legal profession?
Progress is hardly Il term to apply to
law, for it is founded on precedents,
sometimes the older the better. For this
reason Jurisprudence is the least pro-
gressive of tie sciences. Still there have
been. no doubt, improvements in meth
DDS of practice. though | am not much
IF code lawyer. | have had to study
1ard all my life. The younger lawyers
appear to DO little OF that. They seem
10 believe, with Aaron Burr, that law
s whatever is boldly advanced and
'lausibly maintained. -Pkiladelp plia
Record '.