Speeches by Chesterfield - Vol. XIV, 192-201. 1978

VOLUME XIV

SPEECH NUMBER TITLE OR GROUP ADDRESSED

#192 ARTICLE: "Lawyers Should, AS A
Mandatory Professional
Obligation, Do Some
Public Service"
PREPARED FOR: The Miami Herald
Mr. Charles Martin
Viewpoint Editor
DATE: April 10, 1978

#193 EULOGY CHESTER BEDELL
ACADEMY OF FLORIDA TRIAL LAWYERS
Turtle Inn, Jacksonville Beach
Friday, April 14, 1978

#194 NATURALIZATION CEREMONIES
FLORIDA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
"Requirements of Godd Citizenship"
Monday, May 1, 1978

#195 REMARKS BY CHESTERFIELD SMITH
TAMPA ROTARY CLUB
SHERATON TAMPA HOTEL
Tuesday, May 2, 1978

#196 REMARKS BY CHESTERFIELD SMITH
BEFORE THE KANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION
Broadmoor Hotel
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Tuesday, May 16, 1978

#197 REMARKS BY CHESTERFIELD SMITH
BEFORE THE LAKELAND BAR ASSOCIATION
HONORING JUDGES
Lakeland Yacht & Country Club
Wednesday, June 7, 1978
(See notation on cover sheets)
#197a Speech used by Mr. Smith
#197b Speech on magcards.

TITLE OR GROUP ADDRESSED

SPEECH NUMBER

#198 flA- T 4 K

199
.00

#200

#201

REMARKS BY CHESTERFIELD SMITH
BEFORE CONFERENCE ON SEEKING
AN EFFECTIVE CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM
St. Petersburg Hilton Hotel
Friday, September 22, 1978

REMARKS BY CHESTERFIELD SMITH
TO MEMBERS OF HOLLAND & KNIGHT
Firm Meeting
Saturday, September 23, 1978

REMARKS BY CHESTERFIELD SMITH
BEFORE GREATER TAMPA CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE; FLORIDA COUNCIL
OF 100; AND THE U. S. STATE
DEPARTMENT (S.A.L.T.)
Airport Holiday Inn &
Convention Center
Tampa, Florida
September 27, 1978

REMARKS BY CHESTERFIELD SMITH
BEFORE THE MODEL PUBLIC
INTEREST LAW CONFERENCE
State University of New York
Amherst, New York (Buffalo)
Friday, September 29, 1978

VOLUME XIV

SPEECHES OF CHESTERFIELD SMITH

SPEECH NUMBER 192

VOLUME XIV

LAWYERS SHOULD, AS A MANDATORY

PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATION, DO

SOME PUBLIC SERVICE

BY

CHESTERFIELD SMITH, LAWYER

POST OFFICE DRAWER BW

LAKELAND, FLORIDA 33802

ADAPTED FROM:

Article by Chesterfield Smith
In the Journal of the Legal Profession
University of Alabama
School of Law

PREPARED FOR:

The Miami Herald
Atten: Mr. Charles Martin
Viewpoint Editor
April 10, 1978

Working free, even part-time, is not a good way

to achieve lasting economic success, even if such free

work be labeled "public service". Many lawyers over the

years willingly have rendered to the public substantial

service without receiving pecuniary compensation, but

unfortunately not all, or even most have. Thus, a recog-

nition that every lawyer has an obligation for some public

service which if unreasonably ignored warrants professional

sanctions perhaps is now both timely and warranted.

A major difficulty in lawyers contributing to

the public free professional service is in striking the

proper balance between that professional time devoted for

public service and that professional time needed for the

economic necessities which face all professional people.

While most lawyers acknowledge some responsibility for

public service, both individually and collectively, the

type or extent of activities that will discharge that

obligation for public service have yet to be demarcated.

Lack of affirmative guidance is obviously one reason that

many of our more economically successful and honored lawyers

have done little or no public service.

Conceivably, up to now it has been professionally

acceptable to serve only paying clients. But the substantial

recognition which has been afforded in years past to those

lawyers who have ground away at their clients' demands day

after day and year after year, tending to the store, never

leaving the office, minding what has been traditionally

styled "their own business", is undergoing substantial

change. No longer can the legal profession merit public

approbation under such a random and haphazard standard.

Certainly, lawyers have individual characteristics

and practice demands which will prevent them from being

"equal" in all professional contributions. Lawyers of

necessity must be judged on their subscriptions to public

service with a full recognition of their differing circum-

stances under the general aspirational goals to be outlined

by the organized bar. In some cases, public service activi-

ties might embrace extensive work within the organized bar,

such as disciplinary activities or law reform. In others,

it might mean working with a public interest law firm,

rendering legal services to the poor, or representing

charitable organizations. To some lawyers, perhaps manda-

tory public service would only mean that all lawyers have

to do what so many lawyers have done so lustrously throughout

history, i.e., participate in the public discourse as

citizens with the unique skills they have developed in their

professional capacity. To others, it might well involve

maintaining and enhancing the legal competence of other

lawyers, working to improve the availability and delivery

of legal services, helping with civil rights law or poverty

-2-

law, working as a defender of those charged with crime who

are unable to secure competent counsel, or representing

diffused interests in adversary proceedings involving the

public at large. Almost certainly, ethical recognition of

public service must encompass at least a modicum of activity

designed to improve through constitutional or statutory

revision the justice system as a unit. Many interests in

fields such as the environment, welfare, consumer protection,

civil liberties, privacy, and the poor either are not repre-

sented or are under-represented before legislatures, executive

agencies, and courts. Lawyers who work with little or no

compensation to eliminate those deficiencies undoubtedly are,

and always will be, rendering valuable public service.

The circumstances of such public service.activity

never can be exclusionary. The parameters must be as broad

and flexible as the minds of those who will discharge that

responsibility. As a prime component of the legal system,

lawyers have an overriding obligation to insure continuous

access of all segments of the public to that system. A lawyer's

contribution to the public weal can never be judged by what was

achieved, or by the monetary value of the service contributed

or obligated to be contributed. In all events, that priceless

and unique measure of professional devotion, contributed time,

must be a prime factor in the determination of whether a lawyer

fully has discharged those obligations of public service.

-3-

The best way to measure the individual service

required of a lawyer will vary from area to area and perhaps

from branch of the law to branch of the law. Additionally,

there will be multiple areas of public service other than

those few that I have suggested, which as alternatives or

supplements, are better suited to both society and the legal.

profession. Only a lawyer's peer group should determine whether

various activities performed on a recurring and substantial

basis are among those things which a particular lawyer freely

should contribute to society. In all such determinations,

diversity and experimentation must be fostered and supported.

There is no single approach. Rather, through variety, through

experimentation, through evolution, the organized bar best can

gain a proper understanding of the ways in which individual

lawyers most meaningfully may render public service.

The collective responsibility of lawyers must be,

and I suggest easily can be, translated in a defined professional

duty that each lawyer individually tithe his share of public

service. If that ethical goal is enunciated, the decisional

process now universally utilized by the organized bar in estab-

lishing ethical boundaries will in time evolve definitive guide-

lines for its application. Through trial and error, through

experimentation, lawyers ultimately can incorporate into

decisions interpreting the Code of Professional Responsibility

the who, how, what and when of the public service that society

-4-

should receive in exchange for its grant of the exclusive

privilege to practice law.

The legal profession owes to society as a whole

a greater return for the grant of a personal service monopoly

than has been made heretofore. Admittedly, there are lawyers

who disagree, who sincerely contend that the legal profession

has little fault, and that changes are not needed. They

earnestly proclaim that lawyers who seek professional re-

structuring are agitators creating more problems than they

solve. Quite often complacent in their own practice, they

sometimes assert that all who do not cherish the legal pro-

fession as it has been should do something else for a liveli-

hood.

Bunk! No lawyer should accept the legal profes-

sion as it is. Lawyers must aspire for the elimination of

imperfections in their chosen profession and in the law

itself. Those lawyers who cannot overlook the social ills

of the justice system, the legal profession's deficiencies,

its failure to make adequate legal services available to

all, its inability to render justice and fairness alike to

rich and poor, seem to me to be the ones who cherish the

legal profession as a noble calling. It is those lawyers

who placidly accept the inequities, the perversions, the

injustices, the corruptions, the inefficiencies, and the

unfairnesses in the law who seem to me not to honor their

-5-

chosen calling. They love only their status and special

privilege and security, not the law itself.

Why should lawyers be among the members of society

called upon to render public service without compensation?

Society long ago made a determination that a fiercely indepen-

dent and unshackled legal profession is essential to our

system of government and to the individual rights of its

citizens; it placed lawyers in a posture to be both free

and independent by establishing a monopoly for those who

practice law. In granting to lawyers that privilege, the

nurturing of certain skills utilized extensively in the

practice of law, such as advocacy, counseling, negotiating

and drafting, were chilled and perhaps denied to non-lawyer

members of society. Monopolistic privileges granted by

society to render services create an obligation to make

available to society those special skills nutured by the

monopoly. If that obligation is not met, the public as a

whole inevitably will have no choice but to permit encroach-

ment by others.

The question "why lawyers" then can be answered

simply by saying -- self interest. If a legal monopoly is

a viable societal institution, lawyers in order to maintain

that monopoly must fill those essential needs which will not

otherwise be met unless lawyers meet them, including the

rendering of those special public services which the monopoly

-6-

itself makes lawyers peculiarly qualified to perform.

It seems to me that such ethical restructuring must

occur soon, or the multiple ways in which lawyers presently

can be of public service will be curtailed. Lawyers' patrons,

the populace as a whole, may already be near a conclusion

that their interest will be best served if other professionals

share in at least some of the work which traditionally has

been performed only by lawyers. Admittedly, further exami-

nation of all possibilities or alternatives is warranted

before substantial revisions of the ethical canons of the

legal profession should formally be undertaken, but clearly

the time for re-analysis and re-examination is here.

What is important initially, as I see it, is the

simple recognition by the organized bar of the proposition

that every lawyer should contribute a substantial portion,

perhaps a minimum of one-tenth, of professional time to the

betterment of society in general and of the justice system

in particular. That obligation cannot be in lieu of the

individual obligation of lawyers to serve clients effectively

or to discharge professional assignments with fidelity, nor

should it diminish our ever increasing efforts in those areas,

but it is and should be recognized as an equally important

part of lawyering.

There are of course inherent difficulties in an

adjudication of professional performance involving such

-7-

subjective considerations as work habits, job requirements,

organization and self-discipline, intelligence, employment

restraints, public responsibilities, integrity, personal

character, and professional know-how. However, perplexity

in enforcement has never prevented the organized bar from

adopting ever stricter standards. The public traditionally

demands higher and higher standards from all professionals,

including lawyers, and the organized bar has generally re-

sponded. Yet, enough has not been done. Imaginative lawyers

can, and indeed must, without delay design bar structures to

enforce and maintain even more demanding levels of professional

conduct.

My thesis thus is a simple one: the public who

grants a small segment of the populace the exclusive privilege

of making a living practicing law has the right to demand that

those so favored accept public service as one of their prime

responsibilities. If the legitimate aspirations of society

in creating the profession of lawyer are to be realized, the

title "lawyer" must denote to all people integrity, unity,

courage, specialized, competence, and unselfish involvement

in public service. It does not now.

The public should know that each and every lawyer

is interested in more than making money, in more than personal

aggrandizement, in more than achieving public recognition.

They should know that the least of lawyers is interested in

-8-

serving well the public good, in filling the partial void

in special skills created in society when the lawyer was

given the monopoly for legal services by society. They should

know that the bar, as a quasi-public institution, is willing

to eliminate from its rank those lawyers who do not do their

part.

Such ethical progression by the organized bar. is

obtainable. The ethical codes of lawyers, being aspirational

standards of professional performance at the top and being

disciplinary rules governing lawyer conduct at the bottom,

have developed traditionally to require even more of those

persons who wear the legal mantle -- and so they should.

-9-

SPEECHES OF CHESTERFIELD SMITH

SPEECH NUMBER 193

VOLUME XIV

t 9

REMARKS BY:

BEFORE:

DATE:

TITLE:

CHESTERFIELD SMITH
LAWYER
LAKELAND, FLORIDA

ACADEMY OF FLORIDA TRIAL LAWYERS
IN HONOR OF CHESTER BEDELL
TURTLE INN
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FLORIDA

FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1978
12:00 2:00 P.M.

EULOGY CHESTER BEDELL

TEN MINUTES

TIME:

SINCE HIS ORIGINAL ADMISSION TO THE FLORIDA BAR

ON MAY 5, 1925 CHESTER BEDELL HAS BEEN A LAWYER IN THE

NOBLE WAY A LAWYER SHOULD PERFORM.

HE COMMENCED PRACTICE
L

WHILE 20 YEARS OF AGE WITH HIS FATHER GEORGE C. BEDELL -

A FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE FLORIDA STATE BAR ASSOCIATION.

AS HIS FATHER DID BEFORE HIM CHESTER BEDELL HAS CONFINED

HIMSELF THROUGHOUT HIS LEGAL CAREER TO ONLY TRIAL AND

APPELLATE PRACTICE,

IN 1927 WHEN HE BECAME A LAW

PARTNER OF HIS FATHER HE MARRIED EDMONIA HAIR AND TOGETHER

THEY REARED A FINE FAMILY -- GEORGE MARTHA AND DONALD --

WHO HAVE BLESSED THEM WITH MULTIPLE GRANDCHILDREN.

TODAY STILL A HUMBLE AND GENTLE PERSON CHESTER

BEDELL IS THE SENIOR PARTNER IN THE FIRM OF BEDELL BEDELL -

-1-

JUST AS GEORGE C. BEDELL DID AND

JUST AS CHESTER BEDELL ALWAYS HAS DONE THAT FIRM AND

EACH LAWYER IN IT CONFINES ITS AND THEIR PRACTICE SOLELY
L-

TO ADVOCACY.

CHESTER BEDELL HIMSELF DOES EVERY POSSIBLE

KIND OF TRIAL AND APPELLATE WORK PARTICIPATING ABOUT

EQUALLY ON BOTH THE PLAINTIFF AND DEFENSE SIDE.

INDEED -

HE IS RECOGNIZED THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

AS PREEMINENT BOTH AS A TRIAL LAWYER AND AS AN APPELLATE

LAWYER.

AS THE LAWYER FOR A CONTENDING ADVESARY PARTY

ON ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER HE HAS PRACTICED EXTENSIVELY IN

THE FIELDS OF CRIMINAL LAW ADMIRALTY LAW PERSONAL INJURY

LAW TAX FRAUD LAW ANTITRUST LAW PRODUCTS LIABILITY

LAW PATENT AND TRADE SECRETS LAW CONSTITUTIONAL LAW -

-2-

DITTMAR AND ZEHMER.

AND PROFESSIONAL DISCIPLINARY LAW,

IN HIS MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF PRACTICE PARTICIPATED AS

AN ADVOCATE IN ALMOST EVERY CONCEIVABLE FACTUAL OR-LEGAL

ISSUE WHICH MIGHT PROPERLY BE RESOLVED IN THE COURTS.

HE IS BEST KNOWN AS THE LAWYER'S LAWYER.

NEITHER CHESTER

BEDELL NOR HIS FIRM HAVE EVER ACCEPTED REGULAR OR RETAINER

CLIENTS AS ADVOCATES PREFERRING TO ESTABLISH THE ATTORNEY-

CLIENT RELATIONSHIP ONLY ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.

EVEN

TODAY THE OVERWHELMING BULK OF THE LEGAL REPRESENTATION

OF BOTH CHESTER BEDELL AND HIS FIRM IS REFERRED BY OTHER

LAWYERS,

HIS MORE NOTABLE CASES INCLUDE MULTIPLE OCCASIONS

WHERE HE SUCCESSFULLY REPRESENTED A FLORIDA LAWYER IN SERIOUS

CRIMINAL CIVIL OR DISCIPLINARY TROUBLE.

-3-

IN FACT HE HAS

CHESTER BEDELL THROUGHOUT HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER

HAS BEEN A DEVOTED AVID AND ENTHUSIASTIC BAR WORKER. AT

THE LOCAL AND STATE LEVEL HE WAS PRESIDENT OF THE JACKSONVILLE

BAR ASSOCIATION IN 1940.

HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE

COMMITTEE AND THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FLORIDA BAR FROM

1952 TO 1954,

HE WAS URGED AT THAT TIME BY THE NOMINATING

COMMITTEE TO ACCEPT ITS NOMINATION TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE

FLORIDA BAR BUT HE WAS UNABLE TO ACCEPT THAT NOMINATION

BECAUSE OF EXISTING PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENTS.

IN 1967 -

HE WAS THE ORGANIZING CHAIRMAN OF THE TRIAL LAWYERS SECTION

OF THE FLORIDA BAR,

HE HAS BEEN THE CHAIRMAN OF THE

FLORIDA SUPREME COURT COMMITTEE ON STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS

(CIVIL CASES) FOR ALMOST SIXTEEN YEARS SERVING AS A MEMBER

SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1962.

OF THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT SPECIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO

MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION IN FLORIDA OF

THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION STANDARDS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

HE WAS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT

JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION.

AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL HE HAS BEEN A MEMBER OF

THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL CRIMINAL RULES TO THE

JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1972. HE

WAS A PARTICIPANT IN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF APPELLATE

JUSTICE IN SAN DIEGO IN 1975,

HE SERVED AS A MEMBER OF

THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SECTION OF

CRIMINAL JUSTICE FROM 1971 TO 1975.

HE WAS A MEMBER OF

-5-

HE WAS A PRINCIPAL MEMBER

THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO STUDY

FEDERAL LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES FROM 1973 TO 1976. HE

IS A FORMER MEMBER OF BOTH THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON

PROSECUTION AND DEFENSE FUNCTIONS AND THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

OF JUDGES FUNCTION OF THE ABA-IJA PROJECT OF STANDARDS OF

CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

HE IS A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF TRIAL

LAWYERS NOW SERVING AS A REGENT OF THE COLLEGE,

HE ALSO

IS A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN BAR FOUNDATION THE FLORIDA BAR

FOUNDATION THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF TRIAL LAWYERS AND

THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BARRISTERS.

HE IS AN ACTIVE

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE THE ASSOCIATION OF

TRIAL LAWYERS OF AMERICA THE ACADEMY OF FLORIDA TRIAL

-6-

LAWYERS THE FEDERAL BAR ASSOCIATION THE NATIONAL

ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS THE AMERICAN

JUDICATURE SOCIETY THE NATIONAL LEGAL AID AND DEFENDER

ASSOCIATION THE INSTITUTE OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION -

THE INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION AND THE INTER-AMERICAN

BAR ASSOCIATION.

CHESTER BEDELL TRULY HAS DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO THE

LAW,

WHILE SERVING HIS COMMUNITY AND HIS PROFESSION

BROADLY AND DILIGENTLY (INCLUDING A STINT WITH THE UNITED

STATES NAVY DURING WORLD WAR II) THE COURTROOM HAS BEEN

THE FOCAL POINT OF HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER.

A DEEPLY

RELIGIOUS MAN WITH AN UNYIELDING PRIDE IN AND DEVOTION TO

HIS FAMILY THE PLACE OF HAPPIEST ACTION FOR HIM HAS BEEN

-7-

AS AN ADVOCATE BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY OR AN APPELLATE

TRIBUNAL,

CHESTER BEDELL'S LIFETIME PRINCIPLES ARE

THOSE PRINCIPLES OF A TRIAL LAWYER TAUGHT HIM BYHIS-

FATHER.

NOW HALF A CENTURY LATER HE EMBODIES THE

HIGHEST POSSIBLE STANDARDS OF MORALITY HONESTY AND

JUSTICE.

HE HAS LONG EMBRACED AND FOLLOWED THE ETHICAL

AND PROFESSIONAL PRECEPTS PRACTICES MANNERS AND

CHARACTERISTICS OF A HIGHLY PROFICIENT ENGLISH BARRISTER.

HE IS -- AND HE LONG HAS BEEN A SPLENDID ADVOCATE -

EFFECTIVE BUT ALWAYS ETHICAL FORCEFUL YET ALWAYS SCHOLARLY -

TENACIOUS BUT NEVERTHELESS COURTEOUS TOLERANT YET UNYIELDING

IN HIS PERSONAL STANDARDS OF MORALITY.

WHILE SLIGHT IN

STATURE HE HAS PROVEN HIMSELF AS A MAN OF UNLIMITED

-8-

DURABILITY UNBOUNDED ENERGY KEEN INSIGHT HIGH LEGAL

SCHOLARSHIP AND SYMPATHETIC HUMANITARIANISM,

TODAY AS

THROUGHOUT HIS LEGAL CAREER HE APPROACHES THE LAI WITH

AN UNPARALLELED ZEST AND CONTINUOUS QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE.

HE IS CALM AND "UNFLAPPABLE" BUT HE CARES DEEPLY ALWAYS

FOR BOTH HIS CLIENT AND HIS CAUSE.

IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED THAT IF THE APPROXIMATELY

23,000 MEMBERS OF THE FLORIDA BAR WERE PERMITTED TO CAST A

SECRET BALLOT FOR: (1) THE BEST TRIAL LAWYER IN FLORIDA;

AND (2) THE MOST GRACIOUS AND ETHICAL GENTLEMAN WHO PRACTICES

LAW IN FLORIDA CHESTER BEDELL EASILY AND PERHAPS OVER-

WHELMINGLY WOULD BE ESTABLISHED BY THAT VOTE AT THE TOP

OF EACH CATEGORY,

INDEED CHESTER BEDELL TODAY IN FLORIDA

-9-

IS A LIVING LEGEND IN THE LAW A MAN WHO LIVES BY THE

ETHICAL PRECEPTS WHICH HISTORICALLY HAVE GUIDED THE CONDUCT

OF THE TRULY GREAT LAWYERS OF OUR PAST AND PRESENT:

BY HIS PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT BY HIS VERY BEING -

CHESTER BEDELL EPITOMIZES THE BEST OF THE AMERICAN TRIAL

LAWYER,

AFTER MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF EXEMPLARY PRACTICE,

HIS SELECTION FOR THIS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD GIVES RECOGNITION

TO THOSE WHO PRACTICE LAW AS IT SHOULD BE PRACTICED A HIGH

CALLING FOR THE NOBLEST OF MEN.

-10-

REMARKS BY:

BEFORE:

DATE:

TITLE:

CHESTERFIELD SMITH
LAWYER
LAKELAND, FLORIDA

ACADEMY OF FLORIDA TRIAL LAWYERS
IN HONOR OF CHESTER BEDELL
TURTLE INN
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FLORIDA

FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1978
12:00 2:00 P.M.

EULOGY CHESTER BEDELL

TEN MINUTES

TIME:

SINCE HIS ORIGINAL ADMISSION TO THE FLORIDA BAR

ON MAY 5, 1925 CHESTER BEDELL HAS BEEN A LAWYER IN THE

NOBLE WAY A LAWYER SHOULD PERFORM.

HE COMMENCED PRACTICE

WHILE 20 YEARS OF AGE WITH HIS FATHER GEORGE C. BEDELL -

A FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE FLORIDA STATE BAR ASSOCIATION.

AS HIS FATHER DID BEFORE HIM CHESTER BEDELL HAS CONFINED

HIMSELF THROUGHOUT HIS LEGAL CAREER TO ONLY TRIAL AND

APPELLATE PRACTICE.

IN 1927 WHEN HE BECAME A LAW

PARTNER OF HIS FATHER HE MARRIED EDMONIA HAIR AND TOGETHER

THEY REARED A FINE FAMILY -- GEORGE MARTHA AND DONALD --

WHO HAVE BLESSED THEM WITH MULTIPLE GRANDCHILDREN.

TODAY STILL A HUMBLE AND GENTLE PERSON CHESTER'

BEDELL IS THE SENIOR PARTNER IN THE FIRM OF BEDELL BEDELL -

-1-

JUST AS GEORGE C. BEDELL DID AND

JUST AS CHESTER BEDELL ALWAYS HAS DONE THAT FIRM AND

EACH LAWYER IN IT CONFINES ITS AND THEIR PRACTICE SOLELY

TO ADVOCACY.

CHESTER BEDELL HIMSELF DOES EVERY POSSIBLE

KIND OF TRIAL AND APPELLATE WORK PARTICIPATING ABOUT

EQUALLY ON BOTH THE PLAINTIFF AND DEFENSE SIDE,

INDEED -

HE IS RECOGNIZED THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

AS PREEMINENT BOTH AS A TRIAL LAWYER AND AS AN APPELLATE

LAWYER.

AS THE LAWYER FOR A CONTENDING ADVESARY PARTY

ON ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER HE HAS PRACTICED EXTENSIVELY IN

THE FIELDS OF CRIMINAL LAW ADMIRALTY LAW PERSONAL INJURY

LAW TAX FRAUD LAW ANTITRUST LAW PRODUCTS LIABILITY

LAW PATENT AND TRADE SECRETS LAW CONSTITUTIONAL LAW -

-2-

DITTMAR AND ZEHMER.

AND PROFESSIONAL DISCIPLINARY LAW,

IN HIS MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF PRACTICE PARTICIPATED AS

AN ADVOCATE IN ALMOST EVERY CONCEIVABLE FACTUAL OR-LEGAL

ISSUE WHICH MIGHT PROPERLY BE RESOLVED IN THE COURTS.

HE IS BEST KNOWN AS THE LAWYER'S LAWYER.

NEITHER CHESTER

BEDELL NOR HIS FIRM HAVE EVER ACCEPTED REGULAR OR RETAINER

CLIENTS AS ADVOCATES PREFERRING TO ESTABLISH THE ATTORNEY-

CLIENT RELATIONSHIP ONLY ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.

EVEN

TODAY THE OVERWHELMING BULK OF THE LEGAL REPRESENTATION

OF BOTH CHESTER BEDELL AND HIS FIRM IS REFERRED BY OTHER

LAWYERS.

HIS MORE NOTABLE CASES INCLUDE MULTIPLE OCCASIONS

WHERE HE SUCCESSFULLY REPRESENTED A FLORIDA LAWYER IN SERIOUS

CRIMINAL CIVIL OR DISCIPLINARY TROUBLE.

-3-

IN FACT HE HAS

CHESTER BEDELL THROUGHOUT HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER

HAS BEEN A DEVOTED AVID AND ENTHUSIASTIC BAR WORKER. AT

THE LOCAL AND STATE LEVEL HE WAS PRESIDENT OF THE JACKSONVILLE

BAR ASSOCIATION IN 1940.

HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE

COMMITTEE AND THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FLORIDA BAR FROM

1952 TO 1954.

HE WAS URGED AT THAT TIME BY THE NOMINATING

COMMITTEE TO ACCEPT ITS NOMINATION TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE

FLORIDA BAR BUT HE WAS UNABLE TO ACCEPT THAT NOMINATION

BECAUSE OF EXISTING PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENTS.

IN 1967 -

HE WAS THE ORGANIZING CHAIRMAN OF THE TRIAL LAWYERS SECTION

OF THE FLORIDA BAR.

HE HAS BEEN THE CHAIRMAN OF THE

FLORIDA SUPREME COURT COMMITTEE ON STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS

(CIVIL CASES) FOR ALMOST SIXTEEN YEARS SERVING AS A MEMBER

SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1962.

OF THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT SPECIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO

MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION IN FLORIDA OF

THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION STANDARDS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

HE WAS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT

JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION.

AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL HE HAS BEEN A MEMBER OF

THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL CRIMINAL RULES TO THE

JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1972. HE

WAS A PARTICIPANT IN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF APPELLATE

JUSTICE IN SAN DIEGO IN 1975.

HE SERVED AS A MEMBER OF

THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SECTION OF

CRIMINAL JUSTICE FROM 1971 TO 1975.

HE WAS A PRINCIPAL MEMBER

HE WAS A MEMBER OF

THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO STUDY

FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES FROM 1973 TO 1976. HE

IS A FORMER MEMBER OF BOTH THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON

PROSECUTION AND DEFENSE FUNCTIONS AND THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

OF JUDGES FUNCTION OF THE ABA-IJA PROJECT OF STANDARDS OF

CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

HE IS A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF TRIAL

LAWYERS NOW SERVING AS A REGENT OF THE COLLEGE.

HE ALSO

IS A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN BAR FOUNDATION THE FLORIDA BAR

FOUNDATION THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF TRIAL LAWYERS AND

THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BARRISTERS,

HE IS AN ACTIVE

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE THE ASSOCIATION OF

TRIAL LAWYERS OF AMERICA THE ACADEMY OF FLORIDA TRIAL

-6-

LAWYERS THE FEDERAL BAR ASSOCIATION THE NATIONAL

ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS THE AMERICAN

JUDICATURE SOCIETY THE NATIONAL LEGAL AID AND DEFENDER

ASSOCIATION THE INSTITUTE OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION -

THE INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION AND THE INTER-AMERICAN

BAR ASSOCIATION.

CHESTER BEDELL TRULY HAS DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO THE

LAW,

WHILE SERVING HIS COMMUNITY AND HIS PROFESSION

BROADLY AND DILIGENTLY (INCLUDING A STINT WITH THE UNITED

STATES NAVY DURING WORLD WAR II) THE COURTROOM HAS BEEN

THE FOCAL POINT OF HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER.

A DEEPLY

RELIGIOUS MAN WITH AN UNYIELDING PRIDE IN AND DEVOTION TO

HIS FAMILY THE PLACE OF HAPPIEST ACTION FOR HIM HAS BEEN

-7-

AS AN ADVOCATE BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY OR AN APPELLATE

TRIBUNAL,

CHESTER BEDELL'S LIFETIME PRINCIPLES ARE

THOSE PRINCIPLES OF A TRIAL LAWYER TAUGHT HIM BY HIS--

FATHER.

NOW HALF A CENTURY LATER HE EMBODIES THE

HIGHEST POSSIBLE STANDARDS OF MORALITY HONESTY AND

JUSTICE,

HE HAS LONG EMBRACED AND FOLLOWED THE ETHICAL

AND PROFESSIONAL PRECEPTS PRACTICES MANNERS AND

CHARACTERISTICS OF A HIGHLY PROFICIENT ENGLISH BARRISTER.

HE IS -- AND HE LONG HAS BEEN A SPLENDID ADVOCATE -

EFFECTIVE BUT ALWAYS ETHICAL FORCEFUL YET ALWAYS SCHOLARLY -

TENACIOUS BUT NEVERTHELESS COURTEOUS TOLERANT YET UNYIELDING

IN HIS PERSONAL STANDARDS OF MORALITY.

WHILE SLIGHT IN

STATURE HE HAS PROVEN HIMSELF AS A MAN OF UNLIMITED

-8-

DURABILITY UNBOUNDED ENERGY KEEN INSIGHT HIGH LEGAL

SCHOLARSHIP AND SYMPATHETIC HUMANITARIANISM.

TODAY AS

THROUGHOUT HIS LEGAL CAREER HE APPROACHES THE LA{ WITH

AN UNPARALLELED ZEST AND CONTINUOUS QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE.

HE IS CALM AND "UNFLAPPABLE" BUT HE CARES DEEPLY ALWAYS

FOR BOTH HIS CLIENT AND HIS CAUSE,

IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED THAT IF THE APPROXIMATELY

23,000 MEMBERS OF THE FLORIDA BAR WERE PERMITTED TO CAST A

SECRET BALLOT FOR: (1) THE BEST TRIAL LAWYER IN FLORIDA;

AND (2) THE MOST GRACIOUS AND ETHICAL GENTLEMAN WHO PRACTICES

LAW IN FLORIDA CHESTER BEDELL EASILY AND PERHAPS OVER-

WHELMINGLY WOULD BE ESTABLISHED BY THAT VOTE AT THE TOP

OF EACH CATEGORY.

INDEED CHESTER BEDELL TODAY IN FLORIDA

-9-

IS A LIVING LEGEND IN THE LAW A MAN WHO LIVES BY THE

ETHICAL PRECEPTS WHICH HISTORICALLY HAVE GUIDED THE CONDUCT

OF THE TRULY GREAT LAWYERS OF OUR PAST AND PRESENT, -,.

BY HIS PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT BY HIS VERY BEING -

CHESTER BEDELL EPITOMIZES THE BEST OF THE AMERICAN TRIAL

LAWYER,

AFTER MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF EXEMPLARY PRACTICE,

HIS SELECTION FOR THIS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD GIVES RECOGNITION

TO THOSE WHO PRACTICE LAW AS IT SHOULD BE PRACTICED A HIGH

CALLING FOR THE NOBLEST OF MEN.

-10-

SPEECHES OF CHESTERFIELD SMITH

SPEECH NUMBER 194

VOLUME XIV

ADDRESS OF:

CHESTERFIELD SMITH
LAWYER
LAKELAND, FLORIDA

BEFORE:

NATURALIZATION CEREMONIES
FLORIDA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
(GYMNASIUM) FTU BOULEVARD
ORLANDO, FLORIDA

DATE:

MONDAY, MAY 1, 1978
2:00 P.M.

TITLE:

REQUIREMENTS OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP

TEN MINUTES

TIME:

YOU HAVE OF COURSE WORKED LONG AND HARD TO EARN

YOUR CITIZENSHIP.

YOU THUS HAVE EVERY REASON TO BE PROUD -

AND I CONGRATULATE EACH OF YOU ON THIS ACHIEVEMENT,

ALL AMERICANS FROM TIME TO TIME SHOULD WITNESS A

NATURALIZATION CEREMONY BECAUSE IN DOING SO EACH WOULD

OF NECESSITY AGAIN THINK ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN AMERICAN.

CITIZENSHIP NOT ONLY INVOLVES THE GAINING OF RIGHTS BUT IT

ALSO INVOKES CERTAIN RESPONSIBILITIES.

TOO OFTEN

AMERICANS ONLY REMEMBER THE RIGHTS AND THOUGHTLESSLY FORGET

THE RESPONSIBILITIES,

IN A NATION WHERE THE PEOPLE -- YOU

AND I -- MUST ELECT OFFICIALS AND SHAPE THE COURSE OF GOVERN-

MENT SUCH FORGETFULNESS CAN BE DISASTROUS.

THE BLESSINGS

OF LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY CAN BE SEVERELY JEOPARDIZED UNLESS

-1-

DEVOTED AND ENLIGHTENED EFFORTS IN MEETING THOSE RESPONSI-

BILITIES ARE EVER THE AGELESS POLESTAR OF ALL CITIZENS,

IN A WAY YOU HAVE A REAL ADVANTAGE OVER NATIVE

BORN AMERICANS WHO DID NOT EARN THEIR CITIZENSHIP.

IT CAME TO THEM BY BIRTH,

INSTEAD -

YOU ON THE OTHER HAND KNOW

THAT AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP IS NOT A MERE FORMALITY OR ACCIDENT

OF BIRTH WHICH INSURES YOUR RESIDENCY BUT AN EXTRAORDINARY

BUNDLE OF CONTINUING RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

THE LONG

PROCESS AND DIFFICULT STUDY THAT WAS NECESSARY TO SECURE YOUR

CITIZENSHIP WILL PROBABLY INSURE THAT YOU TAKE YOUR DUTIES AS

CITIZENS MORE SERIOUSLY THAN MANY OF YOUR FELLOW NATIVE BORN

AMERICANS.

TOO MANY AMERICANS ARE VERY CARELESS ABOUT THEIR

CIVIC DUTIES OR EVEN INDIFFERENT YOU SHOULD NOT BE A PART

OF THAT CARELESS OR INDIFFERENT GROUP.

-2-

AS PART OF YOUR PREPARATION FOR AMERICAN CITIZEN-

SHIP YOU HAVE STUDIED THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF

RIGHTS AND FROM THOSE STUDIES YOU EACH FULLY UNDERSTAND

HOW TOGETHER THEY ESTABLISH OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND

PRESERVE OUR FREEDOMS,

UNFORTUNATELY MANY NATIVE BORN

CITIZENS DO NOT SO WELL UNDERSTAND THAT CONSTITUTION AND BILL

OF RIGHTS,

A SURVEY NOT VERY LONG AGO INDICATED THAT MANY

AMERICANS DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE BILL OF RIGHTS WHEN IT WAS

READ TO THEM AND THAT MANY EVEN FELT IT WAS "COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA".

OTHER SURVEYS SHOW THAT WHILE MOST AMERICANS CLAIM FULL SUPPORT

FOR THE BILL OF RIGHTS THAT SUPPORT TOO OFTEN IS ONLY A

GENERALITY AS MANY AMERICANS REFUSE TO SUPPORT ONE OR MORE

OF THOSE RIGHTS IN SPECIFIC CASES INVOLVING UNPOPULAR CAUSES.

-3-

MANY AMERICANS ARE IGNORANT OF HOW OUR POLITICAL

SYSTEM WORKS,

HEARD AS CITIZENS.

TOO MANY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO MAKE THEMSELVES

IT IS SAD BUT TRUE THAT MOST

AMERICANS CANNOT NAME BOTH UNITED STATES SENATORS FROM THEIR

OWN STATE.

MOST DO NOT KNOW THEIR CONGRESSMAN'S NAME.

ONLY A FEW EVER TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO CONTACT THEIR ELECTED

REPRESENTATIVES.

FURTHERMORE MANY CITIZENS DO NOT EVEN KNOW HOW TO

BE EFFECTIVE VOTERS.

FACTS,

A RECENT STUDY UNCOVERED SOME STARTLING

MORE THAN HALF OF THE ADULTS TESTED IN THE STUDY

COULD NOT FILL OUT A SIMPLE BALLOT -- ONE WITH ONLY FIVE OFFICES

LISTED -- WITHOUT MAKING AT LEAST ONE MISTAKE.

WHEN YOU

CONSIDER THAT MOST BALLOTS ARE MUCH MORE COMPLICATED -- YOU CAN

-4-

UNDERSTAND WHY MANY AMERICANS ARE DISCOURAGED FROM VOTING.

IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT ONLY A LITTLE MORE THAN HALF OF OUR

CITIZENS EVER VOTE IN ELECTIONS TO CHOOSE THE PRESIDENT.

IN NON-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS FEWER THAN HALF OF THE ELIGIBLE

VOTERS BOTHER TO VOTE.

SUCH APATHY IS A BLATANT DISREGARD

OF THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CITIZENSHIP OR SO I BELIEVE,

YOU WHO HAVE WORKED SO LONG AND HARD TO BECOME

AMERICAN CITIZENS ALWAYS MUST VOTE -- TO FAIL TO DO SO IS TO

FAIL CITIZENSHIP RESPONSIBILITY,

THAT YOU VOTE,

GOOD CITIZENSHIP REQUIRES

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE MUST BE CONCERNED AND

ACTIVE AS CITIZENS IF OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IS TO WORK,

GOOD CITIZENS ARE ONLY THOSE WHO CARE DEEPLY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS

IN THEIR COUNTRY,

GOOD CITIZENS REALIZE THAT IN A DEMOCRACY -

-5-

THE GOVERNMENT CAN NEVER BE ANY BETTER OR WISER THAN ITS

CITIZENS,

GOOD CITIZENS WORK HARD TO MAKE GOVERNMENT

MORE RESPONSIVE TO THE BEST ELEMENTS OF SOCIETY AND TO

IMPROVE THE BAD ELEMENTS,

IN COMMUNITIES AROUND THE

COUNTRY THE WATCHFULNESS AND CONCERN OF MANY INDIVIDUAL

CITIZENS HAVE LED TO A BETTER ENVIRONMENT TO REDUCTIONS IN

CRIME AND LAWLESSNESS AND TO IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES.

GOOD CITIZENSHIP DOES OF COURSE TAKE TIME AND EFFORT.

GOOD CITIZENSHIP IS NOT EASY,

NOTHING REALLY WORTH HAVING

EVER IS.

YOU KNOW THIS ALREADY,

SOME OF YOU LEFT NATIONS

WHICH HAVE DESTROYED INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS.

YOU KNOW -- FROM

THE HEART -- HOW PRECIOUS LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY ARE,

I SUGGEST THAT YOU CAN BE MODELS FOR ALL AMERICAN

-6-

IF TOO MANY OF OUR NATIVE BORN CITIZENS TAKE

THEIR CITIZENSHIP FOR GRANTED IF THEY ARE LAZY ABOUT THEIR

CIVIC DUTIES OR IF THEY NO LONGER FEEL THAT THEY CAN HAVE

AN IMPACT ON THEIR GOVERNMENT THEY CAN LEARN FROM YOUR

EXAMPLE WHAT A GOOD CITIZEN SHOULD BE,

BY YOUR PRECEPT -

YOU CAN TEACH THEM THE PRINCIPLES OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP,

THIS IS A DAY OF GREAT AND JOYOUS CELEBRATION FOR

YOU PERSONALLY.

MANY OF YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS HERE AND

ELSEWHERE SHARE WITH YOU YOUR JOY AT RECEIVING THE PRECIOUS

PRIVILEGE OF CITIZENSHIP,

IT ALSO IS A SIGNIFICANT DAY

THROUGHOUT OUR LAND A DAY CALLED "LAW DAY U.S.A." A

DAY IN WHICH RECOGNITION IS GIVEN BY ALL AMERICANS TO THE

TREMENDOUS AND OVERRIDING VALUE OF OUR COURTS AS THE BULWARK

-7-

CITIZENS,

THE THEME OF LAW DAY THIS YEAR

IS "LAW YOUR ACCESS TO JUSTICE",

CERTAINLY HISTORY

DEMONSTRATES AS A TRUISM THAT IF THERE IS TO BE JUSTICE FOR

ALL THERE MUST ALWAYS BE EASY ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND THE

AGENCY OF JUSTICE OUR STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS,

JUSTICE IS THE MOST BASIC OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS. THE

LAW-AS IT IS INTERPRETED AND ADMINISTERED BY OUR COURTS BOTH

STATE AND FEDERAL IS OUR VEHICLE TO JUSTICE,

IT IS OUR

PATH TO COLLECTIVE SECURITY THE ROAD WE MUST FOLLOW TO

INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY,

THE FLORIDA BAR THE ORANGE COUNTY BAR

ASSOCIATION AND THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION TOGETHER THE

JOINT VOICES OF THE ORGANIZED LEGAL PROFESSION IN THIS

JURISDICTION TODAY HAVE JOINED WITH THIS GREAT FEDERAL COURT

-8-

OF OUR FREEDOM IN AMERICA,

IN THESE PROCEEDINGS AS A MEANS OF RECOGNITION THAT ACCESS TO

JUSTICE IS AND ALWAYS MUST BE A PARAMOUNT INTEREST OF ALL

AMERICANS,

UNOBSTRUCTED ACCESS TO THE COURTS IS FUNDAMENTAL

TO THE PERMANENT EXISTENCE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY,

EACH

AMERICAN MUST REPEATEDLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IF THERE IS TO BE JUSTICE

IN THIS COUNTRY FOR THE RICH AND THE POOR FOR THE HUMBLE AND

THE POWERFUL FOR THE EDUCATED'AND THE UNEDUCATED FOR THOSE

FROM ALL RACES AND CREEDS FOR WOMEN AND MEN FOR THE HEALTHY

AND THE LAME FOR THE OLD AND THE YOUNG THERE MUST ALWAYS

BE ACCESS FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM TO ITS COURTS,

THIS

DAY THEN IS "LAW DAY U.S.A," BUT IT ALSO IS FOREVERMORE

YOUR OWN PERSONAL AND UNIQUE DAY OF BEGINNING A DAY IN WHICH

YOU AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN BECAME THE TIMELESS WARD OF

AMERICAN JUSTICE AND THE DAY WHEN YOUR IRREVOCABLE AND

PERMANENT RIGHT OF ACCESS TO ITS COURTS BECOMES YOUR PRECIOUS

POSSESSION,

FROM NOW ON YOU WILL BE FREE FREE BECAUSE

YOU AS AN AMERICAN HAVE ACCESS TO AMERICA'S COURTS.

YOU MUST PROVE EQUAL TO THIS GREAT CHALLENGE OF

AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP YOUR EXAMPLE MUST REMIND ALL OF US

WHO HAVE PRECEDED YOU AS AMERICANS THAT EACH OF US TOO MUST

CONTINUALLY STRENGTHEN AND IMPROVE THIS STURDY NATION OF THE

FREE A NATION SO DEARLY LOVED AND GREATLY REVERED BY ALL

THOSE PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD WHO CHERISH JUSTICE.

I CONGRATULATE YOU -- I WELCOME YOU TO AMERICAN

CITIZENSHIP,

-10-

SPEECHES OF CHESTERFIELD SMITH

SPEECH NUMBER 195

VOLUME XIV

REMARKS OF:

BEFORE:

CHESTERFIELD SMITH
LAWYER
LAKELAND, FLORIDA

TAMPA ROTARY CLUB
SHERATON TAMPA HOTEL

TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1978
12:00 NOON

DATE:

TWENTY MINUTES

DURATION:

AS A TRIAL LAWYER I PERHAPS UNDERSTANDABLY

HAVE A LONG-HELD BELIEF THAT THE CALIBER OF A STATE'S

COURTS IS A PRIME YARDSTICK OF ITS CULTURE.

I CHERISH

OUR COURTS AS AN INSTITUTION AS I DO MOST OF THE INDIVIDUAL

LAWYERS WHO PRESIDE OVER THEM AS JUDGES AND I POINT THAT

OUT WITH SPECIFICITY AND PARTICULARITY BEFORE ALSO

ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THERE CURRENTLY IS SUBSTANTIAL CRITICISM

THROUGHOUT THIS COUNTY THIS STATE AND THIS NATION OF

OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM BY MANY CITIZENS AND THAT AT LEAST

IN PART I ADMIT THAT THERE ARE VALID REASONS FOR THAT

CRITICISM,

THAT CRITICAL COMMENTARY IS PARTICULARLY

PREVALENT IN AT LEAST FOUR BROAD GENERAL AREAS THOUGH

CERTAINLY NOT EXCLUSIVELY SO; PERCEIVED FAILURES OF THE

-1-

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM; GROWING BACKLOGS OF UNRESOLVED

CASES BOTH CIVIL AND CRIMINAL;

UNDUE DELAY AND EXPENSE

IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE PERHAPS NOTICEABLY

SO IN THE SO-CALLED "SMALLER" CONSUMER DISPUTES WHICH

ALSO MUST EMBRACE THE PROBLEMS OCCASIONED BY INADEQUATE

OR UNEQUAL LEGAL REPRESENTATION; AND FINALLY A BELIEF

ON THE PART OF MANY THAT COURTS BY THE EXPANSION OF

THEIR JURISDICTION TO ENCOMPASS ALMOST ALL SOCIETAL

PROBLEMS HAVE ARROGATED TO THEMSELVES MATTERS BEYOND

THEIR COMPETENCE SATISFACTORILY TO HANDLE -- IN OTHER

WORDS THAT THE COURTS BY THEIR OWN MANDATE HAVE GROWN

TOO BIG FOR THEIR SYSTEMIC BRITCHES THAT OUR COURTS

-2-

WERE DESIGNED TO BE DISPUTE-RESOLVERS BUT TODAY

IN RESPONSE TO PUBLIC DEMAND THEY HAVE IN DEFAULT BY

OTHER INSTITUTIONS OFTEN BECOME SOCIETY'S PROBLEM

SOLVERS,

I TODAY SUGGEST THAT THAT CHANGE IN THE

JUDICIAL ROLE REQUIRES OR AT LEAST DESERVES ANOTHER

LOOK.

IT HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE DURING THE PAST TEN

YEARS FOR NON-LAWYER CITIZENS TO GRIPE TO ME AGAIN AND

AGAIN THAT THE COURTS OF TODAY ARE WITHOUT PORTFOLIO

OR AUTHORITY RUNNING SCHOOLS AND PRESCRIBING CURRICULA

MANAGING PRISON SYSTEMS FORMULATING BUDGETS AND

REGULATING THE ENVIRONMENT.

-3-

THE COMPLAINTS OF THOSE NON-LAWYER CITIZENS HAVE BEEN

DIRECTED PRIMARILY AT FEDERAL TRIAL COURTS THOUGH CERTAINLY

NOT EXCLUSIVELY SO. INDEED IN THEIR EYES ALL COURTS -

BOTH STATE AND FEDERAL SOON RUN TOGETHER AS A GENERIC ENTITY.

BOTH THE STATE AND FEDERAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS ARE SUSPECT,

BUT OF COURSE THAT LAY VERSION OF WHAT COURTS ARE

DOING WRONG MAY CONCEAL MORE THAN IT REVEALS,

IT SEEMS

TO ME THAT IN VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE CASES IN WHICH COURTS

HAVE ENTERED AREAS THAT MORE PROPERLY AND MORE EFFECTIVELY

CAN BE DEALT WITH IN THE OTHER BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT THE

COURTS HAVE DONE SO BY REASON OF THE DEFAULT OF THE LEGISLA-

TIVE AND THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS,

IF A JUDGE MUST INSPECT THE OPERATING CONDITIONS

-4-1.

OF A PRISON A HOSPITAL OR A WELFARE OFFICE TO DETERMINE

WHETHER CONSTITUTIONAL STATUTORY OR COMMON LAW RIGHTS

ARE BEING INVADED WHAT ELSE CAN SHE OR HE DO BUT PERFORM

HER OR HIS DUTY?

AND IF SHE OR HE FINDS THAT RIGHTS ARE

BEING ABRIDGED WHAT ELSE CAN SHE OR HE DO BUT SEEK TO

CORRECT THE ABUSES?

SO BEFORE APOLOGIZING TOO MUCH FOR THIS

PARTICULAR AREA OF PERHAPS JUSTIFIED PUBLIC CARPING AT THE

COURTS I SUGGEST THAT THE CAUSE TODAY OF MUCH OF THAT

ADVERSE COMMENT ABOUT JUDGES AND COURTS SPRINGS MORE FROM

THE PAST SUCCESSES OF OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM THAN ITS FAILURES.

THE TRUTH IS THAT THE COURTS IN THE MAIN HAVE PERFORMED

WELL -- PERHAPS TOO WELL.

-5-

NEVERTHELESS IN THIS TIME OF PERIODIC STOCK-

TAKING WE SHOULD PERHAPS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THERE IS A

BURGEONING BELIEF THAT: QUANTITATIVELY THE COURTS ARE

CARRYING TOO HEAVY A BURDEN -- AND PROBABLY A BURDEN BEYOND

THE CAPACITY OF MITIGATION BY MERELY INCREASING THE NUMBER

OF JUDGES; AND QUALITATIVELY THE COURTS ARE BEING ASKED

TO SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR WHICH THEY ARE NOT INSTITUTIONALLY

EQUIPPED OR AT LEAST NOT AS WELL EQUIPPED AS OTHER AREAS

OF GOVERNMENT,

ADMITTEDLY AMERICAN JUDICIAL HISTORY DOES REVEAL

A PATTERN OF PROGRESSIVE JUDICIAL ACTIVISM.

RARELY NOW DO

WE SEE OUR COURTS GOING ALL OUT TO CONFINE THE IMPACT OF A

CONSTITUTIONAL OR STATUTORY DECISION ONLY TO THE CASE AT HAND.

-6-

ru

JUDICIAL RESTRAINT MAY WELL BE NOW PRIMARILY TWO WORDS TO

WHICH MOST JUDGES PAY LIP SERVICE BUT TO WHICH THEY DO NOT

RENDER TRUE FEALTY.

DURING THE PERIOD WHICH HAS ELAPSED

SINCE WORLD WAR II OUR COURTS INCREASINGLY HAVE BEEN SOLICITED

BY THOSE OTHERWISE UNABLE TO SECURE RELIEF TO BECOME THE

PROBLEM-SOLVERS OF OUR SOCIETY.

NO PROBLEM NOW SEEMS TO

BE BEYOND THE DESIRE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO ENTRUST IT FOR

SOLUTION TO THE COURTS,

THE REASONS FOR THIS DERIVE BOTH

FROM THE CHARACTER OF OUR LEGAL SYSTEM AND FROM THE SOCIAL

AND POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH OUR COURTS FUNCTION, IT

IS QUITE EASY TO DOCUMENT SUPPORT FOR THE PROPOSITION THAT THE

AMERICAN PUBLIC TODAY PERCEIVES COURTS AS JACKS-OF-ALL-TRADES -

AVAILABLE TO FURNISH THE ANSWER TO WHATEVER MAY TROUBLE US.

-7-

CERTAINLY THERE IS A PUBLIC READINESS TO LOOK TO

JUDGES MORE THAN THE LEGISLATURE OR THE EXECUTIVE FOR

SOLUTIONS TO THE MOST DIFFICULT PUBLIC PROBLEMS,

IT HAS

BEEN SUGGESTED THAT JUDGES AND LAWYERS MIGHT WELL CONGRATULATE

THEMSELVES UPON THAT PUBLIC ATTITUDE AND IN FACT TO TERM IT

A SIGN OF "PUBLIC ACCEPTABILITY" WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF

JUSTICE,

BUT THOSE OF US WHO MAKE OUR LIVING BY WORKING

IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM WOULD BE MYOPIC TO ENGAGE IN SUCH SELF-

ADULATION,

WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PROBLEMS WHICH THE

COURTS ARE BEING ASKED TO SOLVE SIMPLY ARE BEYOND THEIR CA-

PACITY AND PERHAPS BEYOND ANY CAPACITY WE MAY GRANT TO THEM.

I MUST POINT OUT THAT THE RESULT IS NOT NECESSARILY A PUBLIC

DISSATISFACTION WITH THE KIND OF JUSTICE THAT THOSE ACTIVITIES

-8-

NECESSARILY IMPORT; THAT DISSATISFACTION IS INSTEAD OCCASIONED

PRIMARILY BY A FRUSTRATION THAT OTHER GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS

BETTER QUALIFIED THAN THE COURTS TO ACT HAVE NOT DONE SO.

IT IS THUS MY PHILOSOPHICAL THESIS THAT OUR PEOPLE

SOON MUST DECIDE AS A MATTER OF SOCIAL PRINCIPLE WHETHER OUR

COURTS SHALL CONTINUE ONLY TO DISCHARGE THEIR TRADITIONAL ROLE

AS DISPUTE-RESOLVERS OR ALSO BECOME THE DESIGNATED PROBLEM-

SOLVERS OF ALL SOCIETAL ILLS,

WHEN GENERALLY IN DAYS PAST OUR JUDGES FOLLOWED

THE PRINCIPLE THAT INSOFAR AS POSSIBLE THE DECISION IN A

CONTROVERTED MATTER AT HAND SHOULD DIRECTLY AFFECT ONLY THE

PARTIES TO THE DISPUTE THE ADVERSARY SYSTEM OF THE COMMON

LAW AS A DISPUTE-RESOLVER SEEMED TO ME TO BE CHUGGING ALONG

-9-

A JUDICIAL DECISION BY THE FORCE OF PRECEDENT

OR BY THE PRINCIPLE OF STARE DECISIS DID INDIRECTLY AFFECT

OTHER DISPUTES WITH A FACTUAL OR LEGAL SIMILARITY -- BUT THAT

DECISION WAS NOT THE SAME AS THE FORCE OF A JUDGMENT.

WAS NOT RES JUDICATA BUT AT MOST ONLY STARE DECISIS,

IT

EACH

NEW DECISION THUS WAS ONLY A SMALL TILE IN A GREAT MOSAIC -

THE DESIGN OF WHICH CHANGED SUBTLY AND GRADUALLY AND THUS

AVOIDED THE DISASTERS WHICH FREQUENTLY OVERTOOK THOSE WHO

DROVE PRINCIPLES TO THE EXTREME END OF THEIR LOGICAL CON-

CLUSIONS,

BUT PROBLEM-SOLVING IS AN ENTERPRISE OF A DIFFERENT

SORT ALTOGETHER. THE JUDGE'S EDICT IS NOT CONFINED TO

THE PARTIES BEFORE THE COURT. THE CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH

-10-

AT ITS BEST.

A JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENT CANNOT BE CONFINED TO TILE-SIZED

CHANGES.

FREQUENTLY THE DECISION OF THE JUDGE ADMINISTERS

AVULSIVE CHANGES,

PROBLEM-SOLVING IS THUS A CHANCY

BUSINESS REQUIRING IN A DEMOCRACY NOT ONLY WISDOM AND IN-

VENTIVENESS BUT A KEEN PERCEPTION OF THE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS.

OCCASIONALLY THE PROBLEM-SOLVER EVEN TENDS TO BECOME A

CHAMPION OF A CAUSE RATHER THAN A NEUTRAL AND IMPARTIAL

ARBITER.

THE JUDGE'S REWARD THEN COMES FROM POPULAR

ACCLAIM NOT FROM PROFESSIONAL OR ACADEMIC COMMENDATION.

JUDGES BEING HUMAN OFTEN ARE NOT AVERSE TO

THEIR ENLARGED ROLE AND EXPANDED RESPONSIBILITY,

IT IS

EXHILIRATING TO ADMINISTER RELIEF TO A UNIVERSE OF VICTIMS -

AND IF SOME ARE UNKNOWN AND UNKNOWABLE THEN TO DISTRIBUTE

-11-

A GIFTED JUDGE OFTEN FINDS

IT A REWARDING AND SELF-FULFILLING EXPERIENCE TO WRITE A

PRESCRIPTION FOR THE REHABILITATION AND PACIFICATION OF A

LARGE STRIFE-TORN COMMUNITY.

BUT THERE ARE NUMEROUS QUESTIONS ABOUT THOSE ALL

ENCOMPASSING JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENTS MADE BY A SINGLE

PERSON ACTING SOMEWHAT AS A MINI-LEGISLATURE WHICH CONTINUE

TO BOTHER ME AS A TRIAL LAWYER RAISED UNDER AN ADVERSARY

TRADITION,

THAT BOTHER EXISTS EVEN THOUGH SOME OF THOSE

JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENTS HAVE HAD BRILLIANT RESULTS HAVE

ACHIEVED BENEFICIAL RESULTS WHICH WOULD HAVE PERHAPS BEEN

IMPOSSIBLE TO ATTAIN OTHERWISE THROUGH THE POLITICAL PROCESS.

DO WE AS A PEOPLE REALLY BELIEVE THAT THE ORDINARY -

-12-

LARGESSE TO THE DESERVING.

NORMAL LAWYER SITTING AS A JUDGE HAS ANY SPECIAL APTITUDE

WHICH MAKES HER OR HIM SUITABLE CUSTODIANS OF THE SOLE

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SOLUTION OF SOCIETY'S MOST VEXING

PROBLEMS?

IS ONE LAWYER WITH NARROW SOCIETAL CONTACTS

AND EXPERIENCES CAPABLE OF FINDING A REPRESENTATIVE PUBLIC

CONSENSUS?

IS THERE ANYTHING IN THE JUDICIAL MACHINERY

WHICH MAKES IT A PECULIARLY SUITABLE INSTRUMENT FOR THE

STUDY AND RESOLUTION OF SUCH PROBLEMS?

INDEED NOT.

IT IS TRADITIONAL FOR EXECUTIVE

COMMISSIONS AND LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES ASSIGNED TO A

PROBLEM-SOLVING MISSION TO REJECT THE JUDICIAL FORMAT -

TO DISPENSE WITH THE RULES OF EVIDENCE TO SHUN THE ADVERSARY

PROCESS.

THIS SUGGESTS TO ME THAT EXPERIENCE DOES NOT

-13-

FIND THESE COURTROOM PROCEDURES HELPFUL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING.

IF THAT BE SO WHY DO WE INSIST ON TURNING TO THE COURTS?

IT IS ONE THING FOR JUDGES TO DECIDE BI-PARTY

CONTROVERSIES AND IN SO DOING PRONOUNCE PRINCIPLES WHICH

MAY HAVE AN EFFECT ON THE SOLUTION OF THE UNDERLYING PROBLEM -

SOMETIMES FAVORABLE AND SOMETIMES UNFAVORABLE,

IT IS

QUITE ANOTHER FOR THE COURTS TO BE BURDENED WITH THE RE-

SPONSIBILITY FOR THE TOTAL SOLUTION OF THE PUBLIC PROBLEMS.

TO AVOID ANY POSSIBLE MISCONCEPTION THAT I AM

SUGGESTING DENIAL OF ACCESS TO THE COURTS BY THOSE WHO HAVE

IN RECENT YEARS BEEN BROUGHT BY THE COURTS FROM DARKNESS

INTO LIGHT BY THOSE MINORITIES BY THE FACELESS MILLIONS

WHOSE RIGHTS AS CITIZENS REALLY EXIST FOR THE FIRST TIME ONLY

BECAUSE OF COURT ACTION I REITERATE A FIRM DENIAL, I

URGE ONLY AN EXPLORATION BY OUR PEOPLE BY OUR LAWYERS -

BY OUR ACADEMICIANS BY OUR JUDGES BY OUR LEGISLATORS -

AS A MATTER OF SOCIAL POLICY OF POSSIBLE PROCEDURAL OR

SUBSTANTIVE CHANGES WHICH COULD BE MADE IN OUR GOVERNMENTAL

PROCESSES TO ALLEVIATE THOSE BURDENS WHICH THEY AFTER STUDY

AND REFLECTION DETERMINE ARE NOW IMPROPERLY IMPOSED ON THE

COURTS.

I URGE ONLY THAT JUDGES EXERCISE TO THE EXTENT

THEIR JUDICIAL CONSCIENCE WILL PERMIT RESTRAINT THAT THEY

INSOFAR AS FEASIBLE REMAIN DISPUTE-RESOLVERS AND NOT

PROBLEM SOLVERS,

IN CLOSING PERMIT ME AGAIN TO REITERATE MY

UNSHAKABLE CONCLUSION THAT THE COURTS OF THIS STATE AND THE

-15-

COURTS OF THIS STURDY NATION OF MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS ARE

ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TO THE CONTINUATION OF THIS LAND OF

THE FREE AND THE BRAVE AS WE HAVE KNOWN IT BUT EVEN SO -

THOSE COURTS CANNOT BE THE PRIMARY AGENCY RELIED UPON BY OUR

STATE AND NATION TO SOLVE ALL OF OUR SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND ILLS.

OTHER INSTITUTIONS IN OTHER BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT AND

OUTSIDE OF GOVERNMENT MUST IMMEDIATELY BE EVALUATED TO

DETERMINE WHETHER THEY CAN ASSUME GREATER RESPONSIBILITY.

IF WE AS PUBLIC CITIZENS ARE TO DO MORE THAN TO

CARP OR CRITICIZE WE MUST AS A PEOPLE BECOME MORE AWARE

THAT COURTS PRESENTLY ARE OFTEN MISUSED THAT THE ROLE OF

COURTS HAS TO BE RESTRICTED TO DOING ONLY THAT WHICH COMMANDS

THE SPECIAL EXPERTISE OF THE COURTS.

THOSE WHO DO NOT LIKE

THE ROLE OF COURTS AS OUR OVERALL PROBLEM-SOLVER MUST

OURSELVES DEVISE WAYS TO ENSURE THAT THOSE OTHER INSTITUTIONS DO

-16-

THE JUSTICE JOBS THAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED UNDER THE LAW -

UNDER THE CONSTITUTION TO DO,

HAPPILY AN INDIVIDUAL AMERICAN CAN STILL FIND

JUSTICE IN FLORIDA'S COURTS BUT THOSE WHO ARE DEDICATED

TO JUSTICE IN FLORIDA MUST ACKNOWLEDGE FOR THE SAKE OF

JUSTICE AS AN ASPIRATION OF ALL PEOPLES THAT THERE WILL

CONTINUE TO BE WIDESPREAD DISSATISFACTION WITH THE COURTS

AS LONG AS WE CONTINUE TO PROMOTE THE NOTION THAT THE COURTS

ARE THE ONLY PLACES IN WHICH JUSTICE IS AVAILABLE.

IT IS THE TASK OF ALL WHO CARE ABOUT EQUITY AND

FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE AND LIBERTY AND FREEDOM SOMEHOW AND

SOMEWAY TO CHANGE THE MANNER IN WHICH THE LEGISLATIVE AND

EXECUTIVE RESPOND TO OUR DIFFICULT POLITICAL PROBLEMS SO

-17-

THAT FEW INSTEAD OF MANY WILL SEEK TO BRING THEIR MOST

DIFFICULT RIDDLES THROUGH THE COURTHOUSE DOOR.

IF OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IS TO PURR -

IF IT IS TO WORK AT ITS BEST THE COURTS CANNOT BE THE

ONLY PLACE OR EVEN THE PRIME PLACE IN WHICH JUSTICE IS

OBTAINABLE,

(THE END)

-18-

FIS2 vL A SIGNIFICANT DAY THROUGHOUT OUR LAND -

A DAY CALLED "LAW DAY U.S.A." A DAY IN WHICH RECOGNITION

AS GIVEN BY ALL AMERICANS TO THE TREMENDOUS AND OVERRIDING

VALUE OF OUR COURTS AS THE BULWARK OF OUR FREEDOM IN AMERICA.

THE THEME OF LAW DAY THIS YEAR IS "LAW YOUR ACCESS TO

JUSTICE",

CERTAINLY HISTORY DEMONSTRATES AS A TRUISM

THAT IF THERE IS TO BE JUSTICE FOR ALL THERE ALWAYS MUST

BE EASY ACCESS TO THE FUNDAMENTAL AGENCY OF JUSTICE OUR

STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS.

JUSTICE IS THE MOST BASIC OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS.

THE LAW AS IT IS INTERPRETED AND ADMINISTERED BY OUR COURTS -

IS OUR VEHICLE TO JUSTICE,

IT IS OUR PATH TO COLLECTIVE

SECURITY BUT IT IS ALSO THE ROAD WE MUST FOLLOW TO

THE FLORIDA BAR THE TAMPA-

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION AND THE AMERICAN BAR

ASSOCIATION TOGETHER THE JOINT VOICES OF THE ORGANIZED

LEGAL PROFESSION IN THIS JURISDICTION TODAY JOIN WITH LAWYERS

EVERYWHERE IN CELEBRATING "LAW DAY U.S.A." AS A MEANS OF

PUBLIC RECOGNITION THAT ACCESS TO JUSTICE IS AND ALWAYS MUST

BE A PARAMOUNT INTEREST OF ALL AMERICANS,

INDEED IT IS

FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERMANENT EXISTENCE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.

EACH AMERICAN MUST REPEATEDLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IF THERE IS

TO BE JUSTICE IN THIS COUNTRY FOR THE HAPPY AND THE SAD -

FOR THE RICH AND THE POOR FOR THE HUMBLE AND THE POWERFUL -

FOR THE EDUCATED AND THE UNEDUCATED FOR THOSE FROM ALL

RACES AND CREEDS FOR WOMEN AND MEN FOR THE HEALTHY AND

INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY.

THE LAME FOR THE OLD AND THE YOUNG FOR THE CONTENT AND

THE DISCONTENT THERE MUST ALWAYS BE ACCESS FOR EACH AND

EVERY ONE OF THEM TO ITS COURTS,

THIS DAY THEN -

"LAW DAY U.S.A." IS A DAY IN WHICH WE AS AMERICAN

CITIZENS REMAIN FREE BECAUSE WE AS AMERICANS HAVE ACCESS

TO AMERICA'S COURTS.

SPEECHES OF CHESTERFIELD SMITH

SPEECH NUMBER 196

VOLUME XIV

REMARKS BY:

CHESTERFIELD SMITH
LAWYER
LAKELAND, FLORIDA

BEFORE:

THE KANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION
(ANNUAL MEETING)

PLACE:

BROADMOOR HOTEL
COLORADO SPRINGS

DATE:

TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1978
NOON

TIME:

TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES

/ 3 S.
K "'1.*

DURING THE THIRTY YEARS OF MY OWN PRACTICE OF

LAW LAWYERS GENERALLY HAVE ACCEPTED WITH REASONABLY GOOD

HUMOR BOTH ATTACKS UPON THE LAW AND COMPLAINTS ABOUT LAWYERS.

ALL LAWYERS ARE QUITE FAMILIAR WITH THE LITANY BEGINNING

AT LEAST AS EARLY AS PLATO CONTINUING THROUGH JESUS -

SHAKESPEARE SAMUEL JOHNSON CARL SANDBURG AND A HOST

OF CONTEMPORARY CRITICS.

ANY DEFENSE ON MY PART IS SELF-SERVING BUT I

AM CONVINCED THAT MOST OF THAT CRITICISM IS NOT WELL FOUNDED.

MY OWN POSITION WAS EXPRESSED BY THAT DISTINGUISHED LAWYER -

HARRISON TWEED WHEN HE SAID:

"I HAVE A HIGH OPINION OF LAWYERS.
WITH ALL THEIR FAULTS xxxx THEY ARE
BETTER TO WORK WITH OR PLAY WITH OR
FIGHT WITH OR DRINK WITH THAN ANY
OTHER VARIETY OF MANKIND."

-1-

PROBABLY THE BEST PUBLICIZED CRITICISM OF OUR

PROFESSION IS FOUND IN CARL SANDBURG'S POEM WHEREIN HE

SAID:

--- WHEN THE LAWYERS ARE THROUGH
WHAT IS THERE LEFT, BOB?
CAN A MOUSE NIBBLE AT IT
AND FIND ENOUGH TO FASTEN A TOOTH IN?

"WHY IS THERE ALWAYS A SECRET SINGING
WHEN A LAWYER CASHES IN?

"WHY DOES A HEARSE HORSE SNICKER
HAULING A LAWYER AWAY?

"THE WORK OF A BRICKLAYER GOES TO E BLUE.
TH NACK OF A MASON OUTLASTS MOON.
THE HA S OF A PLASTERER D A ROOM
TOGETHER.
THE LAND OF FAR WISHES HIM BACK AGAIN,

"SINGERS 0 SONGS A DREAMERS OF PLAYS
BUILD HOUSE NO WIND B WS OVER.
THE LAWYERS TELL ME WHY HEARSE HORSE
KICKERS HAULING A LAWYER'S BNES,"

-2-

HOW MUCH OF THE CRITICISM IS JUSTIFIED?

CANDID PERSON COULD DENY THAT ON OCCASION CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL

LAWYERS FAIL TO MEASURE UP TO RECOGNIZED PROFESSIONAL

STANDARDS.

IF THIS WERE NOT THE FACT THE ORGANIZED BAR

WOULD NOT SPEND MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND HUNDREDS OF

THOUSANDS OF LAWYER HOURS EACH YEAR IN DISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS.

IN FACT HOWEVER THE DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS ARE CAUSED BY

A VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL LAWYER POPULATION,

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER IS A RECENT DETERMINED -

AND SOMEWHAT PERSISTENT ENTRANT INTO THE "LET'S-RUN-DOWN

LAWYERS CONTEST".

HE ESPOUSES STRONG VIEWS AGAINST INEFFICIENCY

AND MINDLESS BUREAUCRACY AND HE LINKS LAWYERS PUBLICLY WITH

THOSE ILLS,

THE PRESIDENT HAS BLAMED LAWYERS FOR THE

"OCEANS OF PAPERWORK" CONJECTURING THAT THE PAPER OVERRUN

WAS PROBABLY CAUSED BY LAWYERS' LACK OF ANYTHING ELSE TO DO.

JUST TEN DAYS AGO BEFORE THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY BAR

ASSOCIATION HE SEEMED AT LEAST BY IMPLICATION TO BLAME

LAWYERS PRIMARILY FOR MOST OF WHAT IS WRONG IN BOTH THE JUSTICE

SYSTEM AND SOCIETY IN GENERAL CENSURING LAWYERS FOR EARNING

AS GOOD A LIVING AS THEY CAN FOR WORKING FOR THOSE CITIZENS

WHO EMPLOY THEM FOR COMPENSATION AND FOR THE FACT THAT PEOPLE

WHO DO NOT HAVE A LAWYER ARE NOT AS PRIVILEGED AS THOSE PEOPLE

WHO DO EMPLOY LAWYERS. WITH UNCHARACTERISTIC PUGNACITY HE

ATTACKED LAWYERS WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION FOR NEGLECTING THE POOR

FOR SHELTERING THE RICH AND FOR CONTRIBUTING TO INJUSTICES

THAT LET "BIG-SHOT CROOKS" GO FREE,

BUT I BELIEVE IT ONLY

FAIR TO STATE THAT AFTER READING THE TEXT OF PRESIDENT CARTER'S

SPEECH MYSELF THIS WEEKEND I FIND LITTLE THEREIN WHICH I DO

-4-

NOT BELIEVE TO BE FAIR AND PROPER COMMENT ON HIS PART -

EVEN THOUGH IT ALSO SEEMS TO ME THAT HE STARTS OFF WITH AT

LEAST SOME INGRAINED PERSONAL PREJUDICE AGAINST LAWYERS,/IT

ALSO IS WORTH NOTING THAT AT THE SPEECH'S CONCLUSION HE

RECEIVED A RESOUNDING STANDING OVATION,

BUT PRESIDENT CARTER IS A JOHNNY-COME-LATELY IN

RECOGNIZING THE WARTS AND DEFICIENCIES OF OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.

JUSTICE CERTAINLY IS NOT YET PERFECT PERHAPS IT NEVER WILL BE.

IT HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY RECOGNIZED BY MOST LEADERS OF THE

ORGANIZED BAR DURING THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS THAT MIDDLE INCOME

AMERICANS ARE NOT NOW ADEQUATELY SERVED BY LAWYERS AND THAT

ONLY ABOUT ONE OUT OF SEVEN POOR OR INDIGENT AMERICANS RECEIVES

LEGAL SERVICES. X

PERHAPS THE RICH ARE WELL REPRESENTED BY LAWYERS -

-5-

ALTHOUGH I AM NOT CERTAIN.

SUGGEST WITH SOME JUSTIFICATION THAT THE ENTIRE LEGAL SYSTEM

HAS BEEN STRUCTURED PRIMARILY TO PROVIDE LEGAL CARE FOR THE

WEALTHY I PERSONALLY DOUBT THAT EVEN THE WEALTHIEST OF

INDIVIDUALS FEEL THAT THE MEANS THE MECHANISMS FOR THE

DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES OF GOOD QUALITY AT REASONABLE

PRICES ARE READILY ACCESSIBLE TO THEM.

BUT ASSUMING THAT THE RICH ARE WELL SERVED BY

LAWYERS BY COMMON ESTIMATE THERE STILL ARE MORE THAN

150,000,000 AMERICANS NEITHER RICH ENOUGH TO AFFORD PRIVATE

ATTORNEYS NOR POOR ENOUGH TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR GOVERNMENT LEGAL

ASSISTANCE.

THERE ARE MILLIONS MORE ENTITLED TO LEGAL AID

WHO DO NOT GET IT BECAUSE THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT LEGAL

SERVICES PROGRAM READILY AVAILABLE TO THEM.

LAWYERS

-6-

WHILE PRESIDENT CARTER MAY

KNOW THAT AND IN THE BEST SPIRIT OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND

FREE ENTERPRISE THEY HAVE FOR SEVERAL YEARS PAST BEEN

STRIVING MIGHTILY TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT,

SO WHILE I

FOR ONE AM NOT SURPRISED THAT PRESIDENT CARTER DETERMINED IT

A POPULAR CAUSE TO ATTACK DEFICIENCIES IN THE SYSTEM OF JUSTICE -

I DO POINT OUT THAT HE FOR WHATEVER REASON FAILED TO

ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZED BAR IN PROMOTING

GREATER AVAILABILITY AND BETTER DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES OF

EVER-BETTER QUALITY HAVE BEEN INCREASING DURING THE PAST DECADE

AT A GEOMETRICALLY ACCELERATING RATE,

INDEED WHILE I MYSELF HAVE PUBLICLY VOICED

DISSATISFACTION WITH SOME. OF THE SAME AREAS AS THOSE ABOUT

WHICH PRESIDENT CARTER COMPLAINED I PERSONALLY AM PLEASED

OVERALL BY THE ONGOING EFFORTS OF THE ORGANIZED BAR TO

ELIMINATE THE UNMET NEED FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE OF THE VAST

NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO HERETOFORE HAVE NOT HAD READY ACCESS TO

LEGAL SERVICES -- EVEN THOUGH THOSE EFFORTS HAVE AS YET

GAINED ONLY SPOTTY SUCCESS.

LEGAL INSTITUTIONS CERTAINLY MUST

CHANGE AND GOVERNMENT MUST PROVIDE A HELPING HAND BY

SUBSTANTIALLY ENHANCING IN ALL FEASIBLE WAYS ACCESSIBILITY

TO THE COURTS OR OTHER DISPUTE RESOLVING MECHANISMS BY BOTH

THE POOR AND OTHERS NOW GENERALLY FOR ECONOMIC REASONS EITHER

UNREPRESENTED OR UNDER-REPRESENTED THERE,

IT IS GRATIFYING THAT PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER DOES

RECOGNIZE THAT THE COURTS AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM ARE PART OF

THE GOVERNMENT WHICH HE HEADS AND THAT HE IS OBLIGATED TO

OFFER SOLUTIONS TO CORRECT DEFICIENCIES THEREIN.

WHAT HE

FAILED TO RECOGNIZE IN HIS SPEECH IN LOS ANGELES IS THAT IF

-8-

HE IN GOOD FAITH OFFERS SOME NEW MEANINGFUL AND PRACTICAL

SOLUTIONS TO THE TROUBLESOME PROBLEMS NOW ABOUNDING IN OUR

LEGAL SYSTEM INDIVIDUAL LAWYERS EVERYWHERE WILL RALLY TO

THE CAUSE JUST AS THEY ALWAYS HAVE.

PRESIDENT CARTER IF HE ACCEPTS MY ADVICE -

HENCEFORTH SHOULD JOIN HANDS WITH THE ORGANIZED LEGAL PROFESSION

IN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION TO ELIMINATE THOSE MULTIPLE DEFICIENCIES

WHICH ADMITTEDLY DO EXIST IN SOME DEGREE BOTH IN OUR JUSTICE

SYSTEM AND THROUGHOUT THE LEGAL PROFESSION,

AT LEAST UP

TO NOW THE RECORD OF LAWYERS INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY

IS BETTER IN LAW REFORM THAN THAT OF THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION -

OR SO IT SEEMS TO ME,

HOWEVER ANSWERING JIMMY CARTER'S UNFAVORABLE COMMENTS

ABOUT THE WAY THE JUSTICE SYSTEM WORKS IS NOT MY THRUST TODAY,

-9-

THE RECORD OF LAWYERS WHATEVER IT IS SPEAKS FOR ITSELF -

AND THE OFFICIAL SPOKESMAN FOR THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

AND THE KANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION AND OTHER ORGANIZED BAR GROUPS

ARE WELL QUALIFIED AND EQUIPPED WITHOUT HELP FROM ME TO REPEL

AND RESIST ATTACKS FROM ANY SOURCE.

TODAY MY PURPOSE IS TO FOCUS A BIT UPON THAT GREAT

FORCE IN THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM THE INDEPENDENT GENERAL

PRACTITIONER,

I AM OF COURSE AWARE THAT SOME LAWYERS ARE

ALARMED AND CATASTROPHICALLY DEFENSIVE ABOUT CURRENT DEVELOP-

MENTS IN THE LAW IN THE DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES AND IN

NEW METHODS DESIGNED TO ENHANCE THE AVAILABILITY OF LAWYER

ACCESS TO ALL POTENTIAL CONSUMERS OF LEGAL SERVICES THE

RESTRUCTURING OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION WHICH THEY ARE AFRAID

ADVERSELY WILL LIMIT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY THE LONG RANGE

-10-

VIABILITY OF INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONERS.

SUCH THINGS AS ADVERTISING REGULATED SPECIALIZATION -

MANDATORY RECERTIFICATION STRICTER ETHICAL AND DISCIPLINARY

STANDARDS COMPULSORY LEGAL EDUCATION AND SOLICITATION ARE

SEEN BY SOME AS DANGEROUS TO THEIR CONTINUED EXISTENCE,

THE

FACT IS I SUSPECT THAT THESE FEARS ARE COMPOUNDED BY THE

RISE OF PUBLIC AND BAR-FUNDED LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAMS FOR THE

POOR THE GROWTH OF LEGAL CLINICS GROUP LEGAL PLANS FOR

UNION MEMBERS OR CONSUMER ASSOCIATIONS PUBLIC DEFENDER

SYSTEMS AND PUBLIC INTEREST LAW FIRMS WHICH NOW SERVE

HERETOFORE UNREPRESENTED CLIENTS IN THE LARGER METROPOLITAN

AREAS EACH OF WHOM HAVE CLIENTS OF THE TYPE WHO ARE AND

HAVE BEEN SERVICED QUITE WELL IN SMALLER COMMUNITIES OR

RURAL AREAS BY THE INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONER BUT WHO

-11-

SPECIFICALLY -

IN THE MAIN HAVE NOT BEEN SERVICED AT ALL IN THE CITIES.

WHILE THOSE THINGS DO MERIT THE CLOSEST ATTENTION

OF ALL LAWYERS I DO NOT SHARE THOSE APPREHENSIONS, I

FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THOSE ACTIVITIES CAN BE SO DESIGNED OR

STRUCTURED THAT THEY DO PRESERVE FOR THE ONGOING BENEFIT OF

OUR SOCIETY THE VITAL AND HISTORIC FUNCTION IN THE AMERICAN

LEGAL SYSTEM OF THE INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONER,

THERE IS QUITE OBVIOUSLY NOT TIME FOR ME TO DISCUSS

THE ARGUMENTS FOR OR AGAINST PARTICULAR ASPECTS OF THE SPECIFIC

SUBJECTS THAT I HAVE RAISED.

BUT I SHALL DISCUSS BRIEFLY

HOW I THINK THESE CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS CAN RELATE TO THE

INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONER IN THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN

LEGAL SYSTEM.

IN THE FUTURE AS IN THE PAST I REMAIN TOTALLY

-12-

CONFIDENT THAT A LARGE MEASURE OF THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS OR

FAILURE OF JUSTICE IN AMERICA MUST REST MOST HEAVILY ON

THAT WONDERFUL INDEPENDENT HUMAN BEING THE GENERAL

PRACTITIONER,

MY OWN EXPERIENCES AS A SMALL COUNTY-SEAT

TRIAL LAWYER CONVINCES ME THAT CLIENTS NEED AND WILL NEED
I/V
AS THEY HAVE4THE YEARS PAST THE IMAGINATIVE DILIGENT

AND CONCERNED ADVICE OF THE LAWYER WHO IN AN INDIVIDUAL WAY

CAN

-12 A -

DEAL WITH THEIR PROBLEMS LAWYERS WITH THE BROAD OVERVIEW

OF THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS TO THE COMMUNITY AS WELL AS THE

PERSONAL IMPLICATIONS ON THE CLIENTS THEMSELVES, I

BELIEVE THAT OUR CITIZENS IN THE MAIN WANT THAT ONE-ON-ONE

RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR ATTORNEY,

CLIENTS THAT I KNOW DEMAND IT.

IN FACT MOST INDIVIDUAL

THEY WANT TO RELY ON ONE

PERSON A SINGLE LAWYER FOR LEGAL REPRESENTATION AN

ADVOCATE OR COUNSELOR WHOM THEY HAVE LEARNED TO TRUST BY HIS

OR HER PERFORMANCE IN MULTIPLE OTHER LEGAL MATTERS.

THEY

WANT TO SEEK THEIR PERSONAL LEGAL ADVICE FROM THEIR OWN TRUSTED

COUNSELOR AND FRIEND WHO HAS DEMONSTRATED THROUGH TIME TO THEM

AN OVERVIEW OF THEIR TOTAL PROBLEMS RATHER THAN ONLY A

LIMITED VIEW OF A PARTICULAR ISOLATED PROBLEM,

WHILE IN NO WAY DISCREDITING THE VALUE OF SPECIALIZED

-13-

LARGER FIRM PRACTITIONERS OF WHICH QUITE LATELY I AM ONE -

I DO FEEL THAT INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONERS REMAIN -

AND WILL ALWAYS REMAIN A KEYSTONE OF OUR AMERICAN JUDICIAL

SYSTEM AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN PRESERVING OUR DEMOCRATIC

SOCIETY.

IN MOST OF OUR COUNTRY IN EVERY CITY IN EVERY

COUNTY THESE LAWYERS CONTINUE TO SERVE AS LEGAL SOUNDING

BOARDS FOR THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS .... 0 ,11 ti_

AS COMMUNITY LEADERS AND ACKNOWLEDGED SERVANTS OF THE PUBLIC

WEAL,

THE INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONERS GENERALLY P40

DEAL WITH

CORPORATIONS 4 WITH FOUNDATIONS MW WITH IMPERSONAL

FILE FOLDERS HANDED DOWN BY A DISTANT SENIOR PARTNER,

THEY

SERVE A VERY REAL FUNCTION IN ATTEMPTING TO PRESERVE THE RULE

OF LAW UNDER THE STRESSES AND CONFLICTS THAT INEVITABLY RISE

-14-

NOT-

BETWEEN CITIZENS AND BETWEEN CITIZENS AND THEIR SOMETIMES

OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT,

THEY ARE TODAY IN THIS SPECIALIZED

AND COMPLEX WORLD STILL ESSENTIAL THE VERY LIFEBLOOD OF

JUSTICE,

THEY ARE TOO AS A RULE LESS CONCERNED ABOUT

MAXIMIZING MONEY-MAKING POTENTIAL AND MORE CONCERNED ABOUT

THEIR ROLES IN THE COMMUNITY AS LEADERS AND ADVOCATES FOR

JUSTICE AS FRIENDS AND TRUSTED CONFIDANTS OF THEIR NEIGHBORS -

FIERCELY EMANCIPATED MEN AND WOMEN WHO REFUSE TO ACCEPT THE

REGIMENTATION WHICH ALMOST NECESSARILY MUST BE EMBRACED IN

LARGE FIRM PRACTICE THEY CHERISH THE FACT THAT THEY ARE

UNFETTERED TO DO PROFESSIONALLY AS THEY CHOOSE TO WORK AT

THEIR OWN PACE AND STYLE SO THAT THEY ALONE ARE RESPONSIBLE

TO THEIR OWN CLIENT FOR THE PROFESSIONAL QUALITY OF THE SERVICES

-15-

THE REWARDS THEY SEEK ARE QUITE OFTEN OTHER

THAN MONETARY IN NATURE,

MOST OFTEN THEY WANT MORE THAN

ANY OTHER GOAL THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PERSONAL REPUTATION

AS A DILIGENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON WHO ABOVE ALL IS KNOWN

THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY AS HONORABLE,

FROM EXPERIENCE

I KNOW THAT THE INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONER IS USUALLY

SOCIALLY STIMULATING AND PROFESSIONALLY ATTRACTIVE. GENERALLY -

I LIKE TO WORK AND PLAY WITH THEM BEST OF ALL LAWYERS,

I HAVE SAID THESE THINGS WITH GREAT SPECIFICITY FIRST

AS A PREDICATE TO MY STRONG BELIEF THAT THE VARIOUS EFFORTS

TOWARDS INCREASED LEGAL AID SPECIALIZATION RECERTIFICATION

OF COMPETENCY ADVERTISING LEGAL CLINICS SOLICITATION -

MANDATORY C.L.E. GROUP AND PREPAID PLANS PUBLIC INTEREST

LAW FIRMS AND THE MANY OTHER THINGS THAT ARE CURRENTLY BEING

-16-

PERFORMED,

EVALUTATED OR RE-EVALUATED BY THE ORGANIZED BAR IfEM=E tBff
I/4 AMy ;ruosEMATr
ARE NOT AIMED AT THE ELIMINATION OR DIMINISHMENT OF THE

INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONER.

RATHER I FOR ONE

AM CONVINCED THAT SUCH EFFORTS ARE SINCERELY ADVANCED IN

THE MAIN BY THOSE WHO ARE ALSO INTERESTED IN THE CONTINUED

VIABILITY OF THE INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONER.

THEY ARE

VERY REAL ATTEMPTS BY THOSE WHO LOVE THE LAW TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

THAT ADMITTEDLY DO EXIST BOTH IN THE PROFESSION AND IN SOCIETY.

FRANKLY THE MOST PERPLEXING CHALLENGE FACING THE

ORGANIZED BAR AS I SEE IT IS IN PROVIDING COMPETENT AND INEXPENSIVE

LEGAL SERVICES TO THOSE AMERICANS WHO PRESENTLY FOR VARIOUS

REASONS NEVER OR AT LEAST RARELY CONSULT ATTORNEYS,

THAT EXTENT PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER IS RIGHT ON TARGET.

TO

WHILE

NOT TOO MANY LAWYERS HAVE ALL THE BUSINESS THAT THEY CAN HANDLE -

-17-

AND WHILE I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IN THE MAIN CLIENTS WHO CAN PAY

AREN'T BEATING DOWN LEGAL DOORS TO GET IN THE REASON FOR

THAT IN MY JUDGMENT IS NOT BECAUSE THERE ISN'T A GREAT

DEAL OF LEGAL BUSINESS GOING UNATTENDED.

THERE ARE OF

COURSE A LOT OF CAUSES WHY PEOPLE WHO NEED A LAWYER DO NOT

RETAIN ONE,

BUT A PRIMARY CAUSE AND ADMITTEDLY NOT THE

ONLY CAUSE OF THIS PERVASIVE NON-USE OF ATTORNEYS CAN BE

ATTRIBUTED TO THE FACT THAT MANY WHO COULD USE LEGAL SERVICES

MAKE A DECISION THAT THE DESIRED LEGAL SERVICES COST MORE THAN

THEY ARE WILLING OR ABLE TO PAY,

IF THIS IS SO AND I

CANNOT PROVE THAT IT IS THEN THE SERIOUS EFFORTS NOW UNDERWAY

BY THE ORGANIZED BAR SIGNIFICANTLY TO LOWER THESE COSTS AND

EFFECTIVELY TO EXPAND THE AVAILABILITY OF QUALITY LEGAL SERVICES

TO ALL CITIZENS ARE RIGHT AND PROPER AND MUST BE SUPPORTED.

-18-

AS ONE NOT AFRAID OF THE NEW OR DIFFERENT I

CONFIDENTLY ASSERT THAT THOSE INNOVATIVE METHODS AND DEVICES

CAN BE SO STRUCTURED THAT THE ECONOMIC VITALITY OF THE

INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONER WILL NOT BE HARMED AND I

SAY THAT EVEN THOUGH I ALSO THINK THAT THEY WHO OPPOSE NEEDED

REFORMS IN THE NAME OF LAWYER TRADE UNIONISM OR LAYWER

ECONOMICS DO THEIR NOBLE PROFESSION A SUBSTANTIAL DISSERVICE.

IF THERE ARE INJUSTICES AND INEQUITIES WHEREVER THEY ARE -

WE AS LAWYERS MUST BE THE FIRST TO EMBRACE AND PROVIDE

SOLUTIONS TO THOSE INEQUITIES AND THAT IS SO EVEN IF SOME OF THE

CHANGES PERHAPS HARM INDIVIDUAL LAWYERS ECONOMICALLY.

IF THERE

ARE METHODS WHICH CAN BE DEVISED MORE EFFECTIVELY TO SERVE THE

PUBLIC AT LOWER COST WHILE STILL PROVIDING QUALITY SERVICE IN

ACCORD WITH PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS THEN WE MUST ACCEPT THEM.

-19-

IF THE LAWYER'S ROLE IS SOMEWHAT MODIFIED IN SOME SPECIFIC

TRANSACTIONS I SUGGEST THAT THE LAWYER INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIETY

AS A WHOLE WILL INEVITABLY INCREASE,

OF COURSE LARGE LAW

FIRMS ALSO WILL CONTINUE TO GROW BECAUSE THEY ARE AND WILL BE

A MAGNIFICENT WAY OF DELIVERING SOPHISTICATED SPECIALIZED LEGAL

SERVICES TO LARGE INDUSTRIAL FINANCIAL COMMERCIAL AND

BUSINESS CLIENTS BUT I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT THE MAJOR FUTURE

SUBSTANTIAL GROWTH OF LARGE LAW FIRMS IN METROPOLITAN AREAS WILL

BE EQUALLED BY THE GROWTH OF THE INDIVIDUAL GENERAL PRACTITIONER

IN SMALLER CITIES AND RURAL AREAS WHOSE PRACTICE TOO WILL

BOOM BECAUSE OF THOSE INNOVATIVE NEW STRUCTURES THE ORGANIZED BAR

PRESENTLY IS DEVISING FOR THE DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES AND

FOR INCREASING THE EASY AVAILABILITY OF LAWYERS TO THE VAST

UNSERVICED PUBLIC.

-20-

I SUGGEST THAT YOU AS INDIVIDUAL LAWYERS PROD YOUR

LOCAL AND STATE AND NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION INTO ADOPTING

MEASURES AND PROCEDURES TO ASSIST THE INDEPENDENT GENERAL

PRACTITIONERS,

IT IS IN THE INTEREST OF BOTH THOSE LAWYERS

AND THE COMMUNITY AND THE CLIENTS THEY SERVE TO MAKE AVAILABLE

TO THEM THOSE TOOLS NOW UNIVERSALLY UTILIZED BY LARGE FIRM

LAWYERS SUCH AS COMPUTER RESEARCH POOLED LIBRARY AND

SECRETARIAL FACILITIES PARA-PROFESSIONAL SERVICES JOINT

WORD-PROCESSING AND COPYING CONTINUED LEGAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS -

MAG-CARD TYPEWRITERS AND OTHER COOPERATIVE EFFORTS DESIGNED

TO IMPROVE THE CAPACITY OF ALL PRACTICING LAWYERS.

BY SUCH

COLLECTIVE ACTION THE MODERN RESOURCES DEVELOPED BY THE LEGAL

PROFESSION CAN BE MUCH BETTER UTILIZED IN THE FUTURE IN SMALL

TOWNS AND LARGE CITIES BY INDEPENDENT GENERAL PRACTITIONERS

-21-

I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THE STATE AND

LOCAL BAR ASSOCIATION SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED AFFIRMATIVELY TO

ASSIST LAWYERS BOTH WITH FINANCES AND GUIDANCE IN SETTING

UP AND MAINTAINING THEIR PRACTICE.

POSSIBLY THE BAR COULD

SUBSIDIZE THROUGH FINANCIAL LOANS AND GRANTS THE FORMATION OF

JOINT EFFORTS BY COOPERATING ATTORNEYS TO SET UP MODERN TIME-

SAVING AND COST EFFICIENCY LAW PRACTICES FOR A CONSORTIUM OF

UNALLIED GENERAL PRACTITIONERS.

LET ME NOW CONCLUDE:

I FOR ONE AM CONVINCED THAT

THE LAW EXPLOSION THROUGHOUT OUR NATION IS HERE TO STAY IT

IS A BURGEONING PHENOMENON IT IS A MODERN DEVELOPMENT IN

GOVERNMENT WHICH CONTINUES TO IMPROVE THE LOT OF THOSE WHO MOST

NEED AND DESERVE IMPROVEMENT,

THINGS TODAY REALLY ARE BETTER

THAN EVER FOR LAWYERS AND FOR THEIR CLIENTS.

WE DO NOT

-22-

THAN IS NOW THE CASE.

WANT TO GO BACK OR EVEN TO STAND STILL,

PROFESSION IS DOING WELL FOR THE PUBLIC IT SERVES AND FOR

THE LAWYERS WHO SERVE THAT PUBLIC.

WHETHER WE CHOOSE TO ADMIT IT OR NOT THE DEMAND

FOR LEGAL SERVICES CONTINUES TO EXCEED THE SUPPLY AND I

PERSONALLY THINK IT ALWAYS WILL.

OF COURSE WE AS A

PROFESSION MUST IN ALL POSSIBLE WAYS WORK TO BRING THE SUPPLY

OF LEGAL SERVICES MORE IN BALANCE WITH THE UNMET NEED FOR

LEGAL SERVICES AND QUITE APPARENTLY TO DO SO WE MUST CHANGE

EXISTING STANDARDS FOR THE DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES.

UPSETTING THE STATUS QUO IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION IS A VERY

HARD TASK AS EVERYONE HERE WELL KNOWS IT SHOULD BE BUT

THE STATUS QUO MUST BE JOLTED BY PRESIDENT CARTER BY THE

ORGANIZED BAR BY ALL WHO CARE IF EVERYONE WHO NEEDS A LAWYER

-23-

THE LEGAL

THERE ARE MORE WRONGS THAN REMEDIES -

AND LAWYERS REMAIN SOCIETY'S BEST PROBLEM-SOLVERS.

WHILE

THERE UNDOUBTEDLY WILL CONTINUE TO BE PROBLEMS IN THE

DISTRIBUTION OF LAWYER POPULATION IN THE ECONOMIC AVAILABILITY

OF A LAWYER TO MANY CITIZENS OF LIMITED OR MODERATE MEANS -

IN THE LEVEL OF GOVERNMENTAL FUNDING FOR LEGAL SERVICES -

IN THE DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES AND THE STRUCTURES WHICH

THE ORGANIZED BAR PROVIDES FOR THAT DELIVERY THE PEOPLE'S

DEMANDS FOR LAWYERS' SERVICES ARE SUCH THAT EVEN IF THOSE

PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED THERE APPEARS TO ME TO BE LITTLE LIKELIHOOD

THAT THE SUPPLY OF LAWYERS WILL EVER IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE

BE SUFFICIENT AND FOR THAT TOO -

I AM GLAD MAYBE SELFISHLY

MAYBE NOT BUT GLAD BECAUSE I THINK LAWYERS COLLECTIVELY ARE

JUST GREAT,

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
-24-

IS TO HAVE ONE,

t.

REMARKS BY:

CHESTERFIELD SMITH
LAWYER
LAKELAND, FLORIDA

BEFORE:

THE KANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION
(ANNUAL MEETING)

PLACE:

BROADMOOR HOTEL
COLORADO SPRINGS

DATE:

TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1978
NOON

*1IJ

'j

TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES

TIME:

DURING THE THIRTY YEARS OF MY OWN PRACTICE OF

LAW LAWYERS GENERALLY HAVE ACCEPTED WITH REASONABLY GOOD

HUMOR BOTH ATTACKS UPON THE LAW AND COMPLAINTS ABOUT LAWYERS,

ALL LAWYERS ARE QUITE FAMILIAR WITH THE LITANY BEGINNING

AT LEAST AS EARLY AS PLATO CONTINUING THROUGH JESUS -

SHAKESPEARE SAMUEL JOHNSON CARL SANDBURG AND A HOST

OF CONTEMPORARY CRITICS.

ANY DEFENSE ON MY PART IS SELF-SERVING BUT I

AM CONVINCED THAT MOST OF THAT CRITICISM IS NOT WELL FOUNDED.

MY OWN POSITION WAS EXPRESSED BY THAT DISTINGUISHED LAWYER -

HARRISON TWEED WHEN HE SAID:

"I HAVE A HIGH OPINION OF LAWYERS.
WITH ALL THEIR FAULTS xxxx THEY ARE
BETTER TO WORK WITH OR PLAY WITH OR
FIGHT WITH OR DRINK WITH THAN ANY
OTHER VARIETY OF MANKIND."

-1-

	Table of Contents
	"Lawyers should, as a mandatory...
	Eulogy - Chester Bedell
	Naturalization ceremonies - Florida...
	Remarks by Chesterfield Smith,...
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	Remarks by Chesterfield Smith,...
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	Remarks by Chesterfield Smith,...
	Remarks by Chesterfield Smith,...

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