Court Opinion

ID: 9758039
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:08:40.377592+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:46.737852
License: Public Domain

Condon, C. J.,
dissenting. I cannot agree with the court’s construction of the phrase “general practice of law.” In my opinion such construction is too loose and erodes the rule if it does not repeal it. The effect is to declare that a lawyer even though he specializes in some department of the law is nevertheless engaged in general practice. With all due deference it seems to me that this does violence to the fundamental meaning of the word “general.” It has been usually considered as opposed to “particular,” and as indeed the antonym of “special.” To say that a specialist is nevertheless a general practitioner would appear to be a contradiction in terms.
Whether the court’s exposition of its concept of the rule will give the board the guidance which it needs to determine these petitions fairly within the spirit as well as the letter of the rule I have some doubt. However, since it must reconsider them in accordance with the court’s opinion I deem it neither necessary nor useful to expound my own concept of the rule.