The Lawyer of Fifty Years Ago such business when submitted to them by the solicitors. This office business, so called, is of course most varied. Some of it may be of a routine character, but much of it, on the other hand, is of the kind which requires for its proper conduct ability of a very high order, as well as enormous labor. The business of the modern world is carried on through the agency of com binations and corporations of one kind or another to a vastly greater extent than in former times. In the organization, the frequent re organization, and daily conduct and guidance of the affairs of the corporation and business enterprises generally of the present day, problems are constantly arising which call for the employment of the trained intellect of the lawyer. The average man of today, especially if he be the manager of the affairs of a corporation, is much less inclined than was the business man of fifty years ago to wait until he gets into trouble and becomes involved in litigation, before seeking legal advice and assistance. To the contrary he is more disposed to be in constant touch with his legal advisers. Nearly all the corporations of any size, as well as some of the larger business houses, have their general counsel or attorneys, to whom they pay a regular salary or retainer, and to whom they promptly apply for guidance in every situation of difficulty in order that in the light of his counsel and advice they may be so guided as to avoid the paths which lead to litigation. As a natural result of the frequent habit of consulting their counsel, these business men fall into the habit of sub mitting to him and consulting him with reference to questions which are not of a strictly legal character, but are rather questions of business policy and judg
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ment. A lawyer who has many clients of this kind, or even one or two who have extensive business interests, ac quires in the course of time a very wide and varied knowledge of business affairs himself. If he be a man of intelligence, he is likely to become a business man of the highest order, because he has an opportunity of observing and becoming acquainted with more different kinds of business than the average business man; he has an opportunity to observe the methods of those business men who suc ceed, and the mistakes of those who fail, so that in the course of a long practice of this character he acquires a stock of information and is likley to develop a degree of business acumen and judg ment which qualifies him in an eminent degree for the conduct of business en terprises himself. His value in this respect comes to be recognized by his clients; he drifts into business connections and associations with them. He becomes financially interested in their enterprises, and active in all their business counsels. A lawyer of this kind may be engaged for days in his office, or in the office of his business associates, in discussing matters and handling affairs quite remote from the law. He may pass long periods of time with out ever looking at a law book or con sidering a legal question. In other words he becomes absorbed in business; his best energies are required for the con duct of that business. Very frequently large financial interests are at stake, and when in the midst of one of these busi ness operations he is suddenly called upon to go into court, he is frequently not in a fit condition to do so. If he did go, he would have to go with a jaded and distracted mind, and without any such preparation as is necessary to fit him for the discharge of the functions of an advocate and aid to the court in the
