Fifty years ago, Warren E. Burger (then a judge of the D.C. Circuit) presented remarks to the American College of Trial Lawyers that were later printed as a famous (dozen-page) law review article, A Sick Profession? 5:1 Tulsa L.J. 1-12 (Jan. 1968). The article contains many moving passages about "the ineptness, the bungling, the malpractice," "the bad manners and bad ethics which can be observed every day in courthouses all over this country." In lamenting "the decline of the trial bar," he pointed out that "the majority of lawyers who appear in court are so poorly trained that they are not properly performing their job, and [] their manners, professional performance and ethics offend a great many people." He primarily blamed the shift from legal education in the law office (via apprenticeships) to law schools, which teach 'law' as opposed to the 'practice' of law. (He proposed that the "wasted third year" of law school be put to better use in the form of "daily work with an active trial lawyer.") His conclusion was that the practice of litigation was a "somewhat sick profession," and that "we alone [i.e., lawyers] can be the healers." Fifty years forward, much has changed in the world and in the legal profession. But perhaps not nearly enough?Wednesday, July 5, 2017
"A Sick Profession?" Fifty years later...
Fifty years ago, Warren E. Burger (then a judge of the D.C. Circuit) presented remarks to the American College of Trial Lawyers that were later printed as a famous (dozen-page) law review article, A Sick Profession? 5:1 Tulsa L.J. 1-12 (Jan. 1968). The article contains many moving passages about "the ineptness, the bungling, the malpractice," "the bad manners and bad ethics which can be observed every day in courthouses all over this country." In lamenting "the decline of the trial bar," he pointed out that "the majority of lawyers who appear in court are so poorly trained that they are not properly performing their job, and [] their manners, professional performance and ethics offend a great many people." He primarily blamed the shift from legal education in the law office (via apprenticeships) to law schools, which teach 'law' as opposed to the 'practice' of law. (He proposed that the "wasted third year" of law school be put to better use in the form of "daily work with an active trial lawyer.") His conclusion was that the practice of litigation was a "somewhat sick profession," and that "we alone [i.e., lawyers] can be the healers." Fifty years forward, much has changed in the world and in the legal profession. But perhaps not nearly enough?
Posts
