~
Arkansas Lawyer
( Congressman and Mrs. Wilbur Mills and their granddaughter, Stacey Yates.
First Federal Savings salutes Congressman Wilbur Mills and his family. Mr. Mills has not only represented his District and his State ably and with distinction but has achieved a unique position of national prominence. Arkansas is proud of Con路 gressman Mills. We are proud to be one of his constituents; and we join all Arkansans wbo now salute him.
First Federal Savings of Little Rock
MARCH,1972 VOL. 6 NO.2
(§Ie THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE ARKANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION
Arkansas Lawyer SPECIAL FEATURES
OFFICERS Paul B. Young, President Henry Woods, Vice-President Robert D. Ross, Secretary-Treasurer EXECUTIVE OIRECTOR C. E. Ransick EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE James West, Chairman Phillip Carroll James B. Sharp Lynn Wade Dale Price John Mann
Some Reflections on the State of Our Legal System
Paul B. Young Henry Woods Robert D_ Ross John Lile J_ C. Deacon James B. Blair Stephen Matthews Louis L. Ramsay, Jr.
59
The Challenges Are Being Met in Arkansas ......................•..... Tom C. Clark 64 . .. Wilbur D. Mills 54
Law Lovers Et AI
19th Mid-Year Meeting Standards Workshop III PHOTOS .................•.... 60 District Delegates Map
40
Legal Specialization - Current Developments Within the Organized Bar Chesterfield Smith 41
REGULAR FEATURES Cover Story
Ex-Officio
Wilbur D. Mills 68
"Law for Everyone" Seminar
Joe Purcell 50
,
Paul B. Young 39
President's Report
C. R. Huie 48
Juris Dictum
Law School News ....•............. Robert Brockmann 57 Oyez-Oyez .................•............... B. Ghormley 38
Published bi-monthly by the Arkansas Bar Association, 408 Donaghey Bldg., Little Rock, Arkansas 72201. Second class postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas. SUbscription price to non·members of the Arkansas Bar Association $6.00 per year and to members $2.00 per year included in annual dues. Any opinion expressed herein is that of the author, and not necessarily that of the Arkansas Bar Association, The Arkansas Lawyer, or the Editorial Committee. Contributions to the Arkansas Lawyer are welcome and should be sent in two copies to the
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Robert D. Ross Philip E. Dixon C. E. Ransick
Arkansas
Bar
Center,
408
Dona9hey
Bldg., Little Rock, Arkansas 72201. All inquiries regarding advertising should be sent to Advertising Department, Ark-
ansas Lawyer, Post Office Box 4117, North Little Rock, Arkansas 72116.
37
By B. Ghormley
Henry Woods, Little Rock. spoke at the Southwest Arkansas Bar Association February meeting on Products liability. Virgil Butler, Batesville, was a speaker at the January meeting of the Historical Society telling of his past years in practice. James B. Sharp spoke to the Brinkley Rotary Club of his trip to London for the ABA meetihg. Louis L. Ramsay, Jr., Pine Bluff, has accepted appointment as 1972 Crusade Chairman for the Arkan路 sas Division of the American Cancer Society. D. B. Bartlett, Clarksville, was given a birthday cake on his 915t birthday and also to celebrate his 57th year of practicing law. John Gill, Little Rock, spoke at a luncheon of the Sebastian County Bar concerning public relations. Harold L. Hall, Little Rock, is the charter President of the Arkansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, organized January 13, 1972, with James R. Howard, VicePresident; Floyd J. Lofton, Secretary; Henry J. Osterloh, Treasurer. Ben Core, Fort Smith, has been appointed to a 7-year term to the Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct. Jack Holt, Jr., Little Rock, has been reappointed Chairman of the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers in the Armed Forces. Eugene Mazzanti is now associated with the Little Rock law firm of Bailey, Trimble, Holt & Thomas. The law firm of Coleman, Gantt, Ramsay & Cox, Pine Bluff, announce the addition of these partners to the firm: F. Daniel Harrelson, M. Jeff Starling, Jr., and Michael W. Mitchelt. Daily. West, Core & Coffman. Fort Smith, announce that Jerry Canfield and Thomas A. Daily have become members of the firm. C. Richard Crockett and James M. Bryant 11 have become partners in the law firm of Eichenbaum, Scott & Miller, Little Rock. and James E. Darr, Jr. an associate. William F. Sherman, former Arkansas Securities Commissioner. is now associated with Cooper Jacoway, now Jacoway and Sherman, for the practice of law in Little Rock. Ken Johnson has joined the Dumas law firm of Gill and Clayton. BAR ACTIVITIES: The Southwest Arkansas Bar Association has elected their '72 officers: President, W. H. Arnold, III; Vice-President, F. Embry Pickett; Sec-
Harold Halt
Ben Core
Warren Kimbrough
38
Treas., Talbot Feild, Jr., Northeast Arkansas Bar Association elected new officers: President, Mitchell Moore; Vice-President, Edward Maddox; SecTreas., C. David Burnett. The North Pulaski County Bar held a successful get acquainted gathering with guests from the Jacksonville, Sherwood and North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. The Jofferson County Bar has appointed a committee to investigate the workings of the bail bond system in their county. The committeemen are: Municipal Judge Charles S. Goldberger, C. Wayne Matthews, George Howard, Jr., and Stephen A. Matthews. Jefferson County is also stUdying proposals on no-fault insurance. Craighead County Bar made no-fault insurance a topic for discussion during their January meeting. Sebastian County Bar is sponsoring a series of lectures "Law for Everyone," which is co-hosted by the Westark Junior College. This series of lectures. which began in January and continues through May 23, is chaired by Judge Warren Kimbrough. For further information as to group leaders and their topics, contact your county bar association president, as a copy of the program was sent to each of them. A Northwest Arkansas Legal Economics Seminar is being planned by the Sebastian County Bar. Members of the Washington County Bar donated money to purchase Christmas gifts for the local youths in the training schools. The new officers for the Columbia County Bar are: President, Ark Monroe; Vice-President, Larry Chandler; Sec-Treas.. Harry B. Colay. A cash gift was also given by the Columbia County Bar for the boys of Magale Manor to purchase Christmas gifts. Ouachita County Bar met with the Ouachita County Medical Association to get better working relationships. Meetings with the Ouachita County Public Health Authorities and the county bar are also planned to form committees to work with the juvenile court. A joint meeting of the St. Francis, Monroe, Lee, Woodruff and Phillip County Bar Associations was held February in West Helena. Topics and speakers were: "Your Public Relations is Showing," John Gill; "New Constitution and By-Laws," Dick Hatfield; "Legal Economics," Mitchell Moore; and "No-Fault." Henry Woods. The Law Day Commit路 tee, Jay W. Dickey, Jr., Chairman, met during the Mid-Year Meeting to discuss plans for Law Day, May 1. Jim Ross, Jr., Chairman of the Constitu路 tiona I Reform Committee, met with his committee to consider the three constitutional amendments, one being to lower the voting age to 18.
BIPOIT By Paul B. Young
You have read a great deal of discussion in the press concerning the petition filed by the Executive Committee asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to adopt rules that will govern the release of information in criminal cases. The comments by some of the news media people indicate either that they have not read the proposed ru les or they are misinterpreting their purpose and effect. Freedom of the press is one of the ten rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Right to trial by an impartial jury is another. The petition filed with the Supreme Court is the result of efforts of a joint committee of lawyers and judges working to develop uniform court rules that will insure a defendant receives a fair trial, while preserving the public's right to know. They are based upon a statement of principles drafted by a joint committee of Arkansas lawyers and news media representatives on which William S. Arnold, a former president of the association, and Robert S. McCord, Editor of the editorial page of the Arkansas Democrat, served as co-chairmen. The rules would not even apply to actions of the news media with the exception of the prohibition against anyone deliberately attempting to influence the result of a trial by exposing to prospective jurors improper information where the attempt to interfere with a trial seriously threatened to be successfu I. A reporter wou Id have a right to say or print anything he wanted to either about a suspect or any criminal proceedings after it was completed. The Arkansas Bar Association has had a committee working on this subject since soon after the adoption by the American Bar Association in 1968 of principles relating to fair trial and free press as a part of an ABA project to establish minimum standards for criminal justice. The Arkansas Bar Association is by no means establishing any precedent in seeking to establish rules of this type. The concept of such limiting standards has been endorsed by national news media groups throughout the United States such as the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Associated Press Managing Editors Association. In fact compacts setting forth guidelines are in existence between bar associations and news media in more than half the states.
1 am hopefu I that any member of the association who has any questions concerning this action on the part of the association will get a copy of the rules and of the petition and decide for himself about their reasonableness and propriety.
*****
The National Conference of Bar Presidents, which meets immediately prior to the American Bar Association Annual and Mid-Winter Meetings, is a most helpful education source for bar association presidents and presidents elect. At New Orleans in February, the conferees heard presentations and then discussed such SUbjects as bar association responsibility in curbing trial disruption, whether or not bar associations have a role in public and social problems, the improvement of disciplinary procedures within the profession, current changes in legal education and legal internship. Another SUbject that was discussed at the conference is the problem of terminating the services of bad or imcompetent judges both in the state and federal judiciary. Just as in the case of the lawyer needing discipline, the situation of a bad or incompetent judge or of conduct on the part of the jUdiciary which merits censor is very rare but when it does occur generally there has been no adequate procedure to cope with the situation. Impeachment really amounts to no remedy at all as a practical matter. One speaker at the conference pointed out that Thomas Jefferson recognized this in his day when he made the observation that the threat of impeachment was not even a scarecrow in the field of judicial restraint. Several associations which reported developments in this area told of a procedure which resembled the court on the judiciary contained in the constitution which was voted on in Arkansas a few years ago. As has been the case in Arkansas, the matter of lawyer discipline has been much on the mind: of the legal profession all over the country during the last year and this was one of the main subjects discussed at the conference. I was glad to report the measures taken in Arkansas which have resulted in establishing a full time disciplinary office. Our state does not have to take a backseat to any other jurisdiction when progress in this field is compared .•
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DELEGATE DISTRICTS
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Delegate Numbers are shown be 10" .
Legal Specialization-Current Developments Within The Organized Bar -Chesterfield Smith Recognition and regulation of specialization in the practice of law is not a new subject for the legal profession, nor for the American Bar Association. In 1954, the House of Delegates adopted a resolution approving in principle the necessity to regulate voluntary specialization in
ever again be proficient in the performance of all legal tasks. Our everexpanding economy will inevitably lead to an ever-increasing pattern of specialization by practicing lawyers in a limited number of the various fields of the law practice. An increase in the
the various fields of the practice of the
and of itself wou Id improve the overall quality of the total services rendered by lawyers to their clients, simply because those lawyers who specialize will have an opportunity to concentrate their experience and their continuing legal education. Certification If a lawyer is to specialize in one field of the law, it is hardly arguable that he should meet certain minimum
number of lawyers who specialize in
law; and approving the principle that in order to entitle a lawyer to recognition as a specialist in a particular field, he should meet certain standards of experience and education. Thereafter, several efforts were made to implement that resolution without success.
In
August
1967,
The
Board
of
Governors finally established a Special Committee on Specialization,
directing it to assemble and study information relevant to all aspects of voluntary specialization, and if the committee should determine that the promulgation of a plan of voluntary specialization was desirable, to prepare a plan in various fields of the practice of law for the consideration of the House of Delegates. That committee, upon which I served for two years as Chairman, presented a Recommendation and Report at the
1969 Midyear Meeting
which
was
(Editor's Note: Mr. Chesterfield Smith was just elected President-Elect of the American Bar Association - so it is particularly fitting that we publish his text at this time. He is also Past Chairman of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and first recipient of the "Distinguished Floridian" Award by the Florida State Chamber of Commerce. On June 3, 1971, he addressed the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Arkansas Bar Association on Specialization.)
adopted and approved. While recognizing that regulation of specialization in the law practice may increase the availability of legal services to the general public, the Report of the Committee acknowledged that such regUlation will also create certain problems for both the public and the legal profession. Based upon the recommendation of the Committee, the House of Delegates there concluded that the determination of whether to promulgate a uniform or national plan for the regulation of voluntary legal specialization should be delayed until experimental programs for the regulation of specialization have been conducted at the state level. Today I will advance what I believe to be the motivating influences which led the House of Delegates to that conclusion.
be fully proficient and efficient in every field of the law, and most lawyers now clearly accept that fact by self-imposed restrictions on their own practice. But the organized bar as it is now structured does not acknowledge that fact. To put it bluntly, the organized bar persists in regarding all lawyers as equal, when in fact as we all know some lawyers are just "more equal than others". Blindness to this fundamental and pervasive fission in my judgment inhibits the effective action demanded of the organized bar by consumers of legal services with respect to the problems of lawyers' competence. Some degree of specialization is properly an existing necessity of modern law practice. Specialization permits the lawyer to make the most
Jack of all Legal Trades
efficient use of his time, skills, and
Even though many least pay lip service that a lawyer can be a trades, in fact modern
lawyers still at to the concept jack of all legal lawyers cannot
knowledge. The complexity of our society and the increasing participation therein by government make it clear that no individual lawyer will
41
standards
of
experience
and
education in that one field of the law. Certification by a competent authority must be an integral part of any complete plan or program ultimately promUlgated to regulate specialization in the law practice. A bar-represented expertness, or even a barcountenanced self-certification of expertness, that does not in fact exist, would be far worse in its effect upon the public image of the organized bar
than any of the present detriments to that image attributable to the nonregUlation of specialization. Certainly all lawyers recognize that the attempted performance of professional services by lawyers who are individually incompetent to perform such services brings disfavor on the legal profession as a whole. Self-recognition of special proficiency which is not verified and factual is not the ultimate answer, nor is it even now an acceptable substitute for certification. The major difficulty with selfcertification, apart from the case of the lawyer of little integrity and no actual expertise who will claim expertise for self-aggrandizement, is with the lawyer who honestly believes that he is qualified for specialized practice but who wou Id be rated as a novice by those lawyers clearly entitled to accreditation as experts. If the public image of the organized bar is to be unblemished, lawyers as a group must exercise a high degree of responsibility to those far less informed Continued on page 42
Continued from page 41
members of the general public seeking a lawyer and who rely or may tend to rely upon what may be a false claim of special proficiency. Lawyers who undertake legal ser\-ices which they are individually incompetent to perform lend credence to the claim of lay groups that attempts by the bar to deter the unauthorized practice of law by specialized laymen is motivated solely by the economic self-interest of the complaining lawyers. If the organized bar can provide an effective method whereby the public, or general practitioners on behalf of their clients, can identify and select competent legal specialists, the chance that persons needing legal services will turn to well-pUblicized specialized laymen, rather than to lawyers, will be minimized. Many lawyers find it hard to accept the fact that their accessibility to potential clients may be a problem. They contend that their doors are open to anyone who wants to walk in; their names are in the telephone book; they are accessible. But in the field of legal services, as in few others, accessibility to a lawyer means more than just being open for
business. Many middle-class people do not know a lawyer personally, and choosing an unknown lawyer "cold", either from the Yellow Pages or by walking into a random office, may be an impossibly forbidding prospect. In a very real sense, the big city lawyer in his downtown offlee is inaccessible to most people. And even the small town lawyer might be surprised at the barriers that exist between himself and prospective moderate-income clients. As lawyers, we shou ld acknowledge that people as a general rule prefer not to utilize a lawyer even when they recognize that a lawyer could help them solve their problems. Image of Competence Accessibility to a lawyer by a person who has a legal problem means being able readily to find a lawyer able to provide the particular services that his problem requires and someone in whom he has confidence to perform that particular service. The selection of that lawyer does present serious difficulties to people of moderate means, who often do not have and cannot obtain the knowledge essential to intelligent selection of the proper lawyer. It seems to me that lawyers have failed to maintain, at least in the eyes of people who might be properly styled as the average man
whO occasionally needs a lawyer but is not utilizing one, what might be called an "image of competence". The medical profession provides a useful analogy. Most of us who are old enough to remember the oldfashioned general medical practitioner no doubt still harbor some feelings of nostalgia about him. He was the wise, skilled healer. Kind, gentle, and unhurried, he was friend and counselor as well as doctor. And, or course, he made house calls. But where is he today? And, what is more important, how many of us would really have him back - if we had to give up today's highly trained medical specialists in return? When a pediatrician refuses to come to the house at midnight to see a child with a slight fever, we might think we would prefer the old generalist. But would we really choose him rather than a competent radiologist to examine an X-ray for tubercular lesions? And who would trade open heart surgery and corneal transplants for the old-time doctor's bedside manner? The point, obviously, is that by honestly admitting, primarily through the training and certification of specialists, that the field of medicine is too vast for complete mastery by anyone doctor, and by elevating the
When we close a deal we close our mouth. Stephens, Incorporated. Little Rock. Investment Bankers. 42
realtor and the title insurance company? Tax Practice Specialization is related to professional competence. Let us look at
vice and service available to business and property clients. To be su re, lawyers who serve property and business clients probably have an "image of com-
of competence" based on actual com-
the field of taxation. When an in-
petence" in the eyes of their own long
petence that effectively disposes of most of their competition problems. The modern doctor, be he generalist or specialist, may be cold or aloof. He may be somewhat inaccessible. He may appear expensive, though he is not necessarily overpriced in relation to the value of the value of the service he performs. But he has no real competition; not because of proscriptive laws - although, of course, they exist
dividual citizen thinks about competent assistance with tax problems, does he think about lawyers? Almost surely not; he is more apt to think about one of the commercial income tax services or about a certified pUblic accountant. The bar has long had tax specialists, of course, but their services have been primarily for business and property clients; they have never been available to all of our people to
established clients. And people probably still think first of lawyers when the talk is of lawsuits; lawyers generally may thus be said to have maintained something of an "image of competence" with regard to litigation. But in many of the other areas in which lawyers' services might be so beneficial, many people probably do not regard lawyers as feasible or even appropriate sources of help.
-
any
standards of all medical training and practice, the medical profession has developed and offers real and unmistakable competence to the public. Doctors have thus created an "image
but because most people today
simply would not think of going elsewhere to obtain the sophisticated services he offers. As one resu It, the medical profession's unauthorized practice program has quite a different character from that of the bar.
But
what
about
the
legal
profession? When the person of moderate means thinks about planning for his family in the event of his
death, will he not be likely to turn to his life insurance agent or his bank rather than to a lawyer? When he buys a house, will the thought of consulting a lawyer even enter his mind, or will he rely unquestioningly upon his
fact,
The analogy between the legal and
professional restrictions have prevented lawyers from offering special tax skills to the general public in any effective manner. As a result, accountants have moved solidly into tax practice, and the bar has resorted to a running battle with accountants to try to maintain a line of some kind between tax accounting and tax law practice. Whatever else this approach to the
significant
extent.
In
medical professions is of course overdrawn. The medical profession's specialization system is certainly not without its problems. The problem of retaining for the public the benefits heretofore provided through the traditional medical general prac路titioner particularly diagonostic services, emergency services, and continuing comprehensive care - is especially difficult. But the point made
regulafion
professional conduct
earlier still stands. An "image of com-
may have accomplished, one effect has clearly been the pra1ctical unavailability to all of our people of
petence", based upon unmistakable and pUblicly known actual com-
the kind of highly competent tax ad-
Continued on page 44
at
It's an Honor to Salute the Man Who Brings Such Honor to Arkansas, "The Congressman from Kensett," the Honorable Wilbur 0 Mills. From his friends at
-
ARKLA GAS
43
DO
Continued from page 43
legal be the petence, could profession's most effective competitive weapon. Fractionalization It is of course important that the lawyers who presently specialize do not develop into narrow and autonomous self-policing units. The experience of the medical profession in that regard demonstrates that this possibility is a real and present danger. A similar fractionalization of the legal profession could ultimately be detrimental to both the public and the specialized lawyer interest groups, and extreme vigilance on the part of the organized bar is warranted, whether specialization be regulated or unregulated, in order that general supervision of all specialized lawyer interest groups is exercised by the organized bar as a whole. Any plan of regulation must be consistent with recognition of the importance of a broad legal education and must minimize any adverse effect on the general practitioner. The importance of the lawyer in general practice, historically and currently, to the public and to the legal profession, can hardly be overstated. I am unalterably convinced that any plan for the regulation of specialization must preserve the usefulness and effectiveness of general practicing lawyers. The contribution of the general practitioner in the ongoing activities of the organized bar is and has been monumental. General practice is one of the most difficult practice areas in the law. It requires being currently familiar with several subject areas of law the areas varying in different geographic areas. Many continuing legal education programs are especially designed to help the general practicing lawyer to keep up to date in those law areas. It is readily apparent that any acceptable system for the regulation of specialists must not tend to eliminate county-seat lawyers, nor benefit, by reason of provisions inherent in the particular system. the middle and large sized law firms to the detriment of small firms and individually practicing lawyers. Care should of course also be taken to insure that the provisions of the plan do not retard the ever-accelerating trend of lawyers to band together in partnerships for the practice of law. In considering the merits of official recognition and regulation of specialization in the law practice, the benefits and detriments which might be obtained therefrom must be
analyzed in the context of specific programs. The limitations which might be placed upon practice by a certified specialist should be considered. Under existing law, the standard of care required for lawyers of certified status would of course be increased with additional exposure to liability for error and omissions. The nature of legal practice differs from state to state, and there are significant differences among the states in both substantive and procedural law. The practice of law is now regu lated almost exclusively within the various states. Both initial admission and professional discipline are handled at the state level. Regulation of specialization is intrinsically related to those other aspects of the regu lation of the practice of law. The fact that the power to regulate the legal profession now exists only at the state level compelled me to believe that state level regulation of specialization was the only way in which this reform could ever be achieved. State participation certainly is an obviously indispensable ingredient of any acceptable plan. I submit that if regulation is placed at the state level, the regulatory body will be much more flexible and responsive in reacting to emerging problems than if the regulatory body is placed at the national level. No matter how much care is now devoted to a specific plan of regulation of specialized law practice, such program cannot possibly provide against many practical problems which will develop. Pitfalls will inevitably occur, means of adJusting those deficiencies will have to be worked out, and the program ultimately adopted will unquestionably have to be modified by experience. As time goes on, a body of experience will develop which will inevitably lead to better criteria for providing quality legal services in specialized areas. It is only when those developments have occurred that consideration should be given to the subsidiary issues which presently occasion so much dialogue among lawyers debating the "HOW" of legal specialization. The organized bar needs experience at all levels before final positions are taken. The Sole Practitioner The most frequently voiced obJection to regulation of specialization is its supposed harmful effect upon the sole practitioner and the small partnership in rural areas. Everyone agrees that the big firm lawyer already has tile benefits of specialized practice. It is argued that large law firms in general are not adversely affected by
44
the failure of the bar to regUlate specialization, because a large law firm usually has little difficulty in making the availability of the specialized services of its individual lawyers collectively known to its prospective clients, and that regulation would only encourage clients to leave general practitioners to go to those large conglomerates of legal specialists. I do not accept that argument as I believe that experimentation may demonstrate that regulation of legal specialization tends to equate the sole practitioner and small law firm with the large law firm in making specialized services available to their respective clients. Realistically, one of the principal reasons for the success of large law firms is that they have had no difficulty in communicating to the public that they offer specialized services, and that the collective abilities of their lawyers enable them to be specialists in every field of the law. Many lawyers argue that the official recognition of specialists would enable general practitioners more easily to obtain qualified specialists to assist them in situations where they may occasionally need such specialized legal services. Certainly, I believe that it would aid those lawyers in informing the public that specialized legal services can be made available by general practitioners as well as by large law firms. If experimentation does show that it enables the small practitioner more effectively to compete with the large law firms, regulated specialization may be the means whereby the ultimate survival of the independent sole practitioner is insured. I am convinced that some of the standard arguments presented against specific programs of regu lation of specialization in the law practice are real, but I also believe that many of them are only imagined. I have also concluded that the need for regUlated specialization in many states is minimal, but in other states, I believe that the public interest indicates that some action on the matter be taken by the organized bar. It appears to me that it is a matter for each state to decide for itself in view of its particular circumstances and economy. In encouraging those states which wish to do so to seek solutions to the numerous practical and theoretical problems involved in legal specialization, the American Bar Association was nol deciding whether the legal profession will have specialiContinued on page 46
ARKANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION ttl~II~lrr Alt"I~lrrlll~l~ Arkansas Bar Association
Two fun-filled weeks in exotic and
40B Donaghey Building Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
colorful Japan and Hong Kong. Our complete Orient Adventure
Enclosed is my check for $
costs much less than round trip tourist air fare. yet includes direct 707 private jet flights,
($100 per person) as deposit. Name - - - - - - - - - - - - Address _ City. State
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all the freedom of individual travel. plus many other exclusive features. The Orient Adventure is departing _ _ _ _ _ _ LITTLE ROCK
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$898
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Plus $45 Tax and Service
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Continued from page 45
zation. Specialization is already here, and it will inevitably increase. The issue was only whether a plan for specialization in the practice of law would be recommended on a national basis at that time. It was the conclusion of the House of Delegates that now is not the time to take such action. There are those who are disappointed that the American Bar Association did not take a bold leap forward. Others are equally vexed because it did not summarily reject further consideration of any change in this area of the legal profession. In answer to both contentions, I suggest that the course of action adopted takes full advantage of the beneficial way the organized bar functions in this country. The American Bar Association, as an instrument of nationwide leadership for lawyers, should and must be cautious in altering or changing the structure of the legal profession. State bars have many times in the past served as laboratories of change. I personally believe that state bars have led the way to many of the more positive advances achieved by the organized bar in recent years. Certainly, one of the more favorable attributes of our system of bar organization is that a single courageous state bar may, if the members thereof choose, serve as a laboratory and try novel, political, social and economic experiments without risk to other state bars, or to the American Bar Association as an entity. Such experimental or pilot programs will be useful whether the programs are successful or unsuccessful. The experience developed by diverse approaches may permit the recommendation of criteria for a flexible but meaningfu I system for the recognition of specialties; or may lead to the final conclusion that no effective system can be devised that will have more advantages than disad... vantages. For the first time in its history, the American Bar Association now has a committee with general jurisdiction of all matters pertaining to legal specialization. That committee was directed to collect data, make surveys of both the public and the legal profession, conduct studies and generally to assist state bar associations in developing programs relating to specialization in the law practice. In particular, the committee was given the responsibility of recommending model plans of specialization for adoption by the
states, and a national plan for specialization if the practicability and desirability of such plans become apparent at some future time. So, for the first time, nationwide leadership in the troublesome field of legal specialization is available. While admittedly that action is only a first step, its importance is two-fold. First, it does commit the American Bar Association to seek a solution to one of the most vexing and troublesome areas in the structuring of the organized bar, the regulation of legal specialization. Second, it determines that the approach taken in solving the problem of legal specialization by the American Bar Association will be evolutionary and not revolutionary. State Action The plan is working. Several states are already actively considering whether or not they should promulgate their own plans for the certification and regu lation of legal specialists. Among those states are California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Virginia, Texas and Wisconsin. In fact, thirty state bar associations have committees studying the matter of legal specialization. The specialization plan of the State Bar of California has been selected by the ABA as a proper vehicle for experimentation. The California program establishes a Board of Legal Specialization. Initially, the five-year experimental program will be confined to three areas of law; that is: (1) criminal law; (2) workmen's compensation law; and (3) tax law. Advisory Commissions are to be set up in each field. That program was put into actual operation on February 1, '971 with the approval of the Supreme Court of California. The implementation of this plan now insures that both the American Bar Association and interested state bar associations will have available for the first time facts which point out the dangers and pitfalls which inevitably will be encountered, and which answer or refute the existing arguments, both for and against, the regu lation of specialization in the law practice. Certainly we can all see that the success or failure of California program will either materially reduce or substantially increase the present resistance to nationwide regu lation. The Committee on Specialization of the State Bar of Texas has just recently recommended that a pilot program be developed in that state. I am advised that it will be about a year from now before such a program is developed and presented to the Supreme Court of Texas. A Committee
46
of The Florida Bar will determine within the next several months whether it will recommend to the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar that Florida embark upon a Pilot Project. Pilot Programs The American Bar Association intends ultimately to make final selection of a total of three (3) state pilot programs when and as such programs have been implemented at the state level. After such final selections, the American Bar Association will recommend that all other state bar associations (except those designated for experimental programs) await the results of an evaluation of those three programs, since the American Bar Association feels that it is not desirable for a large number of states to embark upon even experimental programs in specialization before uniform standards can be established lest unnecessarily divergent programs become prematurely crystalized. The American Bar Association will evaluate these pilot programs on specialization, both from the standpoint of their benefits and their detriments, and the results will then be made available to all state bar associations and other interested groups. While there is no certainty that the action taken by the American Bar Association last year will ever lead to the development of a national plan of legal specialization, I believe that the action there taken will ultimately permit a determination of whether it is best that legal specialization be regulated or be unregulated. I hope that the development of state pilot programs in the regulation of legal specialization will receive the support of lawyers throughout the United States, regardless of whether they now favor or now oppose the certification of legal specialists. Even though a state bar association determines that it is not now interested in the conduct of an experimental program of its own, it seems crystal clear to me that it should at the minimum have a committee of lawyers who are following developments in this area and who are charged with the responsibility of evaluating the results obtained in those states who do conduct such experimental programs. Lawyers everywhere should initiate among their colleagues extensive but enlightening dialogue about the multiple problems of regulating legal specilization. In my opinion, that must be done if we are effectively to educate lawyers on this issue. There are so many who con-
tinually express positive positions on one side or the other without having ever really studied the question. Conclusion It is not my nature to equivocate, so in conclusion I want to give you my own prediction of what I believe will be the ultimate outcome of that experimentation in the regulation of legal specialization at the state leveL I predict that within ten years the healthy progress of the legal profession will insure regulated specialization in most of the larger states, and that nationwide boards for the certification of legal specialists will be then operated by the American Bar Association for the benefit of those states who wish to utilize them, with the particular and specific regulations for the pUblic disclosure of certification as a specialist promulgated by the several states which regulate legal specialization being substantially uniform throughout our nation. Let us see.•
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SPEAKERS BUREAU ARKANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION 408 DONAGHEY BUILDING LITTLE ROCK, ARK. 72201
LAW DAY MAY I.
We're proud that one of America's most distinguished Congressmen has been so instrumental in helping us attract new industry to Arkansas. Thanks, Congressman, and congratulations on an illustrious career. ARKANSAS INDUSTRIAL DMLOPMENT COMMISSION·STATE CAPITOL·UTILE ROCK 72201·AC 501·371-1121
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JURIS DICTUM by C.R. Huie Executive Secretary. Judicial Department
The Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct has now activated a full time program to carry out its objectives. Mr. Taylor R. Roberts, recently retired from the federal Bureau of Investigation has accepted the position of Executive
Secretary of the Committee and has established his office at 1104 Worthen Bank Building in Little Rock. His office is listed in the telephone directory as "Committee on Professional Conduct." The telephone number is 3766747.
Mr. Roberts was educated in the little Rock public schools, took his A.B. degree at Hendrix College in Conway in 1941, received his LLB from the Arkansas Law School at Little Rock in 1950, and was admitted to the Arkansas Bar in that year.
Presentation Ceremony with Messrs Edward Lester, Philip Anderson, E. L. McHaney and Henry Woods.
He served as a Naval aviator in the U.S. Marines during World War II where he attained the rank of major and received his honorable discharge in 1946. He was an insurance adjuster in Little Rock during the years 1946-50 and engaged in the private practice of law in Little Rock during the years 1950-51 atter which he served as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1951 until his retirement early this year. During this time he served in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas. He and his wife, Dee, have three sons, one who recently received his honorable discharge as captain in the U.S. Army, one a Navy lieutenant stationed in San Diego, California and the third presently in high school in Little Rock. Employment of a full time Executive Secretary of the proven ability of Mr. Roberts and the establishment of the office was made possible by the action of the Supreme Court in increasing the annual license fee for Arkansas lawyers. Previously, funds were available for only a part time secretary. In a ceremony Wednesday, February 2, 1972 in the Justice Building the Arkansas Bar Foundation presented a check for $10,000.00 to the Committee on Professional Conduct. Philip Anderson of Little Rock, Secretary-Treasurer of the Bar Foundation, presented the check to E. L. McHaney, Secretary of the Committee. Henry Woods of Little Rock, President-elect of the Arkansas Bar Association and Edward Lester of Little Rock, Vicepresident of the Bar Foundation were also present for the ceremony. The $10,000.00 grant came from the Leon Falk Family Trust of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania "for the purpose of assisting in the implementation of the recommended procedures for disciplinary enforcement of the ru les of conduct of the members of the Bar in the State of Arkansas." The Falk Trust has provided support for the American legal profession in other respects over the years. Mr. George A. Stinson, a former resident of Arkansas was instrumental in securing the grant, which will probably be used by the committee for capital expenditures necessary in setting up the full time office. The presentation of the Falk grant to the committee represents another step forward in a program that has been hailed by former Justice Tom C. Clark of the U.S. Supreme Court as one of the finest in the nation. In a 1970 speech at Hot Springs, Justice Clark - who has served as Chairman of the American Bar Association's
Special Committee on Evaluation of Disciplinary Enforcement - told the Arkansas Bar Association "the Arkansas Bar has one of the finest structures in disciplinary enforcement of any state in the United States." Clark challenged the Bar to provide ade¡ quate financing to enforce "your excellent structure, the equal of which I do not know exists in any other state." The increase in the license fee and the grant from the Falk Trust followed, and in a speech at the Mid-year Meet-
ing of the Bar Association last month, Justice Clark praised the Arkansas Supreme Court and the Bar Association on the progress which has been made. Members of the Committee on Professional Conduct are: Chairman James Hale of West Memphis, Secretary - E. L. McHaney of Little Rock, David Solomon, Helena; William M. Moorehead, Stuttgart; Mark Woolsey, Ozark; John Smith, Pine Bluff; and James A. Ross, Monticello.â&#x20AC;˘
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'Lite CUJiLbur
':D.
CJrliLL~ Story
• • • •
(,~ doe epurceLl .. The persuasiveness of a Franklin D. Roosevelt . the courage of a Harry Truman . and the personality of an Alben Barkley." This is how Congressman James A. Burke (0Mass.) describes the man he and many others would like to see President of the United States and the lawyer that the "Arkansas Lawyer" honors this month - Wilbur Daigh Mills. It is a long way from Kensett, Arkansas (as it is from any city) to the nation's capitol and a position of influence in the halls of Congress where the power lines converge and the waves of influence originate. One hundred Senators and 435 Representatives make the journey successfully during each session of Congress. Wilbur M ills made it in almost record time, arriving as a freshman Congressman in Washington in 1939 at age 29. Today after 33 years of hard work, a sense of timing, a brilliant memory and a thorough knowledge of fiscal affairs, Mills stands as the single most
influential committee chairman on Capitol Hill. A man whom many call the second most powerful man in America. A product of Grass-Roots America, Mills was born 62 years ago in the White County railroad intersection town of Kensett (pop. 1,444). He attended the public schools of Kensett and graduated from Searcy High School. He then enrolled in Hendrix College where he was the recipient of many honors. The 1930 Hendrix Troubadour had this to say about Mills, "High above the common rabble Wilbur towers, undisturbed by life's ups and downs. Something fine within him prompts his gay outlook on life. His splendid grades are indicative of much 'gray matter'. Wilbur walks life's straight paths and is a boon companion for anyone who is 'down and out' ... " A classmate of Mills at Hendrix says, "He was always interested in government and frankly, from the very beginning, in the tax structures of the county, of the state and of the federal
50
government. Things came fairly easily to him but he applied himself ... his powers of concentration were just far beyond the ordinary." Mills returned to Kensett during the depression in 1933 with a Harvard law degree. He went to work as a cashier in his father's bank while building his law practice. In 1934, he married the post-mistress of Kensett, his childhood sweetheart, C lari ne (Po Ily) Billingsley. Since both were employed, their wedding trip was briefone night in the Albert Pike Hotel in little Rock and back to Kensett early the next morning to their jobs. They have two daughters, Mrs. Richard Yates and Mrs. Jack Dixon and four grandch ildren. Mills' father, a Kensett banker and businessman, was a White County rural political leader. listening to the political talk of his father and friends, Mills became politically oriented and at an early age decided on a career in politics. His hero was the Second District's Congressman, the Honorable
William A. Oldfield, a member of the Committee on Ways and Means. According to Mills, "Congressman Oldfield lived in another county. He would come to town by train and visit my father. He would spend the night in Kensett at the hotel and would Invite 20 to 25 men to have supper with him and he would tell them what went on in Washington. This was the only way they got to know him," Just one year out 01 law school, newly married and aged 25, Mills in 1934 challenged and defeated the incumbent County and Probate Judge of White County, becoming the youngest County Judge in Arkansas' history. A Mills campaigner in 1934 says "He opposed a Judge who was very popular. who had been in office 16 years. Wilbur was just out of Har路 vard Law School but he had the small town political leaders with him. With their help, Mills was unbeatable." I
His four years as White County Probate and County Judge were invaluable in acquainting Mills first hand with the problems and responsibilities of local government. This has been of great benefit throughout his political career. His ambition to serve in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and on the Ways and Means Committee, never wavered and during his second term as County JUdge, opportunity knocked. Second District Congressman, the Honorable John Miller, was elected to fill a United States Senate seat made vacant by the death of Senator Joe T. Robinson, the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice-President in 1928. Mills won the Democratic nomination for the Second District's congressional seat in the Democratic primaries of 1938 and was not opposed in the general election. He has served continuously in Congress since 1939 and is the top ranking member of the Arkansas delegation in continuous service. He has never been opposed in a general election and has had primary opposition only twice since 1938 in 1942 and in 1966. Mills, as a freshman Congressman, was assigned to the House Banking and Currency Committee but in 1943, with the help of his friend Sam Rayburn, he moved to the prestigious Committee on Ways and Means. Ways and Means is the oldest of present House committees; established by the First Contress on July 24, 1780. A good many of its members, including James K. Polk, Millard Fillmore, William McKinley and Andrew
Photo by Henry Marx
Wilbur D. Mills Jackson, achieved top ranking positions in American history. The United States Constitution provides that all revenue bills must originate in the House. By House rules, all legislation concerning taxes, Social Security, tariffs and foreign trade, medicare, interest rates, the federal budget and in short, the means of revenue for maintaining the republic, is assigned to the Committee on Ways and Means. Congress works through committees and only the Appropriations and Ru les Committees are considered in the same league with Ways and Means. The three constitute the so-called "control committees" and are involved to some extent in almost everything that happens in Congress. The popular congressional sport of committee switching does not carry
Wilbur D. Mills with Democrat State Chairman Joe Purcell of Arkansas.
51
over to Ways and Means. During the past 20 years, aside from death, retirement or defeat at the polls, only five Congressmen have left Ways and Means while 44 have been promoted to it. Assignment to Ways and Means is particularly good for a Democrat, since in 1911 the Party made its members on Ways and Means its "Committee on Committees", with the power of assignment of Democrats to all the other twenty standing committees. With the death of the previous committee chairman in 1958, Mills, having climbed the ladder of seniority, assumed the chairmanship of Ways and Means, becoming the youngest chairman in its history. As Chairman, he has been a strong advocate of the "consensus approach" to legislation. He judges the attitude of members of the Ways and Means Committee before marking up any bill and reports a bill only when his careful reading of the mood of the House assures him the bill will pass. Because most bills reported by Ways and Means are considered under a "closed rule" on the floor - not SUbject to amendment Mills and his staff are meticulous in their preparation of committee legislation. In Mills' 14 years as Chairman, only three bills reported out of Ways and Means have been rejected by the House. Walter little, documentary clerk for Ways and Means and probably with Mills as much as any political associate, says that Mills' hobby is his work. Possessed with a detailed familiarity of federal tax laws, Mills frequently quotes, without notes, lengthly passages from statutes during debates and hearings. One colleague remarked, "In all the years I have been in Washington I don't suppose I've seen Wilbur at more than a half dozen evening gatherings around town." When a new administration enters the White House, Mills' office quietly requests that they strike his name from the social invitation list. Mills has stated, "My father always impressed upon me that you couldn't do a day's work and stay out all night at parties." Despite the rarity of social appearances, Mills is not a loner. To the contrary, he has a deep and compassionate interest in people, is very cordial and friendly. One of his colleagues remarked, "Wilbur is just wise, Washington's social life can be disastrous. The longer you stay here the more you realize you can't go out
ContInued on page 52
Continued from page 51
every night and be an effective legislator the next day." Politically, Mills is a heavy weighta Potomac political giant. His strength of character, wisdom, integrity, common sense and fair play have won the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Former HEW Secretary, Robert H. Finch, speaking for President Nixon at Hendrix College on April 28, 1970, described Mills as "Easily one of the ten outstanding legislators in the history of the republic." Twelve years ago, James Reston wrote, "The first question for President Kennedy on the new year is not whether he can get along with Chairman Nikita Khrushchev but whether he can co-exist with Chairman Wilbur Mills," Mills has served in the Congress under six administrations and as Chairman of Ways and Means under four. He has worked closely and effectively with all administrations, although upon occasions he has had to say "no", even to Presidents. Mills and President Kennedy were close friends, and great admirers of each other. When Mills wanted President Kennedy to dedicate Greers Ferry Dam at Heber Springs, Kennedy not only obliged but told the crowd, "The only significant reason I'm here is because of your distinguished Congressman. If he had asked me to sing 'Down by the Old Mill Stream' I would have been delighted." In 1971, a Draft Mills For President campaign was launched, directed by Congressman Burke, The movement spread rapidly in Washington and by midsummer more than 35
Congressmen, geographically representing all sections of the United States, had publicly endorsed Mills for President. Never before had a candidate (or non-candidate), except an incumbent, had such strong congressional support for the presidential nomination, Although Mills denied publicly that he was a candidate, he did say that if he received the nomination he would accept it, and would be the most active, the hardest working nominee the Democratic Party ever had. On August 26,1971, the largest appreciation rally ever extended to any individual of this state was held in Barton Coliseum honoring Congressman Mills. Attending the rally were industrialists, business leaders, bankers, leaders of organized labor and 34 United States Congressmen coming from as far away as Oregon, Michigan and Massachusetts, The Coliseum was filled to overflow capacity with more than 12,000 Mills supporters, and thousands more gathered outside, unable to get in. The closing of the gates 30 minutes before Mills' party arrived created mammoth problems for the fire marshalls and the police who were holding back a swarming crowd. The situation forced state legislators, public officials, and many well known Arkansans, to crash the gates through back entrances. On the speakers' platform were Governor Bumpers, the other constitutional officers, the Congressional delegation, and many other out-of-state dignitaries. Miss Mary Lou Burg. Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee described Mills as, "A legend in his own life time." Leonard Woodcock, President of
the United Automobile Workers said, "Few men are more skilled in making this nation work than Wilbur Mills," Representative Carl Albert (DOkla,), Speaker of the House, said of Mills, "He is big enough, he is firm enough, he is intelligent enough to hold, with outstanding distinction, any public office in the United States of America." When the program began at 7:30, approximately 10,000 persons were gathered outside the Coliseum gates unable to get in, As each speaker finished his part on the program he was escorted outside where he again delivered his remarks to the crowd there. Although Mills consistently denied in 1971 that he was a candidate, during the late spring of 1971 he appeared in more than 15 states on a three-month speaking tour, and addressed joint sessions of eight state legislatures. During the summer of 1971 he appeared on three nationwide television programs, and in the fall continued his speaking tour, visiting the Western and New Eng land States. In the Fall of 1971 a National "Draft Mills for President Headquarters" was opened in Washington under the direction of Charles Ward, campaign coordinator. Ward states that the Draft Mills for President Campaign is mushrooming and that great progress is being made, especially in the grassroots area. The Arkansas Delegation to the 1972 Democratic National Convention is expected to place Mills' name in nomination for President of the United States, On February 11, 1972, Mills advised the Secretaries of State of Wisconsin and Nebraska that he could not in good conscience sign the affidavits required to take his name off the primary ballots in those states because this would require him to say, "He is not now and does not intend to be a candidate for President." Mills' name, without his encouragement or endorsement, will appear in the New Hampshire primaries on March 7 as a write-in candidate. Mills is recognized in Washington by persons in all branches of government as possessing the talents, the ability and the integrity to make America an effective and responsible President. Will he get the nomination? Time will tell! But, with the persuasiveness of a Franklin D. Roosevelt ... the courage of a Harry Truman and the personality of an Alben Barkley, Congressman Wilbur Daigh Mills may well become in July 1972 the first Democratic nominee for the Office of President from the State of Arkansas .
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OUR MAN ON THE SCENE
Toad Suck Bridge Dedication-September 20, 1971 Hon. Wilbur D. Mills-C. W. Harper, Pres. First National Bank
53
~ FIRST ~NATIONAL
BANK
CONWAY. ARKANSAS 72032
It is a singular honor to be here this evening to address the Annual Dinner of the American Bar Association. This venerable Association has twice blessed Arkansas in this term - first, in your exceedingly sagacious decision to have Ed Wright serve you as President and, secondly, in your kind, but admittedly not nearly so wise, decision to invite me to speak here tonight. Arkansas is grateful to you on both counts. It would be redundant for me to use this podium to extol the many and well-known virtues of Ed Wright. This audience knows very well the superlatives that both fit him personally and describe his great service to the American Bar, not only during the past year as its President, but throughout all the years that he has devoted to this very important organization and labored for its membership. Let me just summarize and say it all in one appreciative sentence by stating that anyone who knows Ed Wright recognizes that in this learned and highly intelligent human being beats the heart of a lawyer's lawyer and a gentleman's gentleman. Ed has literally put it all together.
LAW LOV REMARKS OF CONGRE at Annual AMERICAN BAR New York Hilton, N July 6
Sharing a light moment at the annual dinner in New York are A Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, U.S. Congo Wilbur D. Mills a
Cross Fire We members of the American Bar Association are particularly fortunate and grateful to have had Ed Wright lead us at this time - a time when the law and our jUdicial system, like so many other institutions in this country, are caught in a withering crossfire between what may be called uncritical lovers on the one hand and unloving critics on the other. On one extreme, the law has its uncritical lovers, that is, those who are 50 enraptured and comfortable with
present substantive rules and legal procedures that they will fight even a hint of needed change. They are the hardline, stare-decisis-above-all group, who oppose the normal unfolding and evolution of the law in a modern and everchanging world. They adhere loyally to the once-decided, always-decided philosophy and labor under an atavistic conviction that the
~
quality of judgment and wisdom of members of the bench and bar becomes diluted and dissipates proportionately with each passing generation. They are somewhat akin to today's love-it路or-leave-it contingent. Had our forefathers adopted this philosophy - and fortunately, they did not -
can shout or how close he can come to insulting all those
he encounters -
we lawyers would still be using the early writs. We wouid
including the judges."
The Chief Justice warned of the great harm that a small number of reckless, irresponsible "adrenalin-fueled lawyers," as he called them, can do to our profession. He urged self-policing on the part of the bar and renewed recognition of the absolute necessity for civility, good manners and discipline if our adversary system of litigation is to function properly and continue to enjoy the confidence and support of the general pUblic. I, for one, hope we of the bar will take heed and utilize appropriate means for implementing the Chief Justice's sage advice and timely suggestion.
still be subject to the rigidities and hardships inherent in the schism of law and equity and to the hazards of pleading under the ancient forms of action. At the other extremity of the spectrum from these blindly uncritical lovers of the legal status quo are the unloving critics of the law. The passion of the unloving critics appears to be to deride, denigrate, vilify and destroy the courts and all other institutions that constitute our present legal system. They deify change. They have no substitute to offer for a lawful society, but that neither dampens their ardor nor tempers their raucous outcries and destructive acts
in pursuance of their goal to bring the system to its knees.
Our Heritage
Overzeal Unfortunately, it appears that the unloving critics are not confined to those outside the bar. There is a species of them in our own profession. While they constitute a very small, almost indiscernible fragment of the bar, what they lack in numbers is made up by their unusual capacity for noise making and headline grabbing. In a recent speech to the American Law Institute, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger referred to them. In stressing the necessity for civility and
Our system of law in this country, inherited for the most part from England, where appropriately this meeting will reconvene next week, has persevered despite the adoration of its uncritical lovers from one side, and the bitter attacks of its unloving critics from the other flank. The reason it has abided and flourished, and will continue to do so, is because the law has also had a third group in which may be counted the vast majority of the lawyers of this country. This third group could be called its loving critics, or critical lovers if you please. Heading this group would be the names of men like Marshall, Holmes, Cardozo and Hand,
professional decorum in litigation, the Chief Justice lamen路
jurists who iooked upon the law with both a loving heart
ted that "all too often, overzealous advocates seem to think that the zeal and effectiveness of a lawyer depends on how thoroughly he can disrupt the proceedings or how loud he
and a constructively critical eye. Thankfully, we also have critical lovers of the law among the practicing bar - men like Ed Wright and those who have served this Association
54
Committee on Ways and Means and passed through the Congress since 1 have been its Chairman.
ERS ET AL
Crime Control An exception, however, to this general ru Ie of greater efficiency of expenditures in the private rather than the governmental sector is the specific subject of taw enforcement and crime control. Governmental agencies Federal, State and local - obviously have always been the principal and most appropriate means for preventing crime and enforcing the law. Yet we see on every hand today increasing instances of private citizens and businesses taking novel and intensified measures and making very considerable voluntary outlaws of money for self protection against crime. For example, bus companies in the District of Columbia are now using redeemable scrip instead of money to make change in order to remove temptation from those who would rob their drivers. The use of this device is certainly inconvenient, both to the public and to the drivers, and more expensive to the company, but it apparently protects lives and property over and above what the present state of governmental crime prevention in the District of Columbia is able to afford. This is true despite the fact that the police are doing a commendable job in Washington with the resources available to them. Millions of dollars are spent each year by private home owners and businesses for the purchase of sophisticated locking devices, burglar alarm systems and electronic surveillance equipment. If one were seeking a good investment today, it appears that a company producing such devices would do well, as demand by the public for protective equipment for residences, office buildings and other property has been growing very rapidly. Fear of breaking and entering has caused some homes and businesses today to take on appearances and trappings of medieval fortresses. Private businesses are not only spending more for selfprotection, but in some parts of the country, they are forgoing gross receipts by closing earlier in the evenings or not doing business in cash after dark - only credit card sales. Ball games and other sports events are starting earlier and ending earlier in the evenings. And equally disturbing is the feeling among many citizens in certain parts of the Nation, exaggerated perhaps as such feelings might be, that they must arm themselves for protection of their persons or homes. Thus, we have seen a brisk increase in purchases of various kinds of personal protective devices. all the way from karate lessons to tear gas fountain pens to firearms. To give you an idea of the magnitude of private expenditures for defense of persons and property, it has been estimated that American citizens and businesses spend more than $2 billion annually on private security and crime control. To put this figure in perspective, it exceeds by over onehalf billion dollars the entire amount provided for programs to reduce crime in the Federal budget for the 1971 fiscal year. It is over 17 per cent as large as the total $11.5 billion that all levels of government, Federal, State and local, will spend for crime reduction programs in 1972. Two billion dollars of private expenditures in this area is quite a large amount of money. Viewed from any angle, it has alarming implications, legal and otherwise, not pleasant to contemplate. It is neither good economics nor good government for an essentially public function of law enforcement and crime prevention to become disseminated in the private sector and scattered among millions of individual citizens and vigilante groups.
SMAN WILBUR MILLS
Dinner of ASSOCIATION
路w York, New York 1971
President Leon Jaworski, Past President Bernard G. Segal, U.S. d outgoing ABA President Edward L. Wright of Littie Rock.
in the past and will serve it in the future. This room is full of them tonight - men and women who work sacrificially and unspectacularly and with dedication and devotion within the system to improve the quality of justice in the United States. The critical lovers of the law of whom I appreciatively speak recognize that the only way to preserve vital continuity and predictability is to provide available avenues for needed change not change for change's sake, but needed change. They do not go charging into the future erasing all that has gone before. Instead, they promote change within continuity - preserving the best of the past but also allowing for sensible accommodation to the present and future. That is the story of the development of the common law. That is the story of our legal system in this country. That is the story of the American Bar Association. As one who for three decades has been involved in the development of statutory law in the fiscal area, let me now focus a constructively critical eye on certain aspects of expenditures for law enforcement and crime control in this country that give me cause for concern. As many of you know, I have always followed the philosophy that if a job needs to be done, it is generally better to encourage its accomplishment through the private sector of the economy rather than through some government program, of which we have too many already. Specific instances of implementation of this policy may be found in the several Federal tax reduction acts that have been developed in the
Continued on page 56
55
Reforms In between the minimum tax and the maximum tax provisions and dispersed throughout the Code today are reforms that were unknown to the tax law ten years ago. For example, the Revenue Act of 1962 added a number of important reform amendments, including restrictions on deductible business entertainment and travel expenses, removal of foreign tax havens, a revision of the ru les relating to cooperatives and savings and loan associations, and a requirement for informational reporting by payors of dividends and interest. The Revenue Act of 1964 will be remembered as the largest tax reduction bill in history, but it also contained a number of significant tax reform provisions. The Excise Tax Reduction Act of 1965 extensively overhauled the Federal excise tax structure. This was a landmark enactment which not only reduced the importance of excise taxes in the Federal bUdget but greatly simplified the law with respect to those few excise taxes that remain in the Code. 1966 was also a significant year in Federal tax revision. The Tax Adjustment Act of 1966, among other things, provided for graduated withholding on individual taxpayers. The Foreign Investors Tax Act of that year was a systematic revision of the provisions of the Code relating to the tax treatment of nonresident aliens and foreign corporations. The Federal Tax Lien Act of 1966 achieved modernization of those provisions of the tax law concerned with the priority and effect of Federal tax liens. Then, in 1969, after long and arduous work that extended over an entire session of Congress, the Tax Reform Act of 1969 was enacted. This was the most comprehensive reform bill in the history of the income tax law, and undoubtedly, many of you here tonight are still struggling to find out all that is in it. I am sure that the decade of the 70's will find the Committee on Ways and Means just as active in the matter of income tax revision as it was in the 60's. Complete fairness, equity, neutrality, efficiency and simplicity are objectives that are never fully attained. They must be consistently and assiduously sought, however, if our great self-assessment system in this country is to continue to enjoy the confidence and support of the taxpayers. I might add that we on the Committee also have to keep busy and on our toes to keep current and meet the ingenious theories that individual members of this body construct in advising their clients on how to reduce tax bills.
Continued from page 55
Cause and Remedy But such a phenomenon does not occur among a traditionally peace-loving people without a basic cause. Undoubtedly, there are many causes or reasons why this has taken place. but it is undeniably clear that one contributing cause has been a growmg disrespect for law and order. It saddens me to observe that in some degree this in turn stems from the actions of some of the members of our own profession - even though it is a tiny minority. If the American Bar, above all organizations, cannot maintain among its own membership appropriate standards of decorum and decent behavior, with a decent respect for procedures hammered out over generations for the protec· tion of individual rights in our courts of law, then how can we expect others to have respect for our institutions of Justice? Let us here and now, as the one profession in this coun· try which has more to do with the preservation of individual rights than any other profession, determine to preserve and maintain proper standards, decorum and conduct within our courts of law. against the actions of the tiny minority of unloving critics within our midst. And let the courts them· selves appraise their actions and decisions over the past decade to see what part of the responsibility for presentday public attitudes may rest on their door-step. I, for one, do not absolve our Judges from some part of this responsi. bility. Let us also carefully review the things which need to be done to preserve confidence in our judicial system and the things which government needs to do to strengthen the fair and Just enforcement of the laws. I agree with Abraham Lincoln's oft quoted observation about the proper role of government. You will recall it was he who said, "The legitimate Object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they cannot, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well for them· selves." If there ever was a subject which fits Lincoln's definition of a legitimate Object of government it is public safety and law enforcement. Additional Federal assistance of the proper type to local units of government for this specific purpose of crime prevention at this Juncture might well prove a bargain to us many times over. Tax System Now let me turn to a subject on the other side of the fiscal coin. Let us take our attention from expenditures and focus on the machmery which provides the wherewithal for all the operations of the Federal Government. The basis for our Federal tax system is the compilation of substantive law contained in the Internal Revenue Code. That law has un· dergone virtual metamorphosis in the decade immediately ending. Certainly no other period in the life of our revenue system has witnessed comparable intensity of review and revision. One of the most Obvious examples is the change in income tax rates. Individual taxpayer rates at the beginning of the last decade ran from 20 per cent to 91 per cent. Today they are at a much lower range of 14 per cent to 70 per cent. Moreover, effective next year there will be an even lower maximum marginal rate of 50 per cent on earned income rather than the regUlar 70 per cent top bracket rate. The maximum tax rate on earned income in the current year is 60 per cent. This lower maximum tax has particular pertinence to members of the bar and others with considerable amounts of earned income. At the other end of the line, the law now has a minimum tax, which provides a 10 per cent tax on certain items of income which enJoy preferential treatment under the Code and would otherwise escape taxation.
Lawyers' Role On this point let me say that the Committee on Ways and Means depends on lawyers to provide substantive advice and technical assistance in tax reform. The Section of Taxation of this Association and its individual practicing members have always been most generous and have given unstintingly of their time and service in these matters. I understand that the Department of the Treasury is currently preparing recommendations for extensive revision of the pension and profit sharing provisions of the Code, for amendments in the foreign income area and for reform of estate and gift taxation. When these recommendations are received, we shall be calling on you again for the same high quality advice and counsel you have consistently provided us. Let me again express my appreciation to this distinguished Association. not only for your kind invitation to me to be here tonight, but more importantly for all you have done in the past in assisting the legislative branch of the Federal Government, and particularly the Committee on Ways and Means, in discharging the heavy responsibilities that have been entrusted to us by the people of this country.• 56
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THE HONORABLE WILBUR D. MILLS
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WrIte CCu 'y pa.y ~ d trIbute to Wilbur D M s "t r.r,m''"emor live f dlt'on of The A k 'I wy w eh at'empts to docume t In f "/S life and II/uS-
t"ou» career W bur 1,,4 h e ye great success in hiS endeavc,rs 'ld n S r ~ n y b rgely mstrument I n prop I g the State of Arkansas mto the sp"'lIght of Na.t,c, al prommence. Despl'e r s ronors 'ld stdture as Chairman of t"e Ways 'ld Me "s CommIttee m the U.S House of Represeptallves he remains a humble man The res de'lts of W"/le County still regard n,m as one 'If 'he ''Ilk' nd he IS often see'l shar g a mome'lt wIth hiS many frIends t"ere They 'III f nd hIT' dow,,-to-ear'h and dedicated t While C unty nd to Arkansas. HIS native COU'lty nc,w extends .ts thanks and appre~, t n to W,'bur D MI/ls m thIS salute.
Kensett, White County and Arkansas May Well Be Proud
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White County, Arkansas Kensett In White County. Arkansas is a rather typical small Southern or Midwestern town (pop. 1444). In fact, on the official 1969 Arkansas State Highway Map. Kensett is shown in "diamond type" which may be considered symbolic. A sign on the edge of town has proclaimed Kensell as "The home of Bill Dickey and Wilbur Mills." It is interesting to note the order of the names. Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Dickey of the New York Yankees is certainly one "diamond type." And Wilbur Mills is just as certainly another "diamond type." Kensett was a cotton ginning and railroad town on the Missouri-Pacific RR line from St. Louis to lillie
Rock. One of the nation's shortest railroads, the Doniphan, Kensett and Searcy, connects Kensett with Searcy, the County Seat of White County, with its RR tracks running close by the Mills' home. Wilbur D. Mills was born in Kensett on May 24, 1909. His father, Ardra P. Mills, came from Mississippi; his mother, nee Abbie L. Daigh, from Nebraska. The "D" in Wilbur D. Mills' name stands for Daigh, his mother's maiden name. A. P. Mills started a country general store. A. P. Mills also controlled the Bank of Kensett. Roger Q. Mills, Wilbur's brother, owns the now department store. Their mother, now some 90 years young, still lives in Kensett.
Our congratulations to our friend and neighbor - - - - - -
.QeOftcy FEDERAL .QW)il1.gg AND ~Oal1.
The Kensett Days . . The 1930 Hendrix Troubadour shows 52 gradu tong se~lors and has this to say about young Wilbur Mills' "High above the common rabble WI bur towers lo"ldlsturbed by life s ups and downs Something fine wlthon him prompts his gay 0 tlook on life. HIs splendid grades are ondlcatlve of m ::h gray alter Wilbur walks life's straight paths and IS a boon compamo~ 'or 'yone who IS 'down and out. Cupid has shot III a few tiMes much to the delight 0 some fair maidens. But, who attempts to loglze Mills? It would take volumes. It is enough to say that t>e IS the Individual boy that he is. '
HIS GraduatIOn Picture.
Wilbur Mills got his law degree at Harvard Law School in 1933, and was admitted to the Arkansas Bar. However, these were depression years, and MIlls went to work for a year as a Gash,er In the Bank of Kensett MIlls mamed Clarine Billingsley 'In May 27,1934. She was serv;ng as Postmaster and known to all as Polly
Bank of Kensett August 24, 1933.
Cashier WIlbur Mills with Bank Clerk LISSIE LEWIS -
We are delighted to loin
In
this tribute to one of our own
BANK OF KENSETT KENSETT, ARKANSAS
The study Df the law qualifies a man tD be useful tD himself, tD his neighbDrs, and tD the public. It is the mDst certain stepping stDne tD preferment in the political life. ThDmas JeffersDn
United States Representative William A. Oldfield was the boyhood hero of Wilbur Mills. Congressman Oldfield frequently visited A. P. Mills and others in Kensett to let them know what was going on at the Capitol. As Brooks Hays put it, "Wilbur was born to Politics - he heard politics talked in the country store."
When Wilbur Mills was 25, he ran for county and probate Judge in White County in 1934. He ran against a popu lar Judge from Searcy who had been in ottice for 16 years. His platform was to say "NO," promising to clear the County at 3/4 of its debt in his first year, or not to accept any salary for his second year. He was elected, serving 1934-38. He reducted his own salary from $3,600 to $2,000 per year, and removed a number of County otticials ott the "fee system." "That is why
Mills is so highly respected. Every man is satisfied knows that the county is now a business, only occasionally a charity, and that it is being run like a business" - C. P. Lee, Jr. in the 1935 Arkansas Gazette Magazine. In 1938 Wilbur D. Mills successfully ran for Congress. Seldom with any opposition, he has served 16 terms, representing the Second District in Arkansas.
It is particularly fitting that we sponsor this record of our colleague Wilbur Mills as White County Judge - - - - - -
THE WHITE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
To such men, their fellow citizens may safely entrust the care of protecting their patrimonial rights; and their country the most sacred charge of her laws and privileges. - Sir Walter Scott
Wilbur Mills recalls that since boyhood, he wanted to be in Congress and on the Ways and Means Committee. When he returned to Congress for his second term, he attempted to get an appointment to this prestigious Committee. As to what happened, let Congressman Mills put it in his own words, "But I neglected to talk with the leadership about it - as a result of which I got beat. Speaker Rayburn came up to me afterward and said he just didn't have any knowledge I'd wanted to be on Ways and Means. I should have told him and he could have got me on it. Next time around, I was put on without opposition." Speaker Sam Rayburn reportedly said, "Young man, if you want on, why don't you come around and talk to me about it?" So began a wonderful relationship between a Texan and an Arkansan. Undoubtedly, the Great American Sam Rayburn had a tremendous influence on Wilbur Mills. Mills became a member of the Committee on Ways and Means on October 15, 1942.
Speaker Sam Rayburn in foreground with Wilbur D. Mills - May 27, 1958.
It is our pleasure to join in this tribute . ...
SAMUEL BINGHAM COMPANY
WHITLEY LUMBER COMPANY
WESTERN AUTO ASSOCIATE STORE
KELLY'S GRILL
STOTTS DRUG COMPANY
To the end it may be a government of laws and not of men. - JOHN ADAMS
Perhaps, President Adams' statement could well be Wilbur Mills' creed as Chairman ot the Committee on Ways and Means. He has held the line with four presidents, since becoming Chairman in January 1958. He is the youngest Chairman in the Committee's history since JUly 24, 1789, when the First Congress established it. The Ways and Means Committee is composed of 15 Democrats and 10 Republicans in the present Congress. The Democ/atic side of the Ways and Means Committee also constitutes the Democratic Committee on Committees for the House of Representatives. Therefore, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is also the Chairman of the Committee on Committees. The Committee on Committees names all the Democratic Members to the other Committees in the House of Representatives. Since the Constitution requires that all tax legislation must originate in the House, the duties of the Ways and Means Committee cover a wide range of problems. Everything from reciprocal trade and management of the National Debt to social security and unemployment compensation is included in the framework of the Committee's responsibility in addition to income tax matters. Before his present term is up, he will have surpassed Congressman Robert L. Doughton, the first man he served under, as Chairman with the longest unbroken tenure. Power and influence do not automatically go with the office, and must be earned. However, some of his predecessors as Chairmen have been James K. Polk, Millard Filmore and William McKinley, all of whom became President of the United States.
President Johnson is reported to have said, "I am the coach and I send in signals to my quarterback for a pass, and he runs a playoff tackle."
While no "Ways" are really adequate, we use this "Means" to express our appreciation
FNB
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Searcy, Arkansas
The Greer's Gerry Dam dedication on October 3, 1963, was one of the last ceremonial appearances by President John F. Kennedy. He was assassinated November 22d. President Kennedy and Chairman Mills respected each other very much. When Mills asked the President to dedicate the Greer's Ferry Dam at Heber Springs, Arkansas, President Kennedy did so. In facland let us tell it in the President's own words, "The most significant reason I'm here is because of your distinguished Congressman." President Kennedy humorously added, "If he asked me to sing 'Down by the Old Mill Stream' I'd be delighted." The Greer's Ferry Dam picture showing President Kennedy and Chairman Mills side-by-side and smiling, hangs prominently in Wilbur Mills' Congressional office.
A Truly Historic Picture President Kennedy with Wilbur Miffs
Greers Ferry Dam as seen from observation deck near Corps of Engineers Office, Heber Springs, Arkansas
We of Jackson County are proud to join with White County in this salute to a great Arkansan . . . . , . WHITE RIVER PRODUCTION CREDIT ASSOCIATION NEWPORT FEDERAL SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION Newport, Arkansas
Life in Washington . ..
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Mrs. Wilbur D. Mills In a recent magazine series on Wilbur Mills, the author described Mrs. Mills as follows: "Polly Mills is 'attractive.' No other word will do. She must always have been called 'attractive' or 'vivacious' and when her face lights up with a smile, which is often, she 'attracts.' She is a slender woman, very outgoing, very interested, one of the Congressional wives most likely to turn up at hearings on the Hill."
In 1939, when Wilbur D. Mills went to Washington, he was a "freshman" Congressman, representing the second smallest Congressional District in the United States. The Mills rented a small apartment on Connecticut Avenue. They now live in a two-bedroom apartment - still on Connecticut Avenue, but a couple of blocks closer to downtown. The Smithsonian Zoo is right behind the apartment. Mills' younger daughter Rebecca Yates and her husband live nearby in Potomac, Maryland. Her daughter Stacey Bradford was born during her first marriage. Stacey is shown with her grandfather on the cover of this issue of The Arkansas Lawyer. The Mills' older daughter, Martha, lives with her husband, Jack Dixon, and their three children in Huntsville, Alabama. Wilbur Mills is an early riser and usually off for the "Hill" by 7:30 a.m. His normal day at the office ends sometime after 6:30 p.m. The Mills have not played the so-called Washington cocktail circuit, preferring their homelife. They have a stereo set and record library of light classical recordings. Mills listens - reads - does crossword puzzles - and tries to relax. Perhaps, this is why the Mills like to come home to their home in Kensett when they can - a one-story frame house on a well shaded lot on a narrow street with the RR alongside. And this last possibily explains Mills' reaction to the lions at the Smithsonian Zoo, "There's one fella seems to have a regular tantrum every night. It used to bother me some, those big lions roaring out there in the dark. But they don't bother me anymore." But perhaps, his 33 years in the Congress - - - - - -
We are delighted to add our names to this salute.
GENERAL FOODS CORP BIRDS EYE DIVISION-
L1TGHTlE, DOBBINS & LIGHTLE, INC.
B.J. PIERCE lUMBER COMPANY
BOlTONS, INC.
HEARD SAUSAGE
A school, a freeway and a park - dedicated to Wilbur D. Mills - seem a most appropriate combination - - children and education, business and budgets, leisure and ecology. ...
"From a tree stump vantage point Rep. Wilbur Mills, D-Ark., surveys 80 acres of park land donated to the citizens of Bryant, Ark., by Reynolds Metals. The park's name? Wilbur D. Mills Park - and it joins Wilbur D. Mills High School and the Wilbur D. Mills Freeway both in Little Rock: all three are physical monuments among the many proofs of the unquestioned devotion of Mills' constituents to the representative." - AP Newsfeatures Photo and Release, April 6, 1971.
While Jackson County no longer is in the Second Congressional District - we still feel that Wilbur Mills also belongs to us - to all Arkansans - and to every American ...
MERCHANTS & PLANTERS BANK THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK Newport, Arkansas
Of, By and For the People of Arkansas . ..
â&#x20AC;˘ Dardanelle Lake with Dam 3nti powerhouse foreground. Arkansas River Nav/gation Project
In
Wilbur D. Mills at 13, 1966.
D~rda,.eJle
0 m Dedication
"In
Toad Suck Bridge Dedication - Dr. J. H. Flanagen, Sr., Conway Miss City Beautyful Sheri Thompson, Wilbur D. Mills, C. W. Harper, President of Conway Chamber of Commerce.
As stated by President John Kennedy at the Greers' Ferry Dam dedication on October 3, 1963, Representative Wilbur D. Mills (Dem.-Ark.) represents his people and State tremendously well. Congressman Mills' interest in the betterment of Arkansas is further reflected by his part in the dedication ceremonies of the Dardanelle Dam in the Arkansas River navigation project on May 13, 1966 and in the Toad Suck Bridge Dedication on September 20, 1971.
May
As printer to The Arkansas Lawyer, it has been our privilege to assist in the production of this tribute HERITAGE PUBLISHING COMPANY P.O. Box 4068 North Little Rock, Arkansas
i
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The "Unpolitical Unrally" ...
"On August 26, 1971, the largest appreciation rally ever extended to any individual of this state was held in Barton Coliseum honoring Congressman Mills. Attending the rally were industrialists, business leaders, bankers, leaders of organized labor and 34 United States Congressmen coming from as far away as Oregon, Michigan and Massachusetts. The Coliseum was filled to overflow capacity with more than 12,000 Mills supporters, and thousands more gathered outside, unable to get in. The closing of the gates 30 minutes before Mills' party arrived created mammoth problems for the fire marshalls and the police who were holding back a swarming crowd. The situation forced state legislators, public officials, and many well known Arkansans, to crash the gates through back entrances. On the speakers' platform were Governor Bumpers, the other constitutional officers, the Congressional delegation, and many other out-of-state dignitaries. Miss Mary Lou Burg, Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee described Mills as, "A legend in his own lifetime." Leonard Woodcock, President of the United Automobile Workers said, "Few men are more skilled in making this nation work than Wilbur Mills." Representative Carl Albert (D.-Okla.), Speaker of the House, said of Mills, "He is big enough, he is firm enough, he is intelligent enough to hold, with outstanding distinction, any public office in the United States of America." When the program began at 7:30, approximately 10,000 persons were gathered outside the Coliseum gates unable to get in. As each speaker finished his part on the program he was escorted outside where he again delivered his remarks to the crowd there." - Cover Story
We use this opportunity - on behalf of all who wanted, but were unable, to attend the Rally to express their admiration for their fellow American.
I wlsn pc,pularlty but ,t s tl> 'popul r tl whIch follows no' that wl>'CQ 'S run after It IS that popular 'y WQlch, sooner or ' ter ne~er fal,s to do lust,ce to t"e pursuit of noble ends, by noble meen$ ("rd MansflelC, C J 11770)
ME.M:kF< ARKAI'II;:,A'> BAR ASSO
ATI Our pelitIC' I system is a great mystery '0 me Suppose you had a P rllmenta y system. I suppose W,lhur would be r ght at the top r ow Sen J WIlliam Fulbright I I Ok at what the country IS
se k,ng now If It were run by a boare! of dtrectors and they had to select man strIctly on the basis of who would run 'hlS country effIciently they would choose this ma,. - Rep. Hugh Carey ID-N. Y ) It s "Iways enjoyable to work with pro whether you're with him or gm him Certamly he has to rank WIth the top people on the Hill in ability' White House aide "He IS a consensus man. He listens long and finally puts his own stamp on things. He has his 0plfllons but Qe Qas been malleable e'lough to take other people s "pinions. He is as pers tent and smart a person as I've run 'nto, ve ry fair to his colleagues - Rep. Sam Gibbons D路Fla I W,lbur M,lIs Is probably one 0(. tl'e most talented men in our gover'lment a man With great exper ence WQO has been sucessful IfI steering many Import 'lt programs through the House VIce President Spiro T. Agnew , If I were a nat on I nCldate I ",ould be r pt ve t the oil shes of the people of the Un,ted St tes as I wa to tne peop e f my State Wilbur D MIlls
One of the out tanding legis lat'lrs /f/ the history of the RepubIIG Robert H Fmch, then HEW Secretary
One fmal Item the new 1971 Arkensas _ '3te Hlgl>way Map prints Kensett in 'Nonpareil" type. Nonpareil generally "lea'lS somethin ot unequalled excellence. UndOUbtedly WIlbur D Mills has added to hIS ho"-etown s status
similar to NO.2 (above) but without the application may be used. In this case, interested students will send you a resume. Remember, these are only hints to hopefully persuade you to give our new service a try. Anything you desire to have us do will be done, it is our job and goal to help and serve you, so that the law student will get a good "looking over" by the states top attorneys and the top firms. Simply write us, including all necessary details of what you need, and we will promptly comply. Write to:
by Professor Robert Brockmann Applications for admission to the fall 1972 beginning class at the Law School are being received at a record rate and indications are that they will far surpass last year's flood. There are two LSAT testings, one in February and one in April yet to come. The new student director of the placement service at the Fayetteville division is Russ Meeks of little Rock. When asked to describe his new program to the Arkansas bar, Russ responded as follows: "Tne University of Arkansas Law Student Placement Service is in the struggling stages of developing into a valuable tool for your law firm and for the graduating law student. The purposes of our placement service are many. The ultimate goal is but one to aid our law graduates in their step from student to practitioner. Or more simply expressed, to help each man or woman, to find the best job available for him, at a specific time and at a specific place. The goal is a worthy one, but not easily attained. If you are interested in using our program to provide you with the chance to choose a highly qualified person to fill your needs, there are several alternatives that you may follow. (1) Interview. If you are interested in getting a first hand look at each prospect, a session of personal interviews held at the Fayettevi lIe Law School Building (Waterman Hall) would be to your advantage. Simply notify us that this is your plan and we will work with you by handling all of the details such as the location, times of the interviews and scheduling the applicants at your convenience. (2) Application. If you would prefer a method other than an interview, another very effective process is to have the applicants send you a completed application upon which you can make a tentative decision and then schedule a later interview. In this process, we will have all interested prospects to complete the application and send them to you by a final
deadline date, to be set by you. Also, you should send us a copy of your application form. (3) Resume: If your positions to be filled are very few and you plan to only have a few apply, a process
William R. Meeks III Law Student Placement Service University of Arkansas Law School c/o Mr. James W. Gallman Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
'Seventy-seven students were named to the honor roll of the University
School of Law, Fayetteville Division, for the fall semester.
The Honorable Lyle Brown of the Arkansas Supreme Court received a certificate denoting his honorary initiation into Phi Alpha Delta International Law Fraternity following ceremonies here recently. The Justice of the 125 member chapter from the School of Law, Robert Cloar, presented the certificate. Once a year the members elect a non-PAD who has distinguished himself in the legal profession. Judge Brown's career, his opinions from the bench, and his significant contributions while on
numerous bench and bar committees brought him to the students' attention. Phi Alpha Delta is the largest of the three nationwide law fraternities with chapters at 114 schools in this country and Canada. The Augustus H. Garland Chapter was formed in Little Rock in 1908 and moved with the law school to Fayetteville in 1927. Other recent PAD Honorary Members include Congressman Wilbur Mills, Supreme Court Justices Carleton Harris and Frank Holt, and Attorney Neva Talley .â&#x20AC;˘
57
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58
A Legal Seminar...
''LAW FOR EVERYONE" A Community Services Project sponsored jointly by
Sebastian County Bar Association and
Westark Junior College 18 January-23 May, 1972 (Editor's note: The Bar and the General Public are indebted to the Sebastian County Bar Association and Westark Junior College for this living memorial. Association President Robert T. Dawson has written this commentary.) In May of 1971, a young attorney from Fort Smith, Thomas G. Graves, was killed in an automobile accident outside of Russellville. Two other outstanding young men were killed in this accident, and the wives of all three men were seriously injured. The entire City was shaken by this tragedy but nowhere was the loss felt as deeply as in the legal community. Tom was a native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, and had been a member of the Arkansas Bar and the firm of Warner, Warner, Ragon & Smith since his graduation from O.U. in 1963. Tom was a very competent attorney and was quite active in all Bar Association activities. The Bar Association wanted to do something in memory of Tom that would be both lasting and meaningful to both the Bar and the community. The idea of a community service course to be taught at Westark Junior College was then conceived. Chancellor Warren O. Kimbrough was asked to serve as Project Chairman and proceeded to formu late the Seminar. Judge Kimbrough has done an outstanding job of organizing what we believe to be a very informative and stimulating community service program. The program is open to the general public and is conducted free of charge. The response thus far has been very enthusiastic as 86 people attended the first session and over 100 the second session. We anticipate that the enrollment will continue to increase throughout the course. Although we are very proud of the attendance figure, I think a much more telling factor is the people that we are reaching in this Seminar. We have everything from factory workers to retired people to high school students actively involved in the seminar. The course is entitled "Law for Everyone", and is designed to better inform the general public with
tendance, and these sheets are most helpful in determining both the strong points and the weaknesses of the program. These critique sheets will be assembled at the end of the program and hopefully will enable us to present better programs along the same lines in the future. At this point perhaps it is premature to talk about what the Sebastian County Bar Association will do in the future, but it is the feeling of the Bar that we should continue a program of this type on a regular basis. There has also been some discussion about conducting a credit course at Westark, and placing the salary that an instructor would receive into a scholarship fund. By conducting this law seminar, we hope to better inform the general public about the law and especially the role that lawyers play. We hope that at the conclustion of the program the general public will have a better understanding and opinion of law and of lawyers.â&#x20AC;˘
reference to our legal system, its nature. needs and processes. The first session began on Tuesday night, January 18, and the sessions will continue for two hours each Tuesday night each week through May 23, 1972. All members of the Sebastian County Bar Association are participating in the program and the members that have participated are most enthusiastic about the reception that the program is receiving. The course is divided into ten sections and each section has a leader and several attorneys. The sections include the Court system, criminal law, real property, personal property, wills and trusts, bankruptcy, taxation, injuries to the person or property, insurance, business entities, civil and constitutional rights and family relations. Various methods of presentation are utilized by teams, including panels, lectures, films, handouts and case discussion. We obtain critique sheets from the persons in at-
Director Harold Hile of Community Services at Westark Junior College discusses "Law for Everyone" lectures with President Robert Dawson of the Sebastian County Bar Association and Judge Warren Kimbrough, Project Chairman.
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PHOTO Highlights 19th Mid-Year Meeting and Standards Workshop III January 20-21, 1972 Arlington Hotel Hot Springs, Arkansas
The Challenges Are Being Met In Arkansas Text of Address by Mr. Justice Tom C. Clark at the opening joint session of the 19th Mid路Year Meeting of the Arkansas Bar Association and of the Arkansas Judges' and Prosecuting Attorneys' Workshop III on Standards for Criminal Justice路 January 20, 21, 1972,
(Editor's Comment: "Strike a Medal for Arkansas" - these are the words of Mr. Justice Clark. The Arkansas Bench and Bar and Legislature have the right to feel proud of his commendation. The programs for disciplinary enforcement and implementation of the Standards for Criminal Justice will continue. "No, Mr. Justice Clark, it was our privilege to have you with us - the latch is always out for you in Arkansas,") Mr. Deacon, Mr. Chief Justice, and our other fellows of the Bench and Bar, it is indeed a great privilege to be back here. This is my fourth offense, Mr. Chief Justice. I suppose that gives me a life sentence, at least. (Laughter.) I don't know why, unless you are glutons for punishment, you would have me back so many times: but I appreciate it very much because, as I was telling the general manager of the hotel, I just love his lare. Sometimes I have to take the baths - afterwards. I also love it because I get such a warm welcome. I come among ye, and ye take me in. It's like the story young Henry Ford told me. I went over on the Queen Elizabeth II to the bar meeting last summer: and Henry 111 was on the boat. He was telling me about his - I guess it would be his great-grandfather. when he went over to Ireland. While Henry Ford was there. some priests called on him. They told him of this chapel that they had tried to build but that they had run out of money and couldn't complete it: and that it would take about $50.000.00 to complete it. He finally told them he would give them $5,000.00. The next morning he went down to breakfast. He picked up a paper and saw an item in it that said Mr. Ford had agreed to give them $50,000.00. He was a lillie disturbed about that. When he went to his room
later, there was a knock on the door. The same priests came in and they said, "Mr. Ford, we're very much embarrassed over the item in the paper. They misunderstood what we said, and we're going to ask them to correct it this afternoon and say it's only $5,000.00." So Mr. Ford said, "Well, maybe we ought to talk it over." Finally he said, "You know, I might give you the $50,000.00 if you would let me pick some phrase out of the Bible and put it over the door to the entrance to the chapel." They readily agreed, and he went on back home. They wrote him a letter and said they were waiting breathlessly to get the scripture or psalm that he wanted them to use, So he sent them back a psalm and verse; and it said, "I came amongst ye, and ye took me in." (Laughter.) Now, Mr. Chief Justice, you took me in in a different way - just the opposite and I do appreciate it very much. Being a neighbor from Texas, I appreciate it all the more. I came here today - I left Washington at 7:00 this morning and I am going back at 4:50 - because I wanted to meet with you and exchange ideas, and also to congratulate you on two phenomenal steps that you have taken recently in the area of the improvement of justice, not only civil but criminal justice. One of those areas is in the area of discipline, about which we have talked before. The other is in the area of the Standards of Criminal Justice, which you know the ABA prepared after a five-year study. and which are now being studied by thirty states, and which we hope to become adopted in all of the states in due time. I happen to chair the Committee to implement the standards and that's why I am anxious to give it a little plug. Togetherness Now. getting back to the reason why I really came here. It is because you have a togetherness in Arkansas
that is not, I think, exhibited in any other state. By "togetherness," 1 mean that all of us who are in public life have problems. The courts have problems, and as the Chief Justice knows, they get kicked around. Sometimes the Federal Courts get a little more kicking around than the state courts do. The legislature sometimes gets kicked around, and sometimes the executives get kicked around. Sometimes they fight one another. They do not agree. You have read about these incidents in the paper yourself. But I must say that in Arkansas, unlike any other state, any other state and I make no exception - you have a "togetherness" in this regard that no other state exhibits. I say this because your legislature, not too far back, passed an enabling statute that permits your Supreme Court not only to adopt these disciplinary rules, which you did adopt, which an Arkansan developed - Ed Wright, in his Code of Professional Responsibilitybut it also gave the Supreme Court the power to implement these rules. As Chief Justice Hughes so much emphasized, the rules we make, just like the Constitution itself, are just a piece of paper un less we implement them and bring them to reality; and unless we enforce them and' bring them home to every person among us. So when the Arkansas legislature passed this act which enabled the Supreme Court not only to implement the necessary rules but also adopt the Standards of Criminal Justice, I take off my hat to them. I take off my hat to the Supreme Court of Arkansas for catching the ball. It was quite a pass and they caught the ball and made a touchdown, just like well, I shouldn't mention the Cowboys, I guess, but that's my home town and so I suppose I have the privilege to mention them. Disciplinary Enforcement In any event, the Chief Justice and
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the Supreme Court of Arkansas caught the ball. They immediately adopted the Code of Professional Responsibility. but they didn't stop there. No, they didn't stop there. You call it unification. In some parts of the United States, we call it integration. Here. it's unification. They unified the Bar insofar as financial support was concerned for the disciplinary program, and they appointed a committee. a Supreme Court committee not a committee of the bar or the executive, not a committee of the legislature, but a committee of the Supreme Court of the State of Arkansas. As a result, this committee went immediately into action. They found out. as all committees do sooner or later, that the $2.00 the Court had adopted as a tax. you might say, on the unified or the entire bar was hardly sufficient. As I pointed out some two years ago when I was here - and I appreciate Mr. Deacon having me here; he was then president of the Arkansas Bar Association $2.00 was not sufficient because it would not bring in over $4,500.00 or $5,000.00, Of course, that would be insufficient. When 1 came back today, I was happy to pick up a paper and see the picture of the young man whom you have selected to be the executive secretary of this committee and who would enforce these rules. I read of his having been associated for many years, even prior to my time on the Supreme Court, with the FBI. I know that you have made a good selection; that your committee, Mr. Chief Justice, has made a good selection. I am the prouder of you and each of the members of the Court in passing this rule and increasing the $2.00 take to $17.00. I know that's quite a jump. I noticed that one of the papers had a comment. They commented it was quite a jump. but it was a deserved Jump, they said, one that will bring effective justice to the people and make them realize the Bar can, and the Bar will, police itself and see to it that all members of the Bar obey these canons or these rules that Ed Wright's committee drew up and which were adopted by the ABA and later adopted by the Supreme Court of Arkansas, thereby becoming effective in Arkansas itself. 1 know, and you know, this is just the beginning. This is just the beginning. But this togetherness, if it continues, is going to prove successful; and I am sure it will continue. As I told the North Carolina Bar last Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina, they should take a leaf out of the book of
Arkansas. I have told no less than fifteen or twenty states the same thing in the last year or so, after Arkansas showed this great speed in seeing that the disciplinary problem was solved here. When the Supll1me Court raised the take from $2.00 to $17.00, I hollered, "Hallelujah," because I knew then it was a reality. a reality right here in Arkansas - a small bar, yes, but as Daniel Webster said in the Dartmouth College case, "It's a small college, but there are those who love it.,. And there are those who love this bar, and I am one of them. There wi II be a greater harvest of success by this order of the Supreme Court of Arkansas. The Standards Now, let's get down to the second point. The second point is on the Standards of Criminal Justice. You read much and you hear much of the crime wave. Some people say that it is greater than others, but we all admit it is greater than it should be. I know, and you know possibly, that you don't walk around your neighborhood as much after dark as you used to. I don't, and I'm sure that is true in many areas of the United States. Now, how are we gOing to solve this? We are not going to solve it by bickering and carrying on with one another. I was in New York the other day. The Commissioner, head man of the police department, said, "Well, the courts the courts are to blame.
They turn out men who are hardened criminals and who run around and commit crimes." Of course, the courts didn't turn them out at all. The courts there give as heavy a sentence as any court in the United States, and they didn't turn them out. The only people who can'turn them OUf are the parole board or the governor, but the courts couldn't do it. The idea I want to get over: this togetherness is necessary, this togetherness is necessary. We shou Id not start biting one another back. Just try to get together and try to work it out. It is a problem bigger, bigger, bigger than the courts can solve. It is bigger than the bar can solve itself, or the legislature can solve itself, or the governor can solve himself. We have to have a togetherness of all the people in order to solve this problem of crime in the United States. There is much we must do. Action You are going to talk about some of it in the sentencing procedures you have today, which I think is one of the most important Standards. Other sections, like the omnibus hearing, I put in the top ones in importance because they will expedite, expedite, the disposition of the cases. Through such disposition of the cases, you will find that a deterrent will be present to stop some of this criminal intent and Continued on page 66
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criminal action taking place in the country today. So I think these Standards, you might say, are a charter of effective criminal justice throughout the United States; and the sooner the states adopt them, the sooner they will find that the crime wave will be better from the standpoint of law enforcement. I believe that through a togetherness of our police departments, through a togetherness of our people, and through a togetherness of our three branches of government, we will be able to solve this problem.
Arkansas Now, I think that you have gone further, you have gone further, than any other state with regard to the adoption of part of the Standards. You have not adopted all of them because you have not had an opportunity yet. Your committee, the committee on criminal procedures, has not had an opportunity to develop all of them, to study them. We are not telling you, Mr. Chief Justice, or your Court, to adopt them carte blanche. Not at all. There are some I do not agree with, and there are some that I understand you do not agree with. But you adopt the ones that you think would help - you are the jUdge - that you think would help in the enforcement of criminal law in the great State of Arkansas. Through the adoption of these for example, the speedy trial - you have gone further than most of the other states. Indeed, only ten states have adopted any rules at all; thirty have taken them under study; some of
them have not done anything at all. My own state of Texas - they picked out Florida, Texas and Arizona as pilot states, and not one of them has adopted any rule to this time.
Strike a Medal So I am taking Arkansas as an example now. I think they ought to strike a special medal for Arkansas. I am going to suggest this to the American Bar Association and its Board of Governors because these two such important areas to the bar and to the public, the area of discipline among lawyers - God knows that we need it and the area of improvement in criminal procedures through the adoption of standards of practice, are the most important in the branches of law that they affect. For your having done so much and giving example for the whole United states, I think that the American Bar Association, representing a hundred fifty-odd thousand lawyers through our country, should recognize it; and so I hope the twelve different states represented in your meeting. I am impressed. You have twelve states represented in this mid-winter meeting. Very few bars would have that even in an annual meeting. I hope that these twelve states will join me in trying to get this recognition. Again, I am happy to be here again to shake your hand, to look you in the eye, and to tell you that I am your friend, that I am for what you are attempting to do, and that if there is anything that I can do to assist you, you should call me up as quickly as possibie. It's somewhat like the story about Adlai Stevenson a great man, a
great man. The American Bar Association one time had asked Mr. Nixon to make a speech, before he was President. You may remember, though most of you would be too young, that Mr. Nixon in closing the door of his car caught his hand in the door and hurt his hand pretty badly. He could not come to the meeting. This happened on the same day. They commenced to look around to try to find a substitute. They sent emissaries to Adlai Stevenson to ask him to come, and he said he could not do it. Then finally, they called him direct and asked him. He said, "Fine, I'll come right over." He said in the speech that night, "That reminds me of a story." He always had a story to illustrate. He said, "There's the story of this lady that had strayed from the straight and narrow path, and so she went to confession. She confessed her sins to the preacher, and he said to 'sin no more. Go forth and sin no more.' And he was hoping he would not see her anymore. But, unfortunately, the next Sunday when he was going to the door to greet his parishioners as they came out, he saw her in the audience. He watched for her in the aisle. As she got to him, he decided to ask her a question first to set the pace. So he took her hand and he said, 'Sister, I prayed for you for two hours last night.' And she looked him in the eye and she said, 'Parson, you were wasting your time. If you'd called me up, I would've come right over.' " (LaughteL) So you just call me up; I'll come right over. Thank you. (Applause. Standing ovation.).
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appear as violent advocates of mass-nan-observance of the law. I cannot agree with their view. I suggest that there is no greater social injustice than paralyzing the function of government. I suggest further that it is both a contradiction in terms and a self-defeating revolutionary tactic to attempt to change a law by refusing to obey it. As Mr. Justice Holmes indicated, the great quality of the Common Law is its flexibility. Thus, in its smallest application, flexibility enables a court to apply its abstract principles to the precise facts of the case before it, to bend the law, within limits, to justice as dictated by customs. In its larger aspects, it enables the Common Law to expand with the customs themselves. However, it seems clear that it is beyond the power of the law, legislative or judicial, to change the deep basic customs of the people, as our country learned during prohibition. Why? Because if, as Edmund Burke declared of the Colonies, "you cannot indict a whole people," it is even more impossible to convict a whole people, both through sheer weight of numbers and because they themselves are the jury. Accordingly, nothing breaks down law enforcement more than an attempt to enforce a law which the vast mass of the people will not observe.
It is a great privilege for me to join with my brothers in the legal profession in this fine meeting of the Missiouri Bar Association. Arkansans and Missourians have a close kinship of interest in many things, geographic, economic, social, and not the least of which is our sharing of common views on the significance of our legal traditions and customs and the importance of maintaining the integrity of our legal system. The sUbject I have chosen today might be entitled "Some Reflections on the State of Our Legal System." I might add that under the pressures of the times, those of us who serve in the Congress, particularly as chairmen of committees, have precious little time to reflect deeply on any particular subject, certain Iy not the time we would all like to have. Law and Custom Mr. Justice Holmes in his classic on the Common Law offers as chief evidence of its majesty that in nine times out of ten, the judge on the Bench arrives at the same decision as wou Id the citizen on the street. It seems to me that in this simple observation the great Justice distilled much of the history and a great deal of the wisdom of the human race. He suggests, for example, that while law and custom are interlocking, law is derived more from custom than custom from law. Certainly, this is true historically. There were customs long before there were written laws, and indeed, it is scarcely 40 centuries since there have been even primitive written codes of law. Even today there are primitive socities. who have no written languages, but which are nevertheless governed by custom. Custom, indeed, is the basic law of the land, for again, as Mr. Justice Holmes observed, "The Criminal Law does not define what a good man should do; it defines what happens to a bad man if he doesn't." From this, our English cousins have derived an axiom. which taught and accepted by the English people, has brought them a degree of domestic tranquility which we have yet to attain. That simple axiom is that the essence of a good citizenship is the observance of the unenforceable. It will be seen in this that I suggest that in our current thinking on the state of the law, some are putting the cart before the horse. More particularly, it seems reasonably apparent to me that the legal break-
Remarks of Honorable Wilbur D. Mills Before the Missouri Bar Association Kansas City, Missouri - Dctober 7, 1971 down in law enforcement is caused by the moral breakdown in the custom of law observance. Perhaps it is a mark of the seriousness of our times that a case must be made for the observance of the law. The fact is that some leading psychologists and sociologists - a whole school of thought, in fact - bitterly blame the Government both for social injustice and lack of law enforcement while they simultaneously
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End of Violence But if there is one law the American people will observe, and in fact, are insistent upon its enforcement, it is that there be an end of violence. This, I suggest, is imbedded in the deep subconscious of the humari race, for it has been its tragic experience that the most dingy of courtrooms is far more civilized than the most resplendent of dueling grounds and battlefields. It is agreed that the law changes; but I suggest that it is not less sacred because it does and indeed, they misname as its fault one of its great virtues. I am deeply concerned because the failure to exercise powers already in existence to quell the outrageous violence of the small minorities who attempt to suppress the rights of the vase majority has led the majority into believing that they are unprotected in their rights to liberty, and indeed, to
life itself. It concerns me deeply when the American Bar Association President reports that 60 per cent of the American people will accept a suspension of the Bill of Rights and that 66 per cent have no confidence in the Supreme Court. It concerns me more when 83 per cent of the people indicate that they believe that there is a complete breakdown in law enforcement and yet 85 per cent believe more force should have been used at Kent State. I hold that violence of the majority is no answer to the violence of a minority. I hold that that Constitution which has stood us in good stead for nearly two centuries is enduring enough for the next - provided it and its laws are backed by the overwhelming moral force of the American people. To that end, I suggest that we resort to that first and most fundamental of all moral laws, that at no time or at any place is it lawful to use unlawful violence against the state. I hold that the first duty of our government is to maintain the domestic peace, and that such absolute duty is subject to no negotiation, at any time or at any place, with any violent group within its territorial jurisdiction. To hold otherwise is to return to a form of feudalism, to concede that there are permissible areas within the United States where its writ does not reign. To tolerate such a monstrous proposition is to cast the country into guerilla war and I regretfully note, that there are those among us who wou Id do so. I am of the opinion that on the problem of the maintenance of the domestic peacewe must stand out with the answer and the answer is that every ounce of force within the state must be marshalled to maintain the Government and the Constitution.
Domestic Tranquility The continuation of domestic tranqUility by the use of force, however, most certainly does not mean the obtrusion of force into our customs. The right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for redress of grievances connotes also the highest duly and requirement on the part of the Government to hear patiently, sensitively, and compassionately the source of their complaints with an earnest, sustained, and energized policy of redressing them within its means. By the same token, of course, the inalienable rights of the First Amendment have as their corollary the duty to support that Government which affords them. Here again, one turns to Mr. Justice Holmes
and his adage in a page of historical experience as compared with a chapter of logic. In vain, the free people of the German Republic urged that the right to criticize was founded on the desire to help. They did not prevail. The Nazi minority used the Geneva Bill of Rights to destroy their own Bill of Rights. They tormented the right of assembly into the power to form violent mobs, and having once intimidated the popu lation into giving them membership in the Reichstag, they used their seats to prevent the House from transacting public business and in the end, they actually used the elective process to abolish the elective process. To my mind, to a lesser degree, certain members of the Bar are using their privileged positions to prevent fair trials, or indeed, any trials at all. Frightful and obscene abuse of the Judges; packing of the courtrooms with avowed disciples of violence; "encouraged," if not prearranged, disorder within the courtroom; dangerous mob action within the courthouse squares; to say nothing of flagrant violations of the Cannons of Ethics and, indeed, court rules binding on counsel during trial of a case, in my opinion, constitute grounds for disbarment which cannot be longer ignored if the Bar Association is to maintain its dignity and even more importantly, the respect of the people. Let us not mistake this: it is not the defendants, but the people, who in many instances, cannot obtain a fair trial, or indeed, any trial at all.
Changing Times It is perfectly obvious to any sane, let alone fair person, that these are times of great social upheaval. But, if I may again refer to that great jurist, Mr. Justice Holmes observed that differentiation is the mark of a civilized man. The subterranean upheaval which brought the North American continent up from the seabed, from our standpoint was obviously beneficial. The recent upheaval of the earthquake in Los Angeles was no more beneficial geographically than the social upheavel in San Quentin prison. There was a vast social upheaval in the United States in 1776 - which resulted in a Constitution for a free people. There was a vast social upheaval in many countries in the 20th Century, by which Nazis and Communists abolished the rights of all individuals in totalitarian states. Differentiation must obviously be made as between these upheavals. We cannot permit any minorities to gain totalitarian control of the United States by interfering with its lawful processes, and by the same token, we should be mad indeed if we adopted totalitarian measures by the majority to stop the totalitarian activities of the minorities. We have the laws, and we have the law enforcement forces and we have the courts necessary to protect ourselves. It seems to me that our first duty as lawyers is to expel from our midst those members of the Bar who wou Id use the law to defeat the law and the open forum of the courts to abuse the courts themselves.â&#x20AC;˘
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Solicitation Explanation tor Failure to Timely File Forms 990 The Tax Reform Acl of 1969 imposes a penally of $10 per day on organizations which fail to timely file a required Form 990 or report of the foundation manager. Because of the severity and newness of the penalty, the Internal Revenue Service has decided to afford the organization every opportunity to establish reasonable cause prior to assertion of the penalty. In case a Form 990 or report from a foundation manager is received after the prescribed grace periods and is not accompanied by an explanation of the reason for lateness, the Mid-Atlantic Service Center (for all Forms 990 except 990-P) will send Form 4816 to the organization and solicit an explanation for the failure to timely file. Computation of Minimum Tax Internal Revenue Service Centers have been requesting Forms 4626 in all cases where corporations had Section 1201 gains. As a resu It of a question raised by the Federal Taxation Committee of the Arkansas Society of CPA's, the Internal Revenue Service has announced that the Service Centers will now request Form 4626 only when the alternative tax applies (or some other item of tax preference is apparant). Corporations need file Form 4226 with respect to capital gains only if the alternative tax applies. Withholding Allowances E. E. Cook, Jr., District Director, Internal Revenue Service, Uttle Rock, suggests that practitioners be reminded that the withholding allowance for Standard Deduction, and Additional Withholding Allowances for Itemized Deduction, lines 3 and 6 of new Form W-4 are solely for withholding purposes. Their clients should be instructed to claim only those personal and dependency exemptions to which they are entitled when filing Estimated Tax Returns and when filing their Form 1040 for the year.
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