The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-04-04

generation back there little concern over
the emergence Of the corporation lawyer The strug-
Cling Individual attorney representing personal clients
had to take back seat in the presence Of the suaye
contained and persuasive counsel for great rail
road, bank, or commercial organization.
This man represented impersonal power and
wealth Joseph H. Choate was. perhaps, the perfect
personifcation of the new species.
Today. however, the lawyers themselves have be-
come corporations in fact, though they may in some
cases retain the partnership relation In the place
Of the dingy Office housing ore two seedy attorneys
with coats off and vests unbuttoned, have impress
sive mahogany chambers in which are ensconced
corps Of specialists who constitute a massive and
smooth-running legal machine.
The contrast between the old indvidualistc lawyer
and the new legal corporation is set forth we'll by
Lewis Nichols in an article in the New York Times
entitled Even Blackstone Wouldn't Know Them"
He might as well have said that Webster, Lincoln
Seward would not have known them. We repro
duce some of the more cogent sections of Nichols
article:
I'm attaining to the proud position as one of the
worlds greatest industries. they found it necessary
to change to meet the new requirements. No longer
Just attorneys with catch-as-catch-can practice
they now corporations.
days Of a man. a clerk and dog-eared copy of the
works Of Blackstone definitely are gone. For
seventy lawyers, due members of the bar, pore
books and call their souls their own, although bodies
belong to the firm
I'm oden days their rooms did not shine like this
With dusty windows, dusty books, tatterdemalion
roll-top desk and dusty stenographer they were
untidy comfortable and the last vague relic of the
snufbox Lawyers unafraid to put their feet
the chairs and they feet quite unpublished
the other surroundings.
But that has changed-possiby in the direct
ratio to the upward swing in Incorporating fees
Their offices are hidden away in any of the lower
addresses of Broadway, of Wall Street. section Of
Nassau, and the more staid and sedentary parts of
William High in the air with curtaned windows,
they the city they have helped to incorporate
under the laws of Delaware.
Beneath them brokers love and hate buy stocks Oh
margin and hire blonde stenographers but they have
none Of it. Only the majesty of conscious power is
theirs
They own the thirty-fourth floor, the top Of the
building. Elevators to them but not beyond. A
passenger stumbling in by error, easily might
cude that only heaven can lie above.
And it is doubtful whether the angels, the cher
ubm and seraphin, would feel quite at home in the
Offices of the mighty. There is mahogany from the
west teak from the east marble from the SOUTH and
minerals from the north Not to mention sixty-three
attorneys from New York and Iowa.
@The Office has SO changed that a client getting
out Of the elevator. finds himself in massive hall
instead OF the small, cuttered of yesteryear.
Opposite him are many doors Of shaded glass. frown-
ing and intent something that is particularly
relevant competent and material Dressed mainly in
gray, they the youngsters the late graduates of
Harvard the spnters of the firms corporate single"
No doubt all this has produced a great saving of
time and increase of efficiency. But hardly can
look to such organizations for tender socitude in
regard to the common man and his constitutional
rights. gain in specialized competence has been
purchased at loss in human relationships and social
conscience.