The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-12
THE WORCESTER BAR
Nearly Half a Centu-
ny Between Oldest
and Youngest.
HARD WORK FOR BEGINNERS.
Success i'll the First Case
Brings Additional
Business.

From the youngest to oldest member
Of the Worcester bar, nearly half a CEN
fury intarvenes. Practice today is very
different from what it was fifty years
ago. Worcester was then a $ nall town,
with few blocks and lawyers offices,
| a scattered population, and nothing like
the amount of legal business then that
there is today.
Time works great changes, and most
of the lawyers well known in the de-
cade, 1870 to 1850 have long since joined
the silent majority.
| There are a number of gray-haired
men in the practice of the law here in
| Worcester that have won wellmerited
esteem, and some of them have a ma
! tonal reputation. But there is hardly
| an attorney of ability in the city that
did not put in manly years of hard work.
The lawyer is seldom presented with a
bunch OF cases on admission to the Bar.
! lie first has to make his reputation;
| then business comes into his office.
But 30 the young practitioner the way
| looks long, and the path beset with
! countless difficulties. They gaze with
envy and some admiration at the lead
| ers of the bar, who can pick their eli
ents anG charge what fee they like. The
day on which the first case comes TO the
/ young lawyer is in truth red letter
| day for him, and he is straightaway
inclined to celebrate it in perhaps an
| unbeconling fashion. 1t is not like the
man on a salary who can count from
| week to week his income, and adjust
his circumstances to correspond with
| the size Of the roll he gets on Saturday
| But with the lawyer it is different.
! la Il.
may be all he will receive for several
months
| If he goes on the calculation that $100
| in one week means about $4,000 during
| the year, he is pretty apt to be sadly
| mistaken.
! However, for his encouragement it
! can be said, even as misfortunes are
said never to come singly, so when the
/ first case is won, others will generally
| follow The reputation is what counts
| Each client becomes a walking adver-
| tisemenr for him. go to Lawyer
| Blank" they say. He had a case of
! mine, and won it in fine shape. I don't
! believe there is a better man in the
! city" And so others come to him. and
| they in turn bring their friends. 1t is
| mistaken idea that lawyers try to
| fleece their clients. If they charge too
much or try to overreach them, they
! lose their client, and he is pretty sure
| to tell others his opinion of that GER
! tain attorney.
| The first two or three years are the
/ hard years of the young mans pro-
| fessional life. II he can survive those
! years and emerge from the obscurity
/ of clientless office into the light of a
/ growing. practice, he can then afford to
! smile, and perhaps buy a few new law
| books, for good law library is the one
! desire of every lawyer,
| About this time the papers begin to
| say, John Doe was counsel for so and
| So" and this perfectly legitimate form
of free advertising helps more than any
! lawyer would care to admit. After 20
years of a good practice, they may af-
| feet to disdain the printing of their
names in connection with various cases
tried in the courts. but this publication
counts in the minds of the public and
the public is the one to give them
business and not the other lawyers.
1t is seldom that the old practitioner
gives up any of his business to the
struggling young man. They naturally
want all they can get for themselves
as rule, and the idea some have on
admission to the bar, that the older
men Will hasten to give them bust
ness is generally but an idle dream.
Among the young men recently adj
mitted to practice, according ITO the
ACCOl0 hcpI ny COls i. =. JOUUSDu, CLERK
| of courts, there are a number who
have assumed the toga who were ad-
mitted in the past few years. Perhaps
| the youngest is Alexander Bullock
grandson of the famous governor of
this state, of the same name Years
counting from the date of birth mean
nothing to the lawyer. His birth dates
from the time of his taking the oath
administered to him by the clerk Of
courts.
Looking backward over the list
| there are the names of Peter Nc
Laughlin, admitted in February 1899;
John w. Mawbey, j. Fred Humes
Thomas c. Carrigan, Frank F. Dress
er, and many others stretching back
to some of the now most prominent
members of the bar. There are about
an even half dozen men who can be
termed the veterans of the bar. Among
these gray-haired expounders of law
and justice is the venerable Senator
George F. Hoar, justly honored and
beloved by the nation, as well as by
the state and city of Worcester.
e. b. Stoddard, Frank P. Goulding,
w. s. B. Hopkins T. G. Kent are others
who are still actively engaged in the
practice of the law, and whose years
have only added to their knowledge
and prestige without weakening their
ability or impairing their strength. In
no profession are there so many able
men of advanced years as in the law.
In the ministry, in these times, the big
churches are clamoring for young men,
and the aged pastor has 10 give way
to the advanced thinker just out of the
seminary, but in the legal profession,
age seems only to ripen their judgment
and add to their insight into principles
of law and the Interpretation of prin-
ciples and authorities.
There are many able young attorneys
in Worcester, and some day they will
be called to fill the places of those who
drop professional cares and pass off
the stage.
The young lawyer of today soon be-
comes the old and experienced jurist |
in the quick passage Of time, and they
in turn give way to those who are
now playing with rocking horse and
tops.
And over and over again the bar as
sociation is called together to pass fit
ting resolutions upon the death of one
of their number who was one of the |
oldest members of the bar" who but |
yesterday was a student of law and |
eager to open up practice and win his
first case.
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