New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Bar Condemns
Law Practice
By Bank Firms
Drawing of Wills by Trust
Companies Meets Specific
Disapproval of the State
Associations Mem bers
! procedure Reform Asked
III. W. Taft Attacks Rules of
Evidence and N. Y. Method
of Selecting Trial Juries

resolution condemning the prac-
tlce OF law by laymen, aimed at trust
companies which act IN legal advisory
capacity to their clients, and an ad
dress by Henry W. Taft, president of
the organization, advocating smplifed
law as weapon to fight radicalism
were features of the forty-tnird annual
meeting of the New York State Bar
Association yesterday. The lawyers
Will remain in session to-day, conclud-
ing their gatherings with dinner to-
night at the Astor.
The resolution opposing legal action
by trust companies was introduced by
JULIUS Henry Cohen, chairman of the
committee to act upon recommends
tlons of the conference of state and
local bar associations. 1t was unani-
mously adopted, and it reads as fol-
ows
"Resolved, That it is the sense of
TINS meeting that it is in the interest
OF society that the intimate and direct
relatlonshlp of attorney and client
snail be preserved and that corporate.
or lay, practice Of law is destructive
OF that relationship and tends to lower
the standard of professional responsi-
bility.
To Stop evil Practices
"Resolved further that trust COM
panles while performing proper and
legitimate functions of a business and
fiduciary character, are not constituted
or organized for the purpose of fur
nishing legal advice to clients, draw
ing wills, or furnishing legal services.
"Resolved further that efforts of the
trust company sections of the Ameri-
can Bankers Association to eliminate
evil practices on the part of trust COM
panies be encouraged and the effort to
cooperate with the Bar be cordially
welcomed.
"Resolved to that end that we recon-
mend to State and local Bar assoca-
tions that they bring to the attention
of the trust company section of the
American Bankers Association any evil
practices of trust companies Or bank
ers of which they are aware in order
that the bankers organization may,
like the lawyers organization, purge it's
ranks of wrong doing or error.
"Resolved, That a special committee
Of six be appointed to prepare for the
use of state and local bar associations
careful brief of what constitutes
practise of the law and what consti-
tutes unlawful and improper prcatise
of the law by laymen or lay agencies,
and that said committee report at the
next conference.
Would Simplify Procedure
In his address on "Some Duties of
the American Lawyer" Mr.. Taft de-
clarcd that there should be no fur
ther delay in arriving at an agreement
upon some plan for simplifying exist
ing rules of court procedure. "a radi-
cal simplification is one of the crying
needs of the times" he said. "The
lay public cares little about the the
our jurisprudence, and if the machin-
cry for their application to concrete
cases is so imperfect that they cannot
be readily invoked, condemnation will
extend to our entire judicial SYSTEM
Continuing, Mr.. Taft discussed mod
ern developments in the rules of evil
dence, which he said are applied in
England with far less rigidity than in
this country, and passed to the neces-
sity for a readjustmcnt which will pro-
vide cheap and speedy administration
of the law by minor courts in the large
cities. "There is disparity between
IuC dDllIty VI Ilc llCilcl anu tuC pOOl cI
classes to utilize the machinery of the
law" he said.
AS remedial measures Mr.. Taft sug-
gested the simplification of the New
York State method of selecting juries,
which, he said, "ought not to~be tol-
Grated in any civilized community" and
more decisive participation by the
judge in directing the thoughts Of the
jurors.
Dry Law Attacked
Strong support for those who MAIN
tain that the Eighteenth Amendment
Constitutes a violation of state rights