The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-01-11
MADISON SOUTH oTA THURSDAY JANUARY H. 1894
THE LAWYER OF TO-DAY.
He Is Gradually Becoming More and More
of n Specialist.


He Is Gradually Becoming More and More
of n Specialist.
There is as much learning hero In
tho legal profession as ever. but it is
not on exhibition. said Philadelphia
lawyer. In the first place, the courts
will not countenance its undue display.
In old times an advocate was allowed
great latitude. Formerly, in case of
damages caused by neglected side
walk, tho attorney would be allowed to
expound not only the laws relating to
damages for neglect, but be might
stray off into the realms of medical ju-
risprudence at great length, and even
perorate with an allusion to the Magma
Charta, the constitution and the Amer
ican eagle. At present lawyer must
confine 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 some
of our leading lawyers made a speciality
of criminal defense. Now few lawyers
Of eminence, either in Philadelphia or
the east generally, undertake the de-
tense in criminal case.
To-day the practice of law, like other
professions, is becoming more and more
specialized. A law Office is simply a
business office, as You may discover
by visiting some of the 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 bookkeeper and
cashier is employed TO pay off clerks,
| typswriters and other employees. You
| will, however, still find veteran members
of the bar pursuing old time methods il
cozy, quiet Office, sitting at baize COW
cred table amid wilderness Of well
thumbed books. They carry a dark
green bag filled with brief1 when they
go to court, precisely as all lawyers die
so years ago. and as London barristers
still do.
| AS to young lawyers, however tai
ented they may be, il without social ol
political prestige, their struggle to ad
vance in the profession is sure to be {
hard one. Practice now is often inner
tied OF transmitted in some other way
could point out to you in Philadelphi,
law firms that have been confined to tn,
members of one family or it's collatera
branches since the Revolution,
Il may say that there is an eviden
impetus TO change many useless old lie
gal methods. The remark OF Lord Cole
ridge, when in this country, that ther
were many volumes of English legal de
cisions which it would do no harm b
destroy. would answer rs the main
spring Of this impetus. Legislation
certainly advancing in this--that mere
ly experimental general laws are passes
with greater difficulty than formerly. -
Another lawyer, older than the other
said: Progress in the legal profession
Progress is hardly term to apply I
, law. for it is founded on precedents
sometimes the older the better. For thi
reason jurisprudence is the least pre-
gressive of tho sciences. Still there hav
: been, no doubt, improvements in meth
DDS of practice, though am not niue
of code lawyer. have had to stud
hard all my life. The younger lawyer
appear to do little of that. They seer
to believe, with Aaron Burr, that la,
is whatever is boldly advanced an
plausibly maintained. "-Philadelphi
Record.