The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-14
Duty of Fighting the Wrongs of the Poor-Con-
 tingent Fees-Duties of Grievance Committees A Very Interesting Speech

reasonable amount of his service foI the helpless and the oppressed is he | who asks, first of all, what can I get | from my client, rather than what can
 do for myclient-
 Kind service brings its own best
 reward in the joy of the service; yet
 1t has a way of returning. for true generosity is never lost, and gratitude
 lives among all peoples and for all times.
 It is common to hear unpleasant | speech of the cause taken on a con
 tingent fee; to note a certain look
 ing down upon attorneys who accept
 certain classes of cases. on such a | basis. So much this prevails you of- ten hear of lawyers in our larger com
 munities speak in apologetic tone of
 their employment in behalf of the
 plaintiff in a negligence action. I sometimes fear this view, has
 touched in a measure the bench. The
 search for such clients, the improper
 efforts to win success. the exaggera-
 ton of the ills complained of. the
 hu1nbug and the pretence, and the in terest of the attorney in the outcome
 of the case, in many instances out of all proportion to the service to be
 rendered, have charged the atmos-
 phere surrounding these cases with something akin to suspicion And where suspicion and distrust are not bred, often the taste is offended. and that, with the cultivated, is as seri- d
 The things that bespeak improper zeal, and a too intense interest, and methods that cheapen. and practices
 which lower and things which offend, are not altogether of the plaintiff's making. Where is juStice? That is the mission of judge and lawyer. To see that these evils are remedied wherever they exist. to frown upon them. to invent methods which shall prevent the bringing of palpably flim-
 ha cate by stern and relentless penalty.
 To present to Grievance Committee the wrongs you know of, to aid in ferreling them out and to support and sustain them in their work; to regu- late the fees to be charged in contin- gent cases, and to stop depreciation upon the poor, through the practice of excessive charges in this class of cases in short to do the work which duty calls to do and to do it well.
 And to recognize the fact that many of the causes of the poor would per ish unless the fee of the advocate is to depend on the outcome of the case For these are so multitudinous that no profession could undertake them wholly in charity.
 And then, to create a public opin- ion at the bar to which every judge and every lawyer must yield. that mo- where is there more honorable service than in the advocacy of the cause of the poor to whom the law of the land has given a just cause of action. who are themselves helpless to secure their rights without the strong arm or that whose chief glory has been and must he to succor the weak and lift the oppressed and track to cover iIl-doing and without the sym pathetic support of the bench, sym pathetic. say. to see, without pre- judice. that every measure of justice shall come to the weak as to the strong, no more and no less
 Our joint duty is to so keep the procedure of justice that 1t may work out It's ends effectively and nobly.
 The lawyer is the complement to the judge Eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee"
 It is a pleasure to recall. a snort time ago a lawyer of Buffalo acting in connection with the Secretary of the New York State Bar Association for the purpose of securing data for magazine article. sent to number of in the different states cer- tain questions among them these: Are your judges competent and inn partial. and have they the confidence of the bar and public?" And the con- clusion reached upon all the replies was stated thus: ''The most favorable reports, as to the character and abil- ity of the judges and freedom from political considerations in their seiec- ton came from states having the ap- pointive system, amongst which Con necticut. Maine. Massachusetts. New Hampshire and New Jersey are con- spicuous" And if similar inquiries concerning the bar were sent to the judges of the several states I am sure the replies would be as favorable to the bar of our own state, for the har as a whole is sound, upright and cap able.
 Our profession touches human life at every side. The lawyer mingles in its stream and in all its activities He learns the wants and desires of all classes of men and society and he un- folds and interprets their will.
 The judge benefits by his close con- tact with Hfe's moving affairs, and in his advocacy finds the rule of law which best suits the situation before him.
 The efficiency and the justice of our laws depend upon the bar as much as upon the bench. Each must. be- tice. Intellect alone does not make either a great judge or a great law yer. Each needs a full measure of courage: the lawyer to withstand the temptations of commercialism.-a re- tainer to secure something done which is knowingly against truth and jus tice: the judge to withstand the un- conscious and insidious influences of association. and of the common senti- ment of society. pulling against the rights of the individual, and for the encroachment upon those rights by society. by organized capital and or ganized labor.
 Our high privilege il is to maintain and defend life. liberty and property, the dearest rights of men and the sur est prop of society. Ours the oppor- tunity to help fashion government and mould the civilization of our day.
 From the profession of the law comes the judiciary and to it. it be- fongs; thus. the administration of justice is in the keeping of the legal profession and each of the other two of government is defined restricted and limited by her. and Justice is the great interest of man on earth. and the ligament which