Disbarred from Civil Practice

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Document ID 9901140
Date
Document Type Newspapers (Extracts)
Archive B. O'Reilly
Citation Disbarred from Civil Practice;Copyright Retained by Brendan O'Reilly; CMSIED 9901140
26584
   DISBARRED FROM CIVIL PRACTICE.
  Not only the bar of Louisiana, but the general
public, will hear with satisfaction the decision of
the State Supreme Court in the case of F. Rivers
Richardson - that a lawyer found guilty of
unprofessional conduct can be and will be denied the
right to practice before the Louisiana courts. The
only surprise will be at the short period of his
denial - twelve months. A doctor or other
professional man disbarred for similar unprofessional
conduct would be permanently shut out, not suspended
for the very short term of a year.
   But if the time seems short there will, none
the less, be gratification over the fact that it has
at last been found possible to reach the offender
and punish unprofessional conduct. It has been
attempted before, but the system has been
ineffective or so weak as to render disbarment
proceedings tedious and most unsatisfactory.
Richardson himself had once before been charged with
similar unprofessional conduct; but no punishment
had been meted out to him. As a matter of
fact, no lawyer has been disbarred for this cause
for many years; and although the Bar Association
was authorized to act in cases brought to its
attention, it had accomplished but little in the way
of breaking up unprofessional conduct.
  The vigorous manner in which the present
charges were pressed, and the decision of the
Supreme Court announcing its determination to

see to the punishment by disbarment from practice
of lawyers guilty of unprofessional conduct,
will be received as most encouraging signs.
  In New York the bar found it necessary to
take vigorous action to suppress unprofessional
conduct, and throughout the country a similar
determination is being shown. The profession of
law is almost an office; the lawyer is the
confidant and adviser of his client, his legal
confessor, the man who must defend and protect him.
To so use the confidential position as to take
advantage of the client is a breach of faith that
would unsettle all the business before the courts,
and breed contempt for justice and the laws if it
passed unpunished. The courts can not be too severe
in reprobating and punishing the unprofessional
conduct of lawyers.