This is a short speech by Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents of the United States. I believe it is still meaningful for us to read this today. As a lawyer, Lincoln was great at persuading the jury and he used the same rhetoric skills to convince his audience at political assemblies or in debates.

 This speech gives some ideas about how a lawyer should perform his duty. Although there is still disputes over the exact date of this speech, it nevertheless exerts profound and unforgettable influence on youth, especially those who choose to be a lawyer.

Speech

I am not an accomplished lawyer. I find quite as much material for a lecture in those points wherein I have failed, as in those wherein I have been moderately successful. The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence fall behind. Whatever piece of business you have in hand, before stopping, do all the labor pertaining to it which can then be done. When you bring a common-law suit, if you have the facts for doing so, write the declaration at once. If a law point be involved, examine the books, and note the authority you rely on upon the declaration itself, where you are sure to find it when wanted. The same of defenses and pleas. In business not likely to be litigated, -- ordinary collection cases, foreclosures, partitions, and the like, -- make all examinations of titles, and note them, and even draft orders and decrees in advance. This course has a triple advantage; it avoids omissions and neglect, saves your labor when once done, performs the labor out of court when you have leisure, rather than in court when you have not. Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech. And yet there is not a more fatal error to young lawyers than relying too much on speech-making. If any one, upon his rare powers of speaking, shall claim an exemption from the drudgery of the law, his case is a failure in advance.

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser -- in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.

Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the register of deeds in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket? A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it.

The matter of fees is important, far beyond the mere question of bread and butter involved. Properly attended to, fuller justice is done to both lawyer and client. An exorbitant fee should never be claimed. As a general rule never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. When fully paid beforehand, you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same interest in the case, as if something was still in prospect for you, as well as for your client. And when you lack interest in the case the job will very likely lack skill and diligence in the performance. Settle the amount of fee and take a note in advance. Then you will feel that you are working for something, and you are sure to do your work faithfully and well. Never sell a fee note -- at least not before the consideration service is performed. It leads to negligence and dishonesty -- negligence by losing interest in the case, and dishonesty in refusing to refund when you have allowed the consideration to fail.

There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief -- resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.

Background

This is a short speech by Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents of the United States. I believe it is still meaningful for us to read this today. As a lawyer, Lincoln was great at persuading the jury and he used the same rhetoric skills to convince his audience at political assemblies or in debates.

 This speech gives some ideas about how a lawyer should perform his duty. Although there is still disputes over the exact date of this speech, it nevertheless exerts profound and unforgettable influence on youth, especially those who choose to be a lawyer.

 A blogger named Xixili Ningmeng said that Lincoln’s effort to end slavery was like a bloody war in some way. Slavery disappeared in China 2,500 years ago so the elimination of it in the United States is nothing to be proud of in comparison.

 However, this is still a great feat if you realize that the fight to end slavery in the US was a war that an individual waged against a national system. In this sense, you can never exaggerate its historic value and significance. Lincoln had to fight this war because of the following three reasons.

 First, it was consistent with the Constitution. This was also the strongest support for the ultimate triumph.

 The United States has been a law-based country from the very beginning and law-based governance is its original aspiration as well as ultimate ideal as a country. It goes nowhere without the Constitution.

 Second, it represented justice. A major opponent of Lincoln’s, Justice Douglas, did not actually deviate from the Constitution but he went against the general trend towards justice. Therefore, Lincoln’s opponent also went all out in this war but he just did not fight towards the right direction and went instead towards a dead end.

 The third point is that Lincoln’s stand point was logical. This does not mean that he stuck to one single belief anyway but that what he stuck to was a commonly accepted truth.

 Justice may be an ambiguous concept sometimes and opposing claims may even both represent justice in one way or another. But logic is always convincing. I do not know what Justice Douglas said in the debate with Lincoln, but from this speech we can see how logical and persuasive Lincoln was.

 If A can convincingly prove that he has the right to turn B into slave, why can’t B use the same evidence to prove that he can also turn A into a slave? As you said, because A is white while B is black.

 So, it is about skin color. But does a fair-skinned person have the right to turn a dark-skinned person into a slave? (On Slavery p042) Such clear logic was the weapon Lincoln used to defeat his rival. Therefore, to fight and win this war, what Lincoln had was not only good strategy but also excellent tactics.

 In Lincoln’s biography, I learned that he spent 22 years on a farm and that was part of the most important period in life when his view on life and values were formed. We will never really know how he managed to calm down his own heart in loneliness and not many people can have so peaceful a mind like his. Perhaps this can in a way be attributed to those long years.

For a lawyer, how you cultivate and nurture yourself determines how far you can go and how well you’ll do it in your career.

Source: Law-based Governance Online

Editor: Dongxiang Wang