The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-02-24
LAWYERS DEBATE
 ON EDUCATIONAL
 PROPOSAL HEATED
Object of Conference Is to Fix Definite and Recog- nized Standard of Legal
 Education
By Associated Press

 Justice Taft of the United States,
 leaders of the American bar from all l sections of the country and repre-
 sentatives of universities and coi-
 leges, at the opening meeting today
 of the national conference of bar associations, discussed. at times
 somewhat heatedly, the recommends l tion of the American Bar association that academy education be requir sd | in future of all law school grad
 uates seeking admission to the bar. The conference of delegates from
 more than 150 bar associations was | called for the purpose of eliciting tGe i support, it was explained, of the diff l ferent states in an effort eventually ! to arrive at definite and recognized i standard of legal education. The dis 1 cussion will be continued tomorrow, when a vote will be taken to deter
 mine the attitude of the states repre- ! sented.
 l Elihu Root of New York, speaking at the morning session of the con l ference in behalf of the American i Bar association, denounced condi- i tions which he declared had made l possible the projecting into the ranks
 
 able of performing the duties of q 1 lawyer and asked support of the recommendation of the association
 that at least two years college course be required of all law school i graduates in the future.
 Chief Justice Taft, pfcturing con
 ditions of what was described as 1 he declared enable incompe tents to
 be admitted to the bar was more ur- gent than educational reforms so i, far as the legal profession was con ! cerned. Mir. Taft said he not only was in favor of requiring two years | college study, but a full college
 course, for law school gradutes. be- i fore they were certified to practice law. explaining that the country al-
 ready has too many lawyers, and 1 | cannot feel there is going to be a ] dearth of them, no matter how thor i ough the preparation insisted upon.p Taft Takes Chair
 i The conference was opened by
 Judge Clarence N. Goodwin, of Chi cago, who acted as chairman. and | after MT. Root had addressed the del 1 egates a recess was taken until
 afternoon when Chief Justice Taft
 was asked to preside. Addresses ! were then made by Former Gov
 ernor Samuel NJ Ralston. of Indiana,
 former Governor Herbert Spencer
 Hadley, of Missouri, Professor sam uel Williston, of the Harvard Law
 school; President James B. Angel of
 Yale University and Silas Strawn of ] Chicago.
 i A sharp division of opinion as to | the advisabihty of federal or state laws which would impose the neces sity for a college education upon fu- i ture members of the bar, developed early in the meeting. when Governor Ralston declared that it would smack of a tragedy, to say to a worthy and ambitious youth that he l has the ability to do the work of a law school, but that he cannot get a law school education because he has not had two years training in college or that he cannot qualify himself for the bar for the same reason" Mir. Root previously had declared that the American Bar association had for 25 years made study of con- i ditions in the various communities and colleges of the country and that the feeling was deeprooted that some measure should be taken immediately to correct what he said was the in- 1 justice imposed on the public and the law profession by the graduation and admission to the bar of incompetent men. The spokesman for the bar as- sociation also declared that that or- ganization had compiled list of the educational institutions of the coun- try which conform to the opinion of 1 the association as to what a law school ought to be" and a list of those institutions which do not con form and that the list would be 1 placed before the country for the guidance of the public.
 Many Oppose Proposal
 While Chief Justice Taft, Mir. Root, ! Judge Goodwin, President Angell, Professor Williston and Former Gov ernor. Hadley expressed themselves vigorously in favor of educational re- l forms for the benefit of the eleva- ] ton of the bar" other delegates from the floor took issue with the ex- pressed views and decried all efforts 1 which they declared would tend to bar the poor youths of the country from the advantages which would be enjoyed by those able to afford a college education.
 l ;. Nelson Frierson, dean of the law school of University of South Caro- lima, lauded those who had succeeded i in admission to the bar without col- 1 lege training, and, Illustrating his contention that the proposal of the American Bar association was ''un- l just and uncalled for" pointed to 1 Lincoln and other notable leaders, who never saw the inside of a col | lege.
 ! John Bell Keeble of Nashville, | Tom also ounoeed the coIlaoa coureo