Respect for Attorneys

In the “Sally Forth” comic strip published the Sunday before Halloween, the character, Sue, wanted to find a “scary” costume for Halloween. Various alternatives such as a ghost, a skeleton, a witch and Frankenstein were suggested and dismissed. Finally, after Sue asked for a really scary costume, her mother said, “We don’t have a lawyer costume.” The clear and derogatory import of the punch line was that nothing could be as scary as a lawyer.

I take great umbrage at the depiction of attorneys in such a manner, and consider the portrayal to be a personal affront.

Attorneys are essential to the efficient and effective functioning of our society. Yet, often the roles and contributions of attorneys are unknown or ignored. By definition, the legal profession is adversarial; thus, attorneys may perform services which make them unpopular.

I am quite certain that Greg Howard could not have written that Halloween strip if he had been aware of the nature and extent of the professional and social services voluntarily performed by members of the Beverly Hills Bar Assn. Permit me to enumerate a few.

The Bar was a co-founder of Public Counsel. Public Counsel is the largest nonprofit provider of legal services in the country.

In addition, our association has sponsored California’s first Citizens Law School. The school is an outreach attempt to make available to every person in this city an opportunity to learn about the legal issues that are essential if one is to function in this society.

The Beverly Hills Bar Assn. works constantly to improve the administration of justice by working with the state Legislature and the local courts. For example, at the current time our association is working with the Los Angeles Superior Court in order to formulate standards for professional conservators.

Attorneys contribute to their community. Attorneys are vital to the functioning of this society.

KATHRYN A. BALLSUN

President

Beverly Hills Bar Assn.