| Show FEES OF EMINENT LAWYERS Largest on Record Was That Paid William Nelson Cromwell for His Part in the Purchase of the Panama Canal nnnnn the aged railroad magnate When Mr Plant died In June 1900 at New Haven Conn his estate was worth 17000000 The point In the contest was whether Mrs Plant should receive re-ceive an annuity of 30000 by the terms of the will or have the will sot aside and get about 7000000 The contest depended on a codicil making the heirs of Mr Plants sixyearold grandson the residuary legatees and I tying up the fortune until the youngest Don of the grandson reached his majority ma-jority When the case came up for trial before Justice Loventritt in tho supreme su-preme court just seven years ago lawyers believed that the suit was a doubtful one The codicil could beset be-set aside it the will was offered for probate In New York Connecticut was the only state in which such a provision would be legal So the case turned on a question of domicile whether Mr Plant was a resident of New York or of Connecticut Connecti-cut He went to Connecticut a few days before his death so the contestant contest-ant claimed to avoid the New York law and establish a residence in Now Haven Lawyers say that Mr Guthrie deserved de-served all the credit ho got for winning win-ning the suit To his persistence ingathering I I = 4 D G Y i P J L 4 U T 4 Cf I gathering evidence that should make Mr Plant a New Yorker and set aside the codicil to his skill In presenting it and questioning the witnesses Mrs Plant owed the 7000000 her attorney won for her Mr Guthries fee is said to have been between ton and 14 percent per-cent of this fortune somewhere between be-tween 760000 and 1000000 Of the many big fees Mr Guthrie has received the most significant was the 80000 paid to him in the proceedings proceed-ings to test the constitutionality of the Income tax It was a case in which methods counted for more than fees and Mr Guthrles tactics made his fame national Ho devised the method under which the proceedings should bo brought so that they would not violate the statute against suits to restrain the assessment or collection collec-tion of federal taxes Ho drafted all the papers and made the opening arguments ar-guments before the United States supreme su-preme court In Corporation Cases When you hear of very large fees paid to lawyers by corporations said the lawyer you must remember that the knowledge and ingenuity of these attorneys often make the big combinations combi-nations of capital possible Thebuslness man goes to the lawyer with the germ of the Idea The lawyer arranges a corporation that will be legal and able to withstand attacks upon It Often the lawyers original Ideas go into the consolidation The lawyers usually receive re-ceive a block of stock for their work It is to a certain extent a contingent fee for its value depends upon the success of their work To this class belongs Edward Lau terbach who promoted the East River Bridge company reorganized tho Philadelphia Phil-adelphia Reading Railroad company com-pany consolidated the turbulent affairs af-fairs of the Union and Brooklyn Elevated Ele-vated railroads Into one prosperous concern Among the others the men whose peculiar talents also run to corporation cor-poration law are Samuel Untermyer and Secretary of State Root Mr Untermyer Is credited with haying hay-ing received a fee or commission of moro than 1000000 for the deal by which he induced foreign capitalists to invest money in this country and in the consolidation of tho American breweries It is estimated that with his genius for financial law he can earn 600000 a year and command 1000 a day for appearances in court Secretary Roots Sacrifice Lawyers regard Secretary Root as probably the greatest corporation lawyer law-yer in the United States Mr Root gave up a law practice estimated to be worth from 82000 to 100000 a year to take a place In a cabinet paying pay-Ing 8000 a year This was when he succeeded Secretary Russell A Alger of the war department Butmost typical at all the corporation corpora-tion lawyers was a man found in u remote re-mote room on an upper floor of a William street skyscraper In appear ance ho might have boon a brother of George William Curtis Ho Is John E Parsons a Now Yorker born and bred legal adviser for big corporations corpora-tions and estates and as n lawyer believed be-lieved to have tho finest practice in the country Mr Parsons is reputed to have received re-ceived one of the largest fees ever taken by a lawyer when he drew uptime up-time charter of the sugar trust According Ac-cording to common report he realized 400000 for this service As general counsel for the trust ho also defended it during the attack upon the combination combi-nation a few years ago That defense Is said to have added another 100000 to his fortune Contrasted with these types of corporation cor-poration lawyers Is the general practitioner prac-titioner Former Ambassador Joseph II Choato Is n typical example John G Johnson of Philadelphia Is another Speaking facetiously of Mr Choate at a public dinner Chaunccy M De pew is said to have remarked that only unselfish millionaires could employ em-ploy Mr Choato as their lawyer because be-cause they would have to give up about all they had to pay his fees Yet lawyers said last week indeed that Mr Chbatos fees were not largo compared with the 1000000 Mr Cromwell received in tho Panama canal ca-nal deal the 750000 paid Mr Ontario Onta-rio in the Plant will contest or the reputed re-puted 400000 fee to Mr Parsons for forming tho sugar trust Choate In Many Great Cases Mr Choate was admitted to the New York bar in 185C As protege and partner of William M Evarts he won immediate success and gained an enormous practice and a very large income in-come By 1870 he was considered a leader of the New York bar For nearly 30 years there was hardly a great case in which he was not ono of the counselthe prosecution of the Tweed ring the famous investigation of Gen Fltz John Porters conduct which ended in a reversal of the judgment Judg-ment of the original court martial the celebrated libel suit against Gen DI Cesnola the Tilden will case the litigation over Commodore Vander bills millions and the suit of David Stewart against Collis P Huntington to mention only a few of them Mr Choate is said to have received fees of 100000 on a number of occasions When ho was named as ambassador to England by President McKInley in 1898 ho had earned a fortune in his 42 years of practice amounting to something some-thing over 1000000 At that tlmo his Income chiefly from his law practice prac-tice was estimated at 100000 a year It is said of Mr Choate that he would probably be richer If he had devoted himself to corporation rather than a general practice but that ho would only do so at the sacrifice of that excitement and Interest which lie finds as an advocate John G Johnson of Philadelphia Is generally recognized as one of the greatest lawyers In the country Ho once declined a seat on the bench of the supreme court of tho United States because he said with his income of 100000 a year he would be reduced to poverty if he agreed to become a justice at 8000 a year Mr Johnson has since been paid 100000 for a single case like the Northern Securities litigation involv P 1 Y7IZ G6 i Ping P-Ing the Union Pacific merger But lawyers say of him that ho will also take 100 cases with 5 fees to right an Injustice or punish crooked dealings deal-ings when the victims are poor Attorneys At-torneys also say of Mr Lauterbach that In the sanie spirit he will lose a fee rather than have a client leave his office smarting under an Injus tico Put Cause of Justice First A story told of Mr Johnson in this connection is especially characteristic of the man and his ways An estate worth about 46000 was badly tangled tan-gled and in litigation On one side were the women of the family They knew nothing of the business The property was all they had for their future support On the other side was a claimant with shrewd lawyers and apparently the better of tho case < < VtvE 7 PAt P-At tho first hearing tho decision was against the women There was Btlll a forlorn hope A great lawyer could save tho 46000 for tho women Would Mr Johnson undertake it There were two discouragements dis-couragements to such a plan The evidence evi-dence was unusually complicated To disentangle the facts would be worth a lawyers fee that would probably leave little of the estate Nevertheless the womens lawyer took the papers to Mr Johnson Ho said ho would read them overnight It was one of Mr Johnsons peculiarities that by Ignoring details ho can reach the very heart of tho controversy in the shortest possible tlmo then express ex-press the gist of it in a few simple words Tho next day tho womens lawyer called on Mr Johnson Ill take the case ho said Ho did so and fought tho caso through tho county and appellate courts lIe saved the 15000 l for tho women What will be your fee Mr Johnson John-son ono of his clients asked I will charge you 1000 ho replied re-plied When tho women recovered from their surprise they wore rather hurt They were proud and felt that they were an object of the lawyers charity Mr Johnson was stubborn about it Ho Insisted that his services were worth no more Fees Past and Present A lawyer who Is an authority on the question of fees drew an InterestIng Interest-Ing compaiison between tho altered standards of fees past and present The lawyers of the old school ho said had a very moderate notion of fees When I was a student under Mr Evarts and Mr Choate 250 seemed to be an average feo and GOO the exceptional fee with a tendency to charge women little or nothing I think Mr Choatos fees all his life have been much less than is charged or supposed to have been charged In exceptional cases by men like Guth rio and Cromwell Tho lawyer continued Always what seems a large fee to the upcountry legislator is really a small fee down here Expenses are larger Loss in other business Is many times as large as In tho upcountry districts As to contingent fees there are many popular misconceptions In the first place many a monopolist would go unwhlppcd of justice as the courts have said In their opinions but for the fact that the poor man who has no money or the man of moderate means who feels he cannot risk money can employ counsel on a contingent fee I personally believe that no provision pro-vision in our statutes Is more American Ameri-can in the better sense than the provision pro-vision for a contingent fee Every lawyer law-yer of standing in some shape or another makes his fee contingent in part or entirely upon his success No modern lawyer would think of charging charg-ing a full fee on a failure except in the rare case of a client whom he never expects to see again I know mat some charge too mrgo a conun gent fee but many charge onlj 10 16 and 20 per cent and some charge as little as five per cent in rare instances in-stances How Rewards Are Flxea A student went to James Russell Lowell and said Professor I think you have marked me unjustly Sir said Mr Lowell with his grand courtesy cour-tesy I would not willingly wrong you will you tell me how you think you should be marked The student set forth his views and Mr Lowell admitted them I think it has been the common practice of such men as Mr Choato and Mr Evarts to ask I clients their view about their fee and to fix the fee largely accordingly I And then oven more than with the medical profession it is the custom of lawyers to make low charges to tho poor and unfortunate and to chargo i women little or nothing I But the surprising fact remains as ono lawyer said that of tho 11000 lawyers fully twothirds or 7300 of them do not make moro than 3000 I a year I Yet at this estimate the 7300 attorneys attor-neys earn nearly 22000000 The 25 lawyers making 100000 each put another an-other 2600000 Into their pockets Allowing 6000 each for tho 3COO practitioners remaining conservative conserva-tive estimate they would add 18 375000 to the expense bills of litigants I II |
