THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LAWYER IN MODERN SOCIETY
The views that I shall express in the course of this paper are purely my own. I am aware that they differ, in details, from those put forward by Lord Denning’s Committee,1 but I should like to pay tribute to the work done by Lord Denning and his colleagues.
They have brought to the notice of the public a state of affairs that few realized, and I hope, and indeed believe, that as a result of their work the countries of Africa that are pushing ahead so rapidly and splendidly will benefit greatly.In America there is a fused legal profession. Instead of solicitors and barristers, they have Attomeys-at-Law who serve both functions. Some time ago I was being entertained by lawyers in San Francisco. In the course of a chat with my hosts I said I thought the lawyer’s job was one of the most important of all in a civilized society and my friends, without exception, expressed surprise at that statement. I asked them to think the matter over; to imagine a country with a legislative body turning out laws, and with its Common Law, but with no judges to interpret the law and see that it was properly administered. They agreed that that would be dreadful; so I said, ‘Go a stage further and imagine that country, not only without judges, but without lawyers to advise the public on their rights. Then take another country, with judges but with no lawyers to keep the judges in order’. They thought for a moment and agreed with me that in a modem civilized state both judges and lawyers were of primary importance, and then, of course,
1 Report of the Committee on Legal Education for Students from Africa. Cmnd. 1255, January 1961.
they had to acknowledge that the lawyer’s job is one of the most necessary functions in a civilized society.
I want to spend a few moments considering one or two matters in which the client consults his lawyer.
First, two people each own land, and are involved in a dispute about a boundary. Any practising lawyer knows how keenly the parties to a boundary dispute feel about the matter, and how each runs off in search of legal advice. In all lands outside the Iron Curtain, and even in some lands inside the Iron Curtain (for I have listened to a boundary dispute in a Polish law court), land ownership is very important to the individual, and he looks to the law to enforce his rights in this respect. To many, their land is almost as important as personal liberty. In the boundary dispute that I have taken as an example, the two disputants know that their lawyers between them, if necessary by having recourse to the court, will establish what is the proper boundary and see that that boundary is maintained. But I wonder how many lawyers engaged in a dispute about a foot or two of land stop to think how serious a thing that is in the life of the community.A solicitor regards the making of a will as a very ordinary matter. But to the client it is a matter of great importance. He wants to be sure that what he desires to happen to his possessions after his death will in fact happen, and he relies upon his solicitor to advise him so that all pitfalls may be avoided; and, although he is not conscious of this, he also relies upon the courts and the whole administration of the law to see that his wishes as expressed in his will are carried into execution after his death.
You may take any instance you like of the client consulting his lawyer. The client wants his rights protected and he relies upon the law and the lawyer to see that it is done. The most important right of all is the liberty of the subject. Let us suppose a man gets arrested and charged with an offence of which he may be innocent. If there were no judges and no lawyers what hope would that man have of establishing his innocence if his arrest had been brought about by a Government Department or by a very powerful individual? Throughout the British Commonwealth and in all civilized countries that I have visited the man who is arrested, even though he is guilty, can get a lawyer’s help; and he knows that when he goes before a judge he will get a fair hearing by a man who has been specially trained and is impartial.
And if, by some mischance, the judge should depart from the standard of perfection that is expected of him, the accused man looks to his lawyer to stand up to die judge and prevent him from going wrong. So I can say that for a country to be properly run it needs judges who are learned in the law, who understand people, who know the ways of the world and who are completely impartial. (I know that in some countries judges are politically appointed. Here in England, thank God, and, I believe, in all countries in the British Commonwealth, judges are appointed without regard to their politics and when appointed cease to be politicians, even if they were such before.)A country also needs a sufficient number of lawyers. These lawyers must know the law, know the practice of the law, be scrupulously honest, understand people, and be independent and fearless where their duty to their clients is concerned. 1 have met lawyers who think that experience can make up for a knowledge of the law. I have known, too, many who, when once they have passed their examinations, have not troubled to keep their knowledge of the law up to date. That is wrong. A lawyer cannot possibly give the best service to his client unless he knows and is up to date in the branch of the law with which he is dealing for that client. And in addition to the many other qualities I have listed the lawyer must be strong. It is not a good service to a client to advise the client in the way he wants to be advised if that advice is unsound in law, but it is fatally easy for the weak man to fall into that trap. Then the lawyer must also have a love of justice and that love must be strong enough to overcome any prejudices he may have. It has been my good fortune to meet lawyers in many different lands and I have found that a love of justice is common to most lawyers after they have had a few years’ experience. There is something in the practice of the law that breeds this love of justice.
I should like to tell a true story to show how a love of justice and a sense of duty can overcome prejudice. I was articled many years ago to a man who was a considerable advocate, and on one occasion I went to a magistrates’ court with him when he was appearing for the defence of a man of five and twenty who was charged with an indecent offence. This offence was triable summarily and my principal had to plead guilty but put up the most heart-rending plea for mercy. In those days the Probation for Offenders Act was rarely used but, on that occasion, the magistrates listened to the plea and put the young man on probation. As I was walking back to the office with my principal I said to him, ‘I was very pleased with that result, weren’t you?’ He stopped, looked at me and said, with just as much feeling as he had shown in court when putting up such a magnificent plea for the young man: ‘No, the dirty fellow should have gone to prison’.