HOTEL RATES AT COLORADO SPRINGS FOR THE EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION, JULY

23D, 24TH AND 25TH, 1912.

Anuers Hotel (Headquarters).

Alamo Hotel

Acacia Hotel.

Alta Vista Hotel.

Rates at all above hotels, $1.50 a day per person, two people in room without bath.

$2.50 a day per person, two people in room with bath.

All rates based on European plan.

Make reservations for all hotels through Mr. W. S. Dunning, Manager of the Antlers Hotel.

It is suggested that our members make reservations of rooms as early as possible, thus giving Mr. Dunning an opportunity to give your reservation proper attention.

Special Train for Colorado Springs Convention.

There has recently been mailed to all of our members east of the Rocky Mountains a special folder giving information regarding the C. L. L. A. special train for the convention. If you can arrange to join this train at once forward the postal card making your berth reservations.

The C., B. & Q. Ry. are going to furnish us with one of the finest trains ever coupled to an engine and if you can conveniently do so you certainly should join this train.

See that your tickets read from Chicago to Denver over the Burlington Route, from Denver to Colorado Springs over the D. & R. G. Ry.

If desire any
you

the Secretary.

information regarding special trips write to

Don't miss this convention; if you do you will regret it.

A NEW ROLL OF MEMBERS IS TO BE PUBLISHED JULY 1ST. PLEASE, AT ONCE, EXAMINE THE JANUARY 1ST, 1912. ROLL AND IF YOU HAVE CHANGED FIRM NAMES OR ADDRESSES PLEASE NOTIFY SECRETARY KREAMER AT ONCE SO THAT THE NEW ROLL MAY BE CORRECT IN EVERY WAY. DO IT NOW.

Report of the Committee to Consider Abuses in Bankruptcy Practice and to Suggest Reforms.

The committee on abuses in the practice of the Bankruptcy Act will report at the coming convention.

As previously advised, for the purpose of having this most important question given serious consideration by all of our members and so as to enable it to be most intelligently and carefully considered on the floor of the convention there is printed in this issue a copy of canons which the committee will recommend for adoption by our League.

It is useless at this time to refer to the conduct of a very small percentage of the commercial bar of this country, which, in my opinion, necessitates vigorous action on the part of the Commercial Law League to maintain the present high standing of our bar and to remove any stigma which may be applied to the entire body of commercial lawyers by reason of the conduct of a few.

The committee, who have spent many hours in deliberation on this subject, consists of the following: Julius Henry Cohen, Frederick L. Siddons, Harold Remington, David W. Amram and Edwin G. Adams.

Any members of the League who are interested in this subject and are unable to attend the convention, and who desire to express their views, may do so by communicating with the chairman of the committee, Julius Henry Cohen, 15 William street, New York City.

J. HOWARD REBER,

President.

The committee is of the opinion that some of the existing abuses in bankruptcy practice may be remedied by the establishment of a tribunal composed of members of this organization, whose duty it shall be to receive and investigate complaints and take appropriate action thereon.

A:

The committee accordingly recommends the appointment of a committee on grievances whose duty it shall be to receive all complaints made by members or non-members of this organization concerning matters involving the professional conduct of lawyers engaged in bankruptcy cases; to give ample opportunity to the person accused to answer the complaint; to hear and determine the matter and to publish the guilt or innocence of the accused. If found guilty, the committee should institute appropriate proceedings against him either on behalf of this organization or through the local bar associations. A bureau should be organized by the committee for the conduct of its business and it should have authority to retain an attorney to conduct investigations in its behalf and to appear for it in court whenever required.

In considering the question of professional conduct in bankruptcy proceedings the committee recommends the adoption and enforcement by this organization of the canons of professional ethics adopted by the American Bar Association and in addition thereto the following canons more particularly bearing upon practice in bankruptcy:

CANONS.

I. An attorney for a creditor or for a receiver or trustee should never divide fees with the attorney for the bankrupt.

II. No attorney should divide fees with a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy nor should he accept a share of commissions from the receiver, trustee or auctioneer, nor a share of fees from the appraisers.

III. No attorney should divide fees with his client. It encourages preferences disguised as fees to the lawyer.

IV. While co-operation among creditors in the administration of a bankrupt estate is highly desirable and may be conducive to efficient and economical administration of the law, the solicitation of claims by attorneys in order to file a petition or secure the appointment of a receiver or trustee, or to control the administration of the estate, results in lowering the standard of practice and is highly unprofessional.

V. Since petitions filed by creditors with the consent or upon the admission of the bankrupt (while recognized by the statute) often furnish opportunity for collusive concealment of assets, collusive sales or unfair compositions, the attorneys for the bankrupt, the petitioning creditors, the receiver and the trustee should so conduct themselves as to give all creditors an equal opportunity to examine the books and assets and all information concerning the existence and identity of creditors and assets.

VI. The defense of a bankrupt gives his lawyer no special privileges. It is thoroughly reprehensible for him knowingly to suffer his client to commit perjury, or to continue to represent a client who commits perjury.

VII. The belief that some of the provisions of the law work injustice or unfairness cannot justify their violation by an attorney. He may work to amend the law, but he may not violate it.

VIII. The use of criminal proceedings to extort a settlement is unprofessional. If restitution is to be made, it should be with the full knowledge and approval of the prosecuting officer.

IX. No attorney for a creditor, receiver or trustee should accept a fee or expenses payable by a bankrupt who has offered a composition or settlement, or from the person or persons who provide the fund to pay such composition or settlement, unless the amount of such fee or expenses shall be stated of record in the proceedings.

B.

Your committee believes that rules should be adopted by the courts in various districts so as to effectively carry into practice the canons of ethics recommended.

ARE YOU GOING TO THE CONVENTION?

Suggestions have come to me from several sources as to why any one should spend his time and money to attend a meeting of the Commercial Law League, and especially why any one should spend the time to go to Colorado Springs. To any one who has attended meetings of the Commercial Law League, with the acquaintance which you form by association at these meetings, with the knowledge concerning the practices of commercial law and the relations between law offices which is acquired by discussions between the members, with the good fellowship that is always prevalent, it is hardly necessary to write an article to explain why any one should attend.

Twenty years ago, prior to the formation of the League, law offices having a Commercial Department, or devoting their time to that business, forwarding their claims without any knowledge of the person to whom they were sending the business, or their facilities for handling it. Necessarily many disputes arose which, if the parties had been acquainted, would not have been thought of, or would have adjusted themselves by a mere statement of the differences. For many years the convention has been the place where disputes between members, which may have occurred during the year, have been adjusted.

To the new member, or the one who has never attended a convention, he will find by attendance that he acquires information concerning conditions, and knowledge concerning the handling of business which cannot be acquired in any other way. The member who attends regularly now transacts business with his fellow member, although thousands of miles intervene, with the same facility, and with the same knowledge that it will be carefully cared for, as he would in placing it with a member of the bar in his own city. It is these things which have led members, year after year, to spend the time and money to meet with their fellow-members in order to discuss, not only on the floor but with each other, the evils of the commercial law practice and the way of remedying the

same.

From year to year the attendance at these conventions has increased; and from year to year there has been a constantly growing demand that the convention should meet in the west. So insistent has this demand become, that the Executive Committee in its judgment fixed the place as Colorado Springs.

It has been suggested that there is no reason why a member

in the east, or in the central or the southern part of the country, should attend this convention; that the business flows from the east and that there would be nothing gained in a financial way from meeting in the west. This, of course, is a narrow way to look at it, yet we are all necessarily practicing law for the remuneration which comes therefrom.

Even judged in this way-narrow as it may seem-the person who decides that he will not attend the convention because of the fact that he will not receive business by meeting in the west, is fooling himself. Not only does not all the business flow from the east, but more and more there are large items, both litigated and otherwise, coming from the west to the east, south, and central part of this country: Questions of stock transactions, questions of incorporating companies, questions of investments, questions of the loaning of money, and the necessary matters which flow therefrom, are becoming more and more the province of the commercial lawyer who is in a position to give proper service to his foreign clients.

When you take into consideration that the distance which it is required to travel is practically the same which the Chicago members were required to travel in order to go to Narragansett Pier, when you take into consideration that for substantially the whole life of the organization the conventions have been held in the east-or, at most, in the central part of the country-and when you take into consideration the membership of the west, who have for years been loyal to our organization, who have the same thoughts, desires and aspirations for the uplifting of the commercial law practice, it is no more than justice or right that those of us who live in the east and south should attend the coming convention which is held at no unreasonable distance from the center of population of the country.

The questions which will be decided at this convention are questions of interest to every commercial lawyer in the United States. They are questions which will concern our relations with other organizations, and questions of the ethics concerning the commercial practice, especially in bankruptcy practice. These questions are such that every commercial lawyer who is interested in the organization should give his time and thought to the solution so that the interests of the majority can best be subserved.

Our worthy President during the year has given his best thought, time and attention to the upbuilding of the League and in solving the problems which concern the practice of commercial law. It is a duty we owe to him, and a duty that we owe to ourselves and the organization to which we belong that as many as possible should attend and help to solve the problems which have come before us. That these are questions of moment, and questions which are being discussed by other organizations, no one can deny. A careful perusal of papers and magazines devoted to the interests of other organizations shows that they are being discussed. While many may disagree with the stand taken by the