become his client. He has the right to decline employment. Every lawyer upon his own responsibility must decide what business he will accept as counsel, what causes he will bring into Court for plaintiffs, what cases he will contest in Court for defendants. The responsibility for advising questionable transactions, for bringing questionable suits, for urging questionable defenses, is the lawyer's responsibility. He cannot escape it by urging as an excuse that he is only following his client's instructions. 32. The Lawyer's Duty in Its Last Analysis.-No client, corporate or individual, however powerful, nor any cause, civil or political, however important, is entitled to receive, nor should any lawyer render any service or advice involving disloyalty to the law whose ministers we are, or disrespect of the judicial office, which we are bound to uphold, or corruption of any person or persons exercising a public office or private trust, or deception or betrayal of the public. When rendering any such improper service or advice, the lawyer invites and merits stern and just condemnation. Correspondingly, he advances the honor of his profession and the best interests of his client when he renders service or gives advice tending to impress upon the client and his undertaking exact compliance with the strictest principles of moral law. He must also observe and advise his client to observe the statute law, though until a statute shall have been construed and interpreted by competent adjudication, he is free and is entitled to advise as to its validity and as to what he conscientiously believes to be its just meaning and extent. But above all a lawyer will find his highest honor in a deserved reputation for fidelity to private trust and to public duty, as an honest man and as a patriotic and loyal citizen. III. OATH OF ADMISSION. The general principles which should ever control the lawyer in the practice of his profession are clearly set forth in the following Oath of Admission to the Bar, formulated upon that in use in the State of Washington, and which conforms in its main outlines to the "duties" of lawyers as defined by statutory enactments in that and many other states of the union *-duties * Alabama, California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. The oaths administered on admission to the Bar in all the other States require the observance of the highest moral principle in the practice of the profession, but the duties of the lawyer are not as specifically defined by law as in the States named. which they are sworn on admission to obey and for the wilful violation of which disbarment is provided: I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR: I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of. ....... I will maintain the respect due to Courts of Justice and judicial officers; I will not counsel or maintain any suit or proceeding which shall appear to me to be unjust, nor any defense except such as I believe to be honestly debatable under the law of the land; I will employ for the purpose of maintaining the causes confided to me such means only as are consistent with truth and honor, and will never seek to mislead the Judge or jury by any artifice or false statement of fact or law; I will maintain the confidence and preserve inviolate the secrets of my client, and will accept no compensation in connection with his business except from him or with his knowledge and approval; I will abstain from all offensive personality, and advance no fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a party or witness, unless required by the justice of the cause with which I am charged; I will never reject from any consideration personal to myself the cause of the defenseless or oppressed, or delay any man's cause for lucre or malice. SO HELP ME GOD. We commend this form of oath for adoption by the proper authorities in all the states and territories. [NOTE. The foregoing Canons of Professional Ethics were adopted by the American Bar Association at its thirty-first annual meeting at Seattle, Washington, on August 27, 1908. The Canons were prepared by a committee composed of Henry St. George Tucker, Virginia, Chairman. Lucien Hugh Alexander, Pennsylvania, Secretary. Frederick V. Brown, Minnesota. J. M. Dickinson, Illinois. Franklin Ferriss, Missouri. William Wirt Howe, Louisiana. Thomas H. Hubbard, New York. James G. Jenkins, Wisconsin. Thomas Goode Jones, Alabama. Alton B. Parker, New York. Francis Lynde Stetson, New York. Ezra R. Thayer, Massachusetts.] INDEX AND SYNOPSIS OF CANONS. PREAMBLE, pp. 3-4. THE CANONS OF ETHICS, pp. 4-13. 1. THE DUTY OF THE LAWYER TO THE COURTS. (1, 2, 4; iii, iv, vi.)* 2. THE SELECTION OF JUDGES. (69.)* 3. ATTEMPTS TO EXERT PERSONAL INFLUENCE ON THE COURT. (3, 16.)* 4. WHEN COUNSEL FOR AN INDIGENT PRISONER. (64; xviii, xxi, xxiii.)* 5. THE DEFENCE OR PROSECUTION OF THOSE ACCUSED OF CRIME. (14; xv.)* 6. ADVERSE INFLUENCES AND CONFLICTING INTERESTS. (37, 28, 24, 25; viii.)* 7. PROFESSIONAL COLLEAGUES AND CONFLICTS OF OPINION. 49, 50, 48; vii, xiv, xvii.)* (42, 8. ADVISING UPON THE MERITS OF A CLIENT'S CAUSE (38, 35; xi, xix, xx, xxxi, xxxii. See also xxx.)* 9. NEGOTIATIONS WITH OPPOSITE PARTY. (46, 47, 51; xliii, xliv.)* 10. ACQUIRING INTEREST IN LITIGATION. (Xxiv.)* 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. DEALING WITH TRUST PROPERTY. (40; xxv, xxvi.)* FIXING THE AMOUNT OF THE FEE. (54, 55, 56, 58; xviii, xxviii, CONTINGENT FEES. (57; xxiv.)* SUING A CLIENT FOR A FEE. (53; xxvii. See also xxix.)* How FAR A LAWYER MAY GO IN SUPPORTING A CLIENT'S CAUSE. (11; i, x, xi, xii, xiii, xiv, xl.)* RESTRAINING CLIENTS FROM IMPROPRIETIES. (44.)* ILL FEELING AND PERSONALITIES BETWEEN ADVOCATES. (31, 32; v.)* 18. TREATMENT OF WITNESSES AND LITIGANTS. xlii.)* (59, 30; il, xiv, 19. APPEARANCE OF LAWYER AS WITNESS FOR HIS CLIENT. (21, 22; XXXV, xvi.)* 20. NEWSPAPER DISCUSSION OF PENDING LITIGATION. (19, 20.)* PUNCTUALITY AND EXPEDITION. (6, 36; See xxxvi.)* 21. 22. 23. 24. CANDOR AND FAIRNESS. (5; xli.)* ATTITUDE TOWARD JURY. (60, 61, 17, 63; xlvii.)* RIGHT OF LAWYER TO CONTROL THE INCIDENTS OF THE TRIAL (33; x.)* 25. TAKING TECHNICAL ADVANTAGE OF OPPOSITE COUNSEL; AGREE 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. MENTS WITH HIM. (45, 43; v, ix.)* PROFESSIONAL ADVOCACY OTHER THAN BEFORE COURTS. (27.)* (23.) STIRRING UP LITIGATION, DIRECTLY OR THROUGH AGENTS. xxxiv, xxxvii, xxxviii.)* JUSTIFIABLE AND UNJUSTIFIABLE LITIGATIONS. (15; x, xi, xiv.)* THE LAWYER'S DUTY IN ITS LAST ANALYSIS. (66; xxi, etc.)" OATH OF ADMISSION, pp. 13-14. The Arabic numerals in the brackets immediately following the synoptic titles of the canons are cross-references to the compilation of canons as set forth in Appendix B of the 1907 report of the Association's Committee on Canons of Ethics (A, B, A. Reports XXXI, 681684); the Roman numerals are cross-references to Hoffman's Resolutions, reprinted as Appendix H of the committee's 1907 report (id. 717 TRANSACTIONS OF THE FORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE American Bar Association HELD AT CINCINNATI, OHIO August 31, September 1 and 2, 1921 The Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association convened at the Hotel Sinton, Cincinnati, Ohio, at 10 A. M. with Acting President Hampton L. Carson, of Pennsylvania, in the Chair. FIRST SESSION. The President: Wednesday, August 31, 10 A. M. The Association will please come to order. As a mark of respect to the memory of our late President, William A. Blount, I ask that the members rise and stand respectfully for a moment in silence. (The entire assembly arose and remained standing for one minute.) The President: I yield the floor to the Vice-Mayor of the City of Cincinnati. He will take the place of Mayor Galvin who is detained by illness. Vice-Mayor Carl M. Jacobs, of Cincinnati, Ohio: I cannot tell you how I regret that our Mayor is unable to be with you today and extend the welcome of the City of Cincinnati and of the Cincinnati Bar Association. When it was suggested |