Time: Tue Mar 18 06:47:15 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id GAA01039; Tue, 18 Mar 1997 06:17:42 -0700 (MST) by usr04.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id GAA07213; Tue, 18 Mar 1997 06:17:37 -0700 (MST) Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 06:43:19 -0800 To: Harold Thomas <harold@halcyon.com> From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: Re: State of the Bar Words "laerned in the law" were omitted as unnecessary. Such requirement is not made of United States judges and no reason appears to make a distinction respecting United States attorneys. [Historical and Statutory Notes, 28 U.S.C. 541] [Federal Civil Judicial Procedure and Rules] [West Publishing Company, 1996 Edition] At 12:22 PM 3/17/97 -0800, you wrote: >To: Letters Editor, the Times > > An attorney friend of mine passed along an article from the March >1997 Washington State Bar News. It was written by the current president of >the Washington State Bar Association, who shall go nameless as I am simply >too embarrassed for him to include his name. It is reasonable to assume he >graduated law school, passed the Washington State Bar exam and enjoys the >respect and esteem of the legal establishment in our fair state. > In his article, titled "The Jury System: A Fourth Branch of >Government?", he makes the following statement: "The right to a trial by >jury is not contained in our federal constitution, yet every state in the >union guarantees such a right." > In recent years public doubts about the efficacy of our legal system >have resulted in serious dialog in many quarters as numerous lawyers and >judges have taken rather severe hits in a variety of highly publicized cases >that hardly need mentioning. However, this particular gaffe by the current >president of the WSBA is of such magnitude that, were it to occur in a >country where "honor" meant anything, one might expect the honorable >"presidente" to don his ceremonial garb and summarily disembowel himself -- >or, at the minimum, resign in disgrace! > Increasingly, people are coming to realize that the knowledge and >expertise of today's attorney has more and more to do with process, >procedure and billable hours, and less and less to do with justice and the >law. That any president of a bar association could have utterly forgotten >(or never have been familiar with) Article III, Section 2, Clause 3 of the >United States Contitution and Article VII of the Bill of Rights is a >horrendous commentary on the state of the legal profession, if not the >judicial system as a whole. > That some readers will need to look up these passages while others >simply won't care is beyond commentary. > >Harold Thomas >Edmonds > > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness email: [address in tool bar] : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU web site: http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this ========================================================================
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