Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-04-25
ADVICE TO LAWYERS
Should Not Act a. Though Clients
..... Interests Were All.

The Indianapolis Bar association
listened to some very excellent advice
Wednesday night. The counsellor was
John T. Richards. president Of the
Chicago Bar association. There can.
In our opinion, be no doubt that there
has been a change in the legal profes-
sion during the last twenty years.
Perhaps we can never quite get back
to the old type Of lawyer, but there is
no reason why the new lawyer should
not hold most of the old standards.
Few attorneys will admit that when
they accept employment they abso-
lutely sell themselves and their pow
ers to their clients. Yet good many
of them act on that theory when they
get into court. II the law rs a pro-
fession that is something that lawyers
have no right to do.
But Mr. Richards shall speak for
himself, to the end that the criticism
may not seem to be that Of an unin-
structed layman. He said:
I'VE find many lawyers Of this gen.
Grafton at the head of the governing
bodies Of great corporations; they are
no longer lawyers, but business men
learned in the law. David Paul Brown
the brilliant, hard-working lawyer OF
a former generation, declared that
lawyers work hard, live we'll and die
poor while the class Of lawyers to
which have referred by comparison
work little, live extravagantly and die
rich, but their riches are accumulat-
ed, not by burning the midnight oil
in pursuit Of profession renown, or In
the protection Of the life and proper
ty Of their clients, but in contrivine
methods to manipulate the stock mar
ket for the benefit Of themselves and
their immediate associates, or devils.
ing plans for imposing upon gullible
public the watered stocks and bonds
Of some pet enterprise.
The indictment must be upheld. The
public has come to look on the law.
yer as an anti-social force. There are
many lawyers of whom this can not
truthfully be said. But there Is g
spirit in the profession that Is no,
good. It is not the shysters who have
become the paid servants Of unscru.
pulous men," not the hangers-on who
'too often forget that they are sworn
methods Of which no high-minded
lawyer can approve" The men who
do these things are the lights Of the
profession. But there are high-mind.
ed lawyers, and it Is to these that the
profession must look for rehabilita.
ton.
Having said thus much by way Of
criticism, it must be suggested thai
perhaps the change In the profession
Is not so great as Is sometimes sup
posed. We remember that back ir
the Jim Fisk days there were lawyers
and judges who stopped at nothing
when 1t came to serving their masters
Those who are familiar with the ex
coriation Of David Dudly Field, ont
of the greatest lawyers Of his day, a.
the hands of Samuel Bowles vii
realize that even then there were law
yers who were the enemies Of society
Mr.. Bowles also paid his respect!
to Rufus Choate, who ranked at thu
very top Of his profession. What we
have witnessed Is an elevation Of the
whole level Of public morality. Tht
lawyers must keep step with the ad
vance. I'VE should never" said Mr.
Richards, "loose sight Of the fac
duty and honor alike bind us to higf
ideals; that the performance Of pro
fessional duty never demands tha
I'VE violate the moral law" All tina
Is asked is that lawyers in the prac
tice Of their profession follow tht
same enlightened ideals which they
put before us whenever they meet ir
their bar associations. If the law Is 6
learned profession 1t must be follow
ed as such.-Indianapol News