January 2001 

A Story Goes With It

by Kent A. Gernander

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During my early years in practice, outstate district courts opened each term with a calendar call. Lawyers with pending cases were summoned for the opening of the term, to report on status and receive trial assignments or continuances. It was a social event as well, a gathering of most of the lawyers from the area and some from beyond. It was an opportunity to converse, possibly to settle a case, to show off a new suit, and for some a chance to get in a round of golf.

Bill Hull, a Winona lawyer, always had cases on the calendar. They were seldom ready for trial, and Bill usually wanted them continued. Such requests were routinely granted, but Bill insisted on stating his reasons, generally obscure but related at length. Judge Glenn Kelley would listen with a tolerant smile, knowing that to hurry Bill would only lengthen the tale. Everyone remembers Bill’s stories, but noone can relate one, except to say that a favorite had something to do with a missing witness, a pregnancy, and a dog.

It is tempting to reminisce of collegial times and to lament their passing. It has also become commonplace to lament a decline in the professionalism of lawyers. Much of the lamenting comes from lawyers genuinely and seriously interested in the subject. They point to recent instances of contentious and uncivil behavior, dishonesty, venality, crass advertising, and the like. While advocating higher standards of behavior (a laudable goal), they suggest that there has been a decline from the standards of another generation or time.

To this suggestion, one may ask: By what measures? And from what period?

Professionalism, by most measures, has never been higher. Today’s lawyers, compared to those of any previous time, are smarter, better trained, more skilled, and do better work for their clients; they are governed by stricter ethical rules; and they perform more public service.

Lawyers today play a larger role in society’s business and affairs. The number of lawyers has increased dramatically over recent decades. In Minnesota, there were about 5,000 lawyers in 1960, compared to 22,000 today. They deal with a wider range of more complex matters, and are more highly specialized.

Despite the larger numbers entering the profession, qualifications have never been higher. Law school admissions are highly selective, measured by grades, achievements and test scores. The traditional law school curriculum has been enriched by clinical practice programs, volunteer activities, and student publications. Bar examination pass rates are high.

Lawyers today receive continuing professional education under rules first adopted in Minnesota in 1975. Requirements for courses in ethics and elimination of bias were added in 1995.

Lawyers today are a more inclusive and diverse group. Women were scarce in the profession 40 years ago; today they comprise about half of those entering the profession. Racial and ethnic minorities have joined the profession in significant numbers only in recent years. Achieving diversity and eliminating bias remain challenges, but we are certainly a better profession for the progress of recent years.

Lawyers today are governed by clearer, stricter and more comprehensive ethical rules than in the past. Discipline is administered by independent boards and professional staffs, created and funded largely in the last 40 years.

Client security funds today offer reimbursement to clients who suffer losses from lawyer dishonesty. Minnesota’s Client Security Fund, created in 1987, is among the nation’s best-funded and most liberal in claim rules and limits.

Since 1976, Minnesota lawyers impaired by alcoholism and chemical dependency have been helped by volunteers through Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers. In 2000, a Lawyer Assistance Program was established, expanding such help to depression and other emotional illnesses. Similar programs now exist in many other states.

Lawyer participation in professional activities continues to grow. Minnesota lawyers serve on Supreme Court boards that oversee lawyer discipline, judicial conduct, bar admissions, continuing education, client security funds, and lawyer trust accounts -- as well as committees that study court rules, judicial administration, and other matters. The 15,000 members of the MSBA work through more than 60 committees and sections. Lawyers also participate in specialty bar associations and other professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, which is the largest voluntary professional association in the world.

Lawyers provide pro bono legal services to the disadvantaged and to public service agencies. They contribute money to legal service organizations. They also contribute money and services to charitable organizations. While such public service is hard to measure, by most accounts lawyers are doing more today than at any time in the past.

So if the question is whether the legal profession was better in the past than it is today, ask a woman lawyer, or a lawyer of color. Or ask a recovering alcoholic lawyer. Or ask a client with a discipline complaint or a claim against a dishonest lawyer. Or ask an indigent criminal defendant, or a legal aid client. Or ask a volunteer coordinator.

Professional improvements remain necessary and possible. That is one of the main reasons our Association exists. However, we should acknowledge and celebrate our successes, and we should not lament a decline in professionalism from an imagined past.

Kent A. Gernander is president of the MSBA. A general practice and trial lawyer in the Winona firm of Streater & Murphy, P.A., he is a graduate of Harvard College and of the University of Minnesota Law School.