American Bar Association

“ He cannot appear in the Supreme Court of the United States unless specially admitted and sworn as an attorney of that court, which is done on motion in case of any one who has practised for three years in the highest courts of his state and is in good standing at its bar. In most of the states there is a state bar association, and in some cities and counties local bar associations. These consist of such members of its bar as desire thus to associate, the object being to guard and advance the standards of the profession. ”

“ Lawyers of one State have no right to practice in any other. By courtesy and on motion of a member of the bar, it is customary for the courts of other States to allow them to participate in the conduct of any particular cause. In some States, lawyers who have removed their residence into them from another may in the same manner be admitted to their bar; in most there is a standing rule on the subject which requires proof of their having practiced in the courts of their original State for a certain number of years, and otherwise provides for an examination into their legal attainments. ”

“ It is not infrequent to find the rail resistance to be as high as 0.20 ohms per 1,000 ft. of track, and we have known it to run as high as 0.264 in new rail, where especial attention had been given to obtaining as good bonding as possible. Under such conditions the angle bar carries very little of the current, the capacity of the bond is not sufficient to carry the current, and the net result is a failing track circuit, which is probably attributed to bad ballast, zinc treated ties or other causes. ”

“ Every member of the bar of any court has all the legal rights of any other member of it.
The qualifications for admission to the bar are generally left to be regulated by the courts. In a few States they are fixed by constitutional or statutory provisions. In all, when the Constitutions do not regulate it, the legislature can. It has indeed been asserted that the admission of attorneys is in its nature a matter for the courts only. [Footnote: See American Law School Review, I, 211.] ”

“ This congestion is not wholly due to lack of judges, or that they are not capable and industrious men; but is largely, it seems to me, the fault of the system in vogue in all our American courts of allowing any lawyer, duly enrolled as a member of the Bar, to practise in the [16] highest courts. In the United States we recognize no distinction between barrister and solicitor; we are all barristers and solicitors by turn. ”

“ They dislike even to seem harsh. Most of them also hold office only for a term of years and do not forget that undue severity may jeopardize their re-election. This is one reason for the fact that at all points the bar are subject to fewer restrictions upon their conduct in the trial of causes in American courts than in those of most other countries. Another, and a more fundamental one, is that the judges and lawyers stand more nearly on the same level both in public regard and official position. The lawyer holds a more permanent office in the court than the judge. ”

“ Several specifically prohibit the solicitation of legal business for a lawyer by an agent or 'runner.' E.g., Conn.Gen.Stat., 1958, § 51-87; N.C.Gen.Stat., § 84-38 (1958 Repl.Vol.) ; Wis.Stat.Ann., § 256.295 (1) . About 25 States prohibit the authorized practice of law by corporations. American Bar Foundation, Unauthorized Practice Statute Book (1961) , 78-90.↑ Virginia's policy of promoting aid to indigent suitors is of long standing, see 2 The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (Boyd ed. 1950) , 628, and the decision of the state court in this case fully implements that policy.↑ The Court, p. ”

“ The question in the present case concerns the power of a State to compel lawyers to belong to a statewide bar association, the organization commonly referred to in this country as the 'integrated bar.' There can be no doubt that lawyers, like doctors and dentists, can be required to pass examinations that test their character and their fitness to practice the profession. No question of that nature is presented. There is also no doubt that a State for cause shown can deprive a lawyer of his license. ”

“ When court is about to open each day the crier calls out from one of the court-house windows the name of each lawyer to notify him of the fact.
The relations of the bar to the bench assume a peculiar character under the conditions of American society. The judges stand closer to the lawyers in this country than in any other. All of them, unlike those of continental Europe, have been themselves practicing lawyers. The majority, unlike those of England, are young men, sitting in minor courts, who have generally left the bar for but a brief period, expecting, if not desiring, soon to return to it. ”

“ The Criminal Court of the District, as a court of general criminal jurisdiction, possessed the power to strike the name of the plaintiff from its rolls as a practicing attorney. This power of removal from the bar is possessed by all courts which have authority to admit attorneys to practice. It is a power which should only be exercised for the most weighty reasons, such as would render the continuance of the attorney in practice incompatible with a proper respect of the court for itself, or a proper regard for the integrity of the profession. ”

“ These two men have previously given the subject in controversy much careful thought. What views neither presents are generally not worth presenting. As was said in the preceding chapter, it is only in the plainest case that a judge can properly or safely base his decision on a position not suggested at the bar or as to the soundness of which he has not asked the opinion of the counsel at the hearing.
The development of law, therefore, whether unwritten or written, is primarily the work of the lawyer. It is the adoption by the judge of what is proposed at the bar. ”

“ Notes
↑ The petition of the Bar Association alleged, among other things: 'That such practices result in the following: unfair agreements of retainer; maintenance by lawyers of some system of obtaining prompt information of accidents; congestion of court calendars by unworthy causes which are never intended to be brought to trial; a false conception by lawyers engaged in this practice that the relationship between attorney and client is a commercial transaction in which the interest of the client plays an unimportant part; impairment of public confidence in the Courts ”

“ The petitioner created no such obstacle here.
While we appreciate the necessity for a judge to have the power to protect himself from actual obstruction in the courtroom, or even from conduct so near to the court as actually to obstruct justice, it is also essential to a fair administration of justice that lawyers be able to make honest good-faith efforts to present their clients' cases. An independent judiciary and a vigorous, independent bar are both indispensable parts of our system of justice. ”

“ The Inns of Court, which are mere voluntary associations of lawyers, have from time immemorial exercised the function of calling to the bar, so far as barristers are concerned, and the admission of attorneys has always been regulated by Acts of Parliament. ”

“ In others such committees are created by Bar Associations, of which almost every State has one for the whole State, while several have also one or more local associations. It is the duty of such a committee to inquire into any instances of professional misconduct that may be brought to their notice and either institute proceedings for a hearing before themselves or bring the matter to the attention of the court, so that they may be instituted there by its order and conducted by the public prosecutor. ”

“ The purpose of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 is to control the practice of attorneys, or those who act as their own attorneys, in the conduct of litigation in the federal courts. Extending judicial power far beyond that boundary, the Court, relying only on its rulemaking authority, now holds that citizens who seek the aid of the federal courts may risk money damages or other sanctions if they do not satisfy some objective standard of care in the preparation or litigation of a case. ”

“ I would hold that a federal court may not deprive an attorney of the opportunity to practice his profession on the basis of a determination after the fact that conduct is unethical if responsible attorneys would differ in appraising the propriety of that conduct. I express no opinion about whether the Court of Appeals, as part of a code of specific rules for the members of its bar, could proscribe the conduct for which petitioner was disbarred. ”

“ CHAPTER XXIII THE CHARACTER OF THE BAR AND ITS RELATIONS TO THE BENCH Every lawyer is an officer of the court as fully as is the judge or the clerk. He has, indeed, a longer term of office than is generally accorded to them, for he holds his position for life, or during good behavior.
Courts could not exist under the American system without lawyers to stand between litigants and the judge or jury. It is a system that requires written pleadings, originally very artificial in form and still somewhat so. ”

“ Judges are universally desirous of securing the good opinion of the bar as respects their knowledge of law and powers of discrimination and analysis. The bar is their little world. It is a critical world, for in every case that is tried there will be one lawyer who is dissatisfied with the result, and likely to think the judge wrong rather than himself, if every proposition of law which he has asserted has not been conceded.
It is much more common for American judges to be too tolerant of a waste of time by counsel than to be too impatient at it. ”

“ Attorneys who conduct the trials for the opposing parties are officers of the court. They can be fined and imprisoned for refusing to obey the lawful order of the court. In general, courts may be divided into state courts and federal or United States courts. ”

“ Whereas, the United States sets an example for private litigation by adhering to higher standards than those required by the rules of procedure in the conduct of Government litigation in Federal court, and can continue to do so without impairing the effectiveness of its litigation efforts ”

“ The advantages, however, of the separation of the functions of the solicitor from those of the barrister are distinctly felt in the superior skill, as trial lawyers, developed by the restriction of court practice to the limited membership of the Bar, which would hardly exist if the practice were distributed over the whole field of both branches of the profession. ”

“ It may be added that decisions on a point not material to the cause are generally made without the benefit of previous argument by counsel. The lawyers will naturally address themselves to the controlling questions, and if well trained will see what these are quite as clearly as the court. It is the argument at the bar, in which different views of law are presented and each defended by men of learning and ability, which enables the judge, after hearing both sides and weighing all that is said in behalf of one against all that is said in behalf of the other, to come to the true conclusion. ”

“ Some members of the Court think that where serious offenses are charged, failure of a court to offer counsel in state criminal trials deprives an accused of rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. They are convinced that the services of counsel to protect the accused are guaranted by the Constitution in every such instance. ”

“ As observers, including members of Congress, have emphasized, internal procedures and practices at the Court can have a significant external impact: They affect perceptions of the Court’s impartiality, the credibility of its rulings, and the clarity of its guidance for lawyers and for other courts. And they have real consequences for the parties in each case, as well as for the many people and institutions affected by the federal laws or constitutional rights at issue. ”

“ Over the years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has compiled an exemplary record of effective law enforcement while advising any suspect or arrested person, at the outset of an interview, that he is not required to make a statement, that any statement may be used against him in court, that the individual may obtain the services of an attorney of his own choice, and, more recently, that he has a right to free counsel if he is unable to pay. ”

“ There is nothing in the Fourteenth Amendment to prevent a state from adopting a procedure by which a judgment in personam may be rendered in a cross-action against a plaintiff in its courts, upon service of process or of appropriate pleading upon his attorney of record. The plaintiff having, by his voluntary act in demanding justice from the defendant, submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the court, there is nothing arbitrary or unreasonable in treating him as being there for all purposes for which justice to the defendant requires his presence. ”

“ Indeed, it has served not to guide but to confuse the courts as to when a person prosecuted by a State for crime is entitled to a lawyer. Little more could be expected, however, of a standard which imposes upon courts nothing more than the perplexing responsibility of appointing lawyers for an accused when a trial judge believes that a failure to do so would be 'shocking to the universal sense of justice.' To be sure, in recent years this Court has been fairly consistent in assuring indigent defendants the right to counsel. ”

“ The majority is able to reach the contrary conclusion only by disregarding the long history of attempts to raise defense lawyers' compensation levels in the District and the virtually unanimous support the Trial Lawyers enjoyed among members of the bar, the judiciary, and, indeed, officials of the city government. ”