Disbarred from Civil Practice
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.Close