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THE GREEN BAG
establishment of a well-merited reputation for professional capacity and fidelity to trust. This cannot be forced, but must be the outcome of character and conduct. The publication or circulation of ordinary simple business cards, being a matter of personal taste or local custom, and some times of^convenience, is not per se improper. But solicitation of business by circulars or advertisements, or by personal communi cations or interviews, not warranted by personal relations, is unprofessional. It is equally unprofessional to procure business by indirection through touters of any kind, whether allied real estate firms or trust companies advertising to secure the drawing of deeds or wills or offering retainers in exchange for executorships or trusteeships to be influenced by the lawyer. Indirect advertisement for business by furnishing or inspiring newspaper comments concerning causes in which the lawyer has been or is engaged, or concerning the man ner of their conduct, the magnitude of the interests involved, the importance of the lawyers' positions, and all other like selflaudation, defy the traditions and lower the tone of our high calling and are in tolerable. a 8. Stirring up Litigation, Directly or Through Agents. It is unprofessional for a lawyer to volunteer advice to bring a lawsuit, except in rare cases where ties of blood, relationship or trust make it his duty to do so. Stirring up strife and litigation is not only unprofessional, but it is indictable at common law. It is disreputable to hunt up defects in titles or other causes of action and inform thereof in order to be employed to bring suit, or to breed litigation by seeking out those with claims for personal injuries or those having any other grounds of action in order to secure them as clients, or to employ agents or runners for like purposes, or to pay or reward, directly or indirectly, those who bring or influence the bringing of such
cases to his office, or to remunerate police men, court or prison officials, physicians, hospital attaches or others who may succeed, under the guise of giving disinterested friendly advice, in influencing the criminal, the sick and the injured, the ignorant or others, to seek his professional services. A duty to the public and to the profession devolves upon every member of the Bar, having knowledge of such practices upon the part of any practitioner, immediately to inform thereof to the end that the offender may be disbarred. 29. Upholding the Honor of the Pro fession. Lawyers should expose without fear or favor before the proper tribunals corrupt or dishonest conduct in the pro fession, and should accept without hesita tion employment against a member of the Bar who has wronged his client. The counsel upon the trial of a cause in which perjury has been committed owe it to the profession and to the public to bring the matter to the knowledge of the prosecuting authorities. The lawyer should aid in guarding the Bar against the admission to the profession of candidates unfit or unqualified because deficient in either moral character or education. He should strive at all times to uphold the honor and to maintain the dignity of the profession and to improve not only the law but the administration of justice. 30. Justifiable and Unjustifiable Litiga tions. The lawyer must decline to conduct a civil cause or to make a defense when convinced that it is intended merely to harass or to injure the opposite party or to work oppression or wrong. But other wise it is his right, and, having accepted retainer, it becomes his duty to insist upom the judgment of the Court as to the .legal merits of his clients' claim. His appear ance in Court should be deemed equivalent to an assertion on his honor that in his opinion his client's case is one proper for judicial determination. 3 1 . Responsibility for Litigation. No law
