The record-union., 1898-06-01
FEES OF FAMOUS LAWYERS.
ENORMOUS SUMS PAID FOR LE-
GAL ADVICE.
A Quarter Of q Million Paid VIM.
III. Evarts for Single
Word.

What would you think if you could
make S250OOO by speaking single
word? Would you believe me if l told
you that a certain lawyer did so once?
On the contrary, am afraid you would
think me direct descendant of An
anias. Nevertheless, it is a fact that
the Hon. William NJ. Evarts once re-
ceived the enormous fee of $3.50, 600 for
giving legal opinion which he eX-
pressed in just one word of three let
ters. The circumstances were these:
great corporation desired a legal
opinion on a matter involving millions
of dollars, for upon it practically de-
pended that corporations very exist
ence. They decided to refer the ques-
ton, which was wholly one of the cor
rect Interpretation of law, to William
M. Evarts, and to be guided wholly by
his opinion. Their lawyer stated the
case to the Senator, and asked him the
important question. Evarts' reputation
and success are wholly due, not to his
abilities as pleader before juries. not
as a oss-examiner or conductor Of
cases. but simply to his remarkable
knowledge of law, and his power, which
lining just how the Supreme Court will
decide any question Of law. Two very
excellent definitions Of law have been
given by two great men. Aaron Burr,
who was one of the greatest men this
country ever produced, as we'll as the
ablest lawyer of his time, said that
law is anything that can be boldly
asserted and plausibly maintained, -
n 11 hnnI L, II
is the last guess of the Supreme Court"
Evarts' success is due to his ability to
state things boldly and maintain them
plausibly. and to his wonderful intui-
tive powers to guess what the Supreme
Courts guess on any question Of law
will be.
When the attorney for the great cor
poration put the question, so vitally
important to that corporations exist
ence, Evarts sat buried in thought for a
moment, and then answered in one
word, Yes" His bill for speaking
that one word was s25OO00, and the
corporation paid it without a murmur.
Evarts' answer proved to be perfectly
correct. Had the corporation gone to
a less thoroughly posted lawyer, whose
charges would have been much less, he
might have answered, No" and the
monosyllable would have caused the
corporation a loss of several million
dollars, whereas Evarts' monosyllabic
Yes brought them a corresponding
gain. The late Hon. Levi c. Wade of
Boston, one of the ablest railroad and
general corporation lawyers of whom
we have any record, and who projected
and built the Mexican Central Railroad,
from which enterprise he realized a
large fortune, used to say, Never en-
gage in a lawsuit of any kind. or have
any legal business II you can possibly
avoid doing so, but if it is impossible
for you to avoid employing a lawyer,
employ only one of the very highest
professional standing, and then pay
him freely and generously, no matter
how exorbitant you may deem his
fees. The corporation which paid
Evarts S2oO,OoU for speaking one word,
acted on Mr.. Wades advice.
Speaking of Levi c. Wade, it is
worthy OF note that this brilliant man,
who frequently received fees of so 900
and even SI3,OOO from great corpora
tlons. made his first appearance as a
practitioner Of law before a police mag
lstrate's court in Boston, as the attor-
ney of man prosecuted for keeping
ferocious dog, which had torn the
bosom out OF the trousers of a neigh
Dor. Later in life. when his fame as a
lawyer had extended not only all over
this country, but to Europe as we'll Mr..
Wade told me that his fee in that dog
case-the first remuneration he ever re-
ce1ved from the practice of his profess
sion-was exactly So His subsequent
great success suggests old Solon Shing-
les bob-tailed brindle COW case
which all through the play, he is try
ing 10 induce some young lawyer to
take up on speculation, saying, as an
Illustration of the great opportunity it
would afford him to distinguish him.
sell, Why, any smart young lawyer
might ride inter Congress on my bob
tailed brindle cow"
Wnen the sugar trust reorganized un-
der the laws Of New Jersey they en-
ployed Attorney John E. Parsons to
draw up the agreement under which
that reorganization was effected. It is
needless to say that for this service
1T was as absolutely essential to have
a lawyer who, though, like the man in
the play, he might rise to crime. could
never descend to mistake Perhaps it
was an easy matter for Mr.. Parsons to
draw up that agreement and perhaps
it was difficult. but the knowledge and
experience which it required he had
gained by long years of experience and
hard. laborious study 1t was probably
more to recompense himself for those
years of effort than for the time he
actually spent in drawing UP the agree
ment that he rendered the sugar trust
a bill for S23O00O, which was paid by
check on the instant without a ques-
ton or murmur. The agreement proved
copper bottomed and fire proof. as it
had to be. for the smallest error would
have been fatal to the existence of the
trust. That the agreement was cheap
at the price is abundantly proved by
the futile efforts of the Senate Inyesti-
eating Committee to gain any more
information about the trust than it's
officers desired to give them.
What is believed to be the largest
fee ever received by any lawyer was
one of S260,OO0. which was paid to At
torney w. N. Cromwell for settling up
the affairs of Decker Howell & Co.
Mr.. Cromwelfs office is at No. a. Wall
street, New York, and Decker Howell
q Co. were one of the largest business
firms of that city. Lawyers assure me
that Mr.. Cromwell's fee in that case
was the largest of which there is any
record. 1t is possible that as much
or even more may have been paid. but,
II so, there is no record of It, and prob