The legal profession

The early colonial years were not friendly years for lawyers. There were few lawyers among the settlers. In some colonies lawyers were distinctly unwelcome. In Massachusetts Bay the Body of Liberties (1641) prohibited pleading for hire. The “attorneys” in the early Virginia records were not trained lawyers, but attorneys-in-fact, laymen helping out their friends in court.

But the lawyers were, in the end, a necessary evil. When all is said and done, no colony could even try to make do without lawyers. As soon as a settled society posed problems for which lawyers had an answer or at least a skill, lawyers began to make their way and to thrive, despite any hostility. Courts were in session; merchants were involved in litigation; documents about land and other matters had to be drawn up; and the skill of the lawyer had a definite market value. Men trained in law in England, who came over, found their services in demand. By the eighteenth century, professional lawyers dominated the practice. A competent, professional bar existed in all major communities by 1750. Many of these men were deeply learned in the law. Yet there was no such thing as a law school in the colonies. Particularly in the South, where there were no colleges at all, some young men went to England for training.

For all lawyers the road to the bar went through some form of clerkship or apprenticeship. A young man who wanted to be a lawyer usually entered into a contract with already in practice. From the seventeenth century on, the British exported some lawyers to help them govern their colonies. This was another fountainhead of the American bar. Nicholas Trott, an English lawyer, arrived in Charleston in 1699 as attorney general.

Each colony had its own standards for admission to the bar. In Virginia a law of 1748 gave its high court control over licensing and admission to the bar. In 1762 the chief justice of the Superior Court Thomas Hutchinson instituted the rank of barrister; 25 lawyers were called to this rank.

In the eighteenth century the demand for lawyers’ skilled services increased; the bar became much more professional; yet in many colonies the bar was extremely small.

In England there were distinctions between different grades and types of lawyer: between attorneys, counselors, barristers and sergeants. The idea did not catch on in the United States. A few colonies had recognized a graded bar. By the early nineteenth century, the bar was an undifferentiated mass. There were rich and poor lawyers, high ones and low; but all were members of one vast sprawling profession. The few primitive bar clubs, associations did nothing to provide real self-control. Nobody controlled it at the top, or from within. The lawyers themselves had a great deal of power over admission to the bar. But then courts took over; they prescribed qualifications and handled applications.

How did a young man get himself recognized as an actual lawyer? In Massachusetts each county court admitted its own attorneys. A lawyer admitted to any local court was a fully licensed member of the state bar and could practice before any court.

A few states were strict. In New Hampshire between 1805 and 1833 the federal county bars required five years of preparation for admission to the lower courts. Three years was the term for college graduates. Two years further practice was required for the admission to the superior court. In 1800 fourteen out of the nineteen states prescribed a definite period of preparation for the bar. In 1840 only eleven out of thirty jurisdictions did so. In 1840s a few states eliminated all requirements for the admission to the bar, except good moral character.

Women and blacks were truly outsiders. No woman practiced law before the 1870s. At the turn of the century about fifty women practiced in Massachusetts.

The transformation of the American economy after the Civil War profoundly affected the demand for the lawyers. The growth of law firms was one of the most striking developments of the late nineteen century. Firms of more than three partners were rare before the Civil War.

For many lawyers politics became on the biggest businesses. For them county, state, territorial and federal jobs were sources of income and, in addition, advertisements for themselves. Politics, law-making and law administration were as much a part of the practice as collection work and lawsuits over land. Many presidents after 1850 were lawyers. Two-thirds of the senators were also lawyers.

Answer the following questions:

1) What was the attitude to lawyers in the early colonial years? Why?

2) When did lawyers overcome public hostility?

3) What was the bar in the United States in the eighteenth century like? Compare it with the English bar.

4) How did a young man get himself recognized as an actual lawyer?

5) How often did women and blacks become lawyers?

6) Why did lawyers often become politicians after the Civil Law?

TASK 7. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

юридические фирмы; юрисдикция, судебный округ; законотворчество; заниматься юридической практикой; коллегия адвокатов; суды низшей инстанции; вышестоящий суд; поверенный, юрист, прокурор; советник; адвокат высшей категории; тяжба, судебный процесс.

TASK 8. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the box:

Law firms; counselors; practiced law; admitted to any local court; sergeants; superior court; admission to the bar; litigation.

(1) In 1840s a few states eliminated all requirements for the ____________, except good moral character.

(2) The growth of _______________ was one of the most striking developments of the late nineteen century.

(3) In England there were distinctions between different grades and types of lawyer: between attorneys, __________, barristers and _____________.

(4) Courts were in session; merchants were involved in ____________.

(5) A lawyer ______________ was a fully licensed member of the state bar and could practice before any court.

(6) Two years further practice was required for the admission to the _________.

(7) No woman ______________ before the 1870s.

TASK 9. Study the text below, making sure you fully comprehend it. Where appropriate, consult English-Russian dictionaries and/or other references & source books on law.