Inherent Power of the Judiciary over Admittance to the Bar

Admission to the bar is a matter of increasing concern to the state. As its economic life, its social life, become more intricate, the legal rules governing social conduct and their administration through courts of justice become more complicated, so that adequately trained lawyers are increasingly necessary to the competent exercise of their function as officers of the courts admnistering justice. Too, overcrowding of the bar increases the concern. As the relative number of lawyers increases, the temptation to lawyers to violate the public trust reposed in them increases, and their violations of legal ethics work generally to the detriment of society and specifically to the interference with administration of justice and to the disgrace of their profession. Higher standards for admission to the bar would result in a more competently trained bar, and would relieve considerably the overcrowded condition by admitting as lawyers, officers of the court, only those well prepared to assist the courts in their work. There is strong sentiment that favors (and justly so) democracy of the bar. But surely the thinking adherents of that democracy would favor a raising of standards directed to the benefit of the general public and the profession. The American Bar Association believes in that democracy, but firmly maintains that it should not be used as a cloak to excuse inadequate legal training