In re Graham.

• Docket Number: November term, 1935, no. 104.
• Decision Date: 21 July 1937
• Citation: 30D.&C.531
• Parties: In re Graham.
• Court: Pennsylvania District and County Court

30 D.&C. 531

In re Graham.

November term, 1935, no. 104.

The Judicial Districts of Pennsylvania.

July 21, 1937.

Attorneys — Unauthorized practice — Right of justice of the peace to represent estate — Authority of orphans' court to pass upon qualifications of persons appearing before it.

1. An orphans' court has inherent authority to pass upon the qualifications of persons appearing before it as attorneys and to restrain anyone not properly qualified from appearing either before it or before the register of wills.

2. An orphans' court will restrain a justice of the peace, who is not a member of the bar, from drawing or preparing or giving legal advice with respect to wills, inventories, inheritance tax returns, personal property tax returns, accounts, petitions sur audit, or other petitions or papers incident to the practice of law in the orphans' court or before the register of wills, upon proof that he has customarily done so without the services or advice of any attorney at law and that he has advertised himself as "agent" in many estates and solicited the drawing of such legal papers.

Petition to restrain unauthorized practice of the law. O.C. of Erie County.

T.P. Dunn, for petitioner.

John B. Brooks, for intervenor.

Clarence T. Bryan, for respondent.

WAITE, P.J., July 21, 1937.

This matter is before the court on petition of the president of the Erie County Bar Association, pursuant to a resolution of that association alleging that respondent is now and has been for many years past engaged in the practice of the law without legal authority and praying that an investigation be had and that the court make "such order as right and justice may require."An answer was filed denying that defendant is or has been so engaged, and further denying the jurisdiction of the orphans' court in the premises.A hearing was had, testimony taken, and the matter argued before the court sitting in banc.

We will not attempt to formulate a precise definition of the practice of law.As was said by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Shortz, Jr., et al. v. Farrell, 327 Pa. 81, to attempt to do so "would be more likely to invite criticism than to achieve clarity."

In People v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co., 180 App. Div. 648, 168 N.Y. Supp. 278, it is said:

"The `practice of the law', as the term is now commonly used, embraces much more than the conduct of litigation.The greater, more responsible, and delicate part of a lawyer's work is in other directions.Drafting instruments creating trusts, formulating contracts, drawing wills and negotiations, all require legal knowledge and power of adaptation of the highest order.Besides these employments, mere skill in trying lawsuits, where ready wit and natural resources often prevail against profound knowledge of the law, is a relatively unimportant part of a lawyer's work."

The practice of law is a profession requiring high moral character and special ability, supplemented by years of attentive study, and formal admission to the bar after passing a rigid examination before the State Board of Law Examiners.To permit one not so qualified to engage in the practice of law would be unfair to the duly qualified members of the bar.But the primary reason for prohibiting such unlawful practice is for the protection of the public.The experience of the courts through many years has shown such protection to be necessary.There can be no doubt of the authority of the orphans' court to pass upon the qualifications of persons appearing before it as attorneys, nor of its right to restrain anyone...