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Servi ce had sent him thi s paper and he wanted to do so mething wi th il. So, finally I said , " W ell , all right , Pete, li st your c hildren and starl with the o ld esl." He groaned and he strain ed and finally he came up with 8 children, but he cou ld not come up with the 9th one. He said , " I wish my wife was here, she kno ws t hem kids. " (Laughter.) t said , " Pete, don 't swea t it , fri end , yo u've got enough here" and he lefl the o ffi ce still chagrined at being unabl e to remember the name of the 9th child . He lived about 3 miles from town and about 2 ho urs later, a lit tle ragamuffin boy, snoll y nosed, came into th e offi ce and stood in the lo bby fo r about fi ve minu tes dnd my sec retary said , " So n, co uld I help yo u ?" And he sa id , " Pa forgot me." (Laught er.) That is a true sto ry. I highly recommend th e referral of all cases inv o l vi ng labor relati o ns, bankrupt cy, civil rights, most creditors' claim s and cases in other fi eld s, wh ere an allorney's experience is likely to be limited to o ne o r two such cases in his to tal experi ence. In most instances the underlakin g of thi s type of case w ill be no se rvi ce to th e client and result in an eco no mi c loss to th e allorney. As for credit o rs' claim s, I have found that eve ry tim e I pursue o ne, the debtor is in va riabl y the foreman of my next jury. (Laughter.) In sho rt , I try to confine my practice to th ose areas in which I th o ught I co uld adequately co m pete and where th e pec uniary benefit s are the highesl. Thi s may so und harsh and unbeco ming, but the road to these concl usio ns we re much harsher. To offset any co mmunit y impressio n of indifference toward the needy, I put in a substantia l amount o f time in c hurch w o rk , sc hool boards , chamber of commerce, PTA and other limitless civic and charitabl e affairs in my community. At thi s point thi s di sc ussion has touched o n a mail er of econo mics o nl y as far as th e se lec tion of cases. I would like to bri efly make a few observations on my own practice.
First, the o ne place where one sho uld no t allempt to eco nomize is in the hiring of a sec retary. I have had the sam e sec retary for 10 yea rs. She is a very allrac tive, intelligent girl, neat in appearance, perfectionist in her work, co urteous without being perfunctory and ha s an innat e ability for cull ing railbird s and co nse rving time. As for office equipm ent, we have a stenaco rd dictating device, I BM Ex ec utiv e ty p ewri te r, 2 co pi ers, o ne w et process and one dry process. I can no t afford a Xe rox. I want to for the prestige it gives, but I haven't been able to . (Laughter.) I stro ngl y suspec t that there are a few Xerox machines across the State that are primarily th ere for prestige. As fo r library, I have Southwestern Repo rl s, Arkansa s cases only, th e Digest, Statutes, c. J.5., Am Jur and a few selected treati ses on spec ialized subjec ts. I am in FORT Smith about 3 tim es a week and I have access to 2 fin e libraries th ere. Many a yo ungster, I think, has found himse lf o n th e verge of bankrupt cy by buying a library both beyo nd hi s needs and hi s mea ns. As far as vacations ar e co ncer-
ned , m y sec retary and I take our vacation s together - that is, w e tak e o ff at th e sam e time . (Laught er.) I have tried several different way s and I have concl uded that the o nly sensible way is for bot h of us to leave at th e sam e time. I have tri ed h iring extra help during the 2 weeks she is on vacation and it is abso lut e sui cide. So, w e close our office fo r 2 w eeks and we try to get our docket and all of o ur affairs managed so that thi s is no t an in co nveni ence to any
of o ur cli ent s. One observation I will make in closi ng is that I feel thi s Bar Association for so me reason or another, ha s never really utilized the ta lent s of many solo practit io ners across th e Stat e. In my area, I ca n truthfully tell you from my own perso nal knowledge, not more than 1S per cent o f the so lo practi ti o ners
are
active
in
Bar
Association affairs. I think this is moSt unfortunate. I think thi s is a so urce of talenl. I do not know why they are not more active than 184
th ey are, but they aren ' l. I think it is se lf-d efeating for th em, I think it is degenerating and I think it is unfo rtunat e. I will tell you one story, becau se I know if I didn' t refer to Mark Woolsey yo u wo uld be disappointed. Mark and I went to Washington about 8 years ago to argue a case in th e United States Co url o f Claims. Congressman Trimbl e took us to th e Ho use Offi ce building cafeteria for lun ch. Mark has always pro fessed deep allegiance to the D em oc rati c Party but in truth , he is a To ry. (Laughter.) He ha s been antiRooseve lt to an inflammatory degree. That parlicular day Mr. Trimbl e, Mark and I sa t d own to lun ch and Jimmy Roosevelt , who at that time wa s a Congressman from California , p erhap s th e ugl iest man God ever created , walked in . He sat down with a group of yo ung high school girls. Hi s and Mark's chairs w ere backto-back. I said, " Mark, th er's Ji mmy Roosevelt ." He whirled around and said , " Wh e re , wh e re? " Roo sevelt had heard me call hi s nam e and as Mark whirled around , th ere they were, nose-to-nose, and while he was looking st raight at him, Mark sa id , " My God , Oale, them Roosevelts are still degenerating, ain 't they? " (Laughter, applause.) _
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