Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-25

Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey.
Fhode Island. Mrs. Edith Kingman Foyer
l-ern of Illinois, Fannie I. Peter of Illinois.
Edna ]. Spofford of New York and Albert
M. Walker of Iowa.
The prizes were awarded as follows In
scholarship, first medal, in gold to Miss
Sophie Bishop Kent. principal of the Web
Spofford, examiner of the civil service COM
mission; honorable mention to Miss Anna
Grace Burke and Mrs. Edith Kingman
Kern; for moot court work, the price,
two volumes of Elliott's General Practice,
awarded to Miss Fannie l. Peter.
Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, dean of the
college, presided over the exercises. which
were opened with an invocation by Rev.
Congregational church Mrs. Mussey ex-
pressed few words of welcome to those
present, and she mentioned the size of the
audience to show, she said, the interest in
the school.
Address by MI. Van 0rsda1.
Josiah A. Van Orsdal, assistant attorney
general of the United States, the speaker of
the evening. was next introduced. In open
ing he congratulated the people of Wash
ingtOn upon having co-educational pro-
fessional institution. Turning to the prac-s
tice of law, he stated that it had almost
entirely changed in the past twenty-five
years. In the old days the lawyer sat in
his office and helped his clients to get out
of trouble into which they put themselves.
He had general practice-a proceeding in
equity today. criminal case tomorrow, an
attachment or replevln action the next day
and matter OF probate practice the next.
This diversity Of practice, he declared,
made great lawyers Now all Is changed,
however. Instead Of being employed to get
people out of trouble, as in the old days.
lawyers are now employed to keep their
clients cut of litigation, and clients consult
attorneys before entering upon any new
business venture. This has specialized the
practice-made criminal lawyers. corpora
ton lawyers. probate lawyers etc
In comparing the two ideas, Mr.. Van Ors-
dal said: I'VE used to ffear of the starving
period, when the young lawyer was estab-
fishing practice. This starving process
was a good thing. 1t usually made a good
lawyer. The young man who had the nerve
and endurance to last through that period
usually made winner. In my Judgment
1t is great misfortune for young law
yer, upon admission to the bar, to drop
into Junior partnership with an old prac-
titioner. 1t has tendency to make him
dependent from the start, when the quali-
ties he needs to cultivate most in the, early
years of his professional career are self
reliance. industry and independence.
1T is the desire to make money that
usually leads to such an alliance If the
young lawyer has uppermost in his mind
the desire to make money, it is more than
an even cnance that ne Will never make
a good lawyer. If you keep in mind that
81 fee instead of the legal problem to be
solved, you will stop at the end of an
hours investigation and conclude there is
not enough in it to pay. II you make
that fatal mistake. you will have taken
the first step toward certain failure.
"On the other hand, if you forget the
financial reward and have only fixed de-
you will emerge at the end of forty-eight
hours conquerer, and will have lain the
first foundation stone upon which the struc-
ture OF success must be built"
Mr.. VanOrsdal next touched on some
principles essential for success in law prac-
tice. He thought that all successful law
yers must be well grounded in the funda-
mental principles of the law-Blackstone,
English history and English common law
Hits the Trusts.
The speaker next took occasion to con-
denim some practices among lawyers to pro-
vide ways in which business can be con-
Quoted in illegal ways and yet be lawful
hitting trust lawyers by his remarks. He
said:
mo lawyer is justified in devising meth
DDS by which his client may conduct his
business in questionable manner and still
barely slip around the penalties Of the law.
Such advice is bringing many capitalist
and trust magnate to grief today, and the
trouble, in my judgment, has not COM
menced. No lawyer is justified in advising
a client to embark in an enterprise in such
a way that, though he may at the time be
without the pale of the law, 1t will sooner
or later bring upon his head public con-
and finally legislation that will
wreck his business and involve him in no
end of difficulty. If the brains of lawyers |
had never been taxed to devise nice and
narrow constructions to twist and distort |
the spirit of the corporation laws of the |
country, and still escape the letter of the |
law, the trust problem would not be 30
difficult of solution. Many men who are !
being brought to the bar of justice and are |
suffering financial ruin in the business and |
revolution that has struck the |
can trace their trouble to the ILL
advised counsel of some lawyer
Let me urge upon you the necessity of |
being strictly honest. People are wont |
sometimes to speak lightly of the honesty |
Of lawyers. yet / am here to declare that |
no higher standard of honor and profess |
sinai ethics exists In any profession or vo- |
cation than can be found in the legal pro-
fession. In the law honesty is not only |
the best policy, but 1t is the only known /
avenue to success There is 4 great de- |
along business and commercial lines. The |
American people are honest, and they are |
placing higher premium on honesty today |
than ever before"
Lawyer in Politics.
Turning to the part which the lawyer /
should take in politics, the speaker said: |
81 am talking to young people entering the |
profession. and let me again beseeeh YOU |
to shun public Office that will interfere |
with your progress in professional attain
ment as you would shun a pestilence. Above
all things, do not be tempted into the ac-
ceptanee of an office In Washington, unless
the duties are such that 1t will keep you /