and extensive practice. Some of the most distinguished lawyers and jurists of the state deliver courses of lectures upon topics connected with practice. Practice courts are maintained, in which proceedings instituted upon given statements of facts are made as nearly like those in a real courtroom as possible.

But making a moot court to look like a real court is a hard task. The human element is lacking. There are no real interests at stake, no real personalities in conflict. The penalty of a misstep is not the loss of a cause, a client, or of hopes of professional advancement. At most it is a bad mark on a little book. I do not mean to say that the students do not fight these mock battles with enthusiasm and considerable zeal, for they do. But nevertheless it is not the real thing. The human element is lacking.

How can this human element, the touch of reality, be supplied? We think we have found a way in a plan never before fully tried, so far as I know, by which we can provide for law students something of the same kind of clinic. which medical students find in the hospital and free dispensary.

There has recently been established in Minneapolis by the Associated Charities, working in close co-operation with the University Law Faculty, a Legal Aid Bureau. This is a most excellent charity, organized along the lines of the Legal Aid Societies that have existed for many years in New York, Chicago, and other large cities in the United States. The purpose of the Bureau, broadly stated, is to provide means of securing redress for petty wrongs done to poor people, and for giving legal advice to poor persons in trouble.

Examples of the kind of cases handled by the Bureau may be given as follows:

Wages amounting to $5 are wrongfully detained from a penniless servant girl, or some landlord illegally refuses to allow a workman to remove a trunk that contains the pitiful sum of his worldly goods. Under ordinary conditions such a poor person is without remedy. Without a lawyer he does not know what steps to take, and the lawyer who has to make a living cannot well afford to handle such a case; and even if, moved by charity, he should do so, it would be very wasteful to expend $20 worth of work and time upon a $5 case. But a special bureau, organized to handle such cases, and dealing with them in large numbers, can afford the needed relief at no very great expense to those who support the charity.

The Legal Aid Bureau of Minneapolis is organized somewhat as follows: A general committee on legal aid has been appointed by the officers of the Associated Charities. From this general committee in turn is appointed an executive committee of five members, among whom are included the President of the Associated Charities, the City Attorney, and the Dean of the University Law School. This executive committee employed an attorney, a graduate of the University Law School, at a stated annual salary, as attorney for the Bureau. Offices were provided, as well as stenographic assistance. The attorney of the Legal Aid Bureau has also been appointed an instructor in Practice in the University Law Faculty. The members of the senior class of the University Law School are assigned, two each week, the duty of being present in the office of the Legal Aid Bureau from 1 to 6 p. m. each day. The students thus assigned will be required to talk with clients as they come into the office, endeavor to

determine in such conference the facts and the rights of the case, and then report in writing to the attorney of the Bureau, stating to him what advice they think should be given under the circumstances. The attorney will confirm or modify the proposed advice, and in such form the student will give it to the client.

If it turns out, as usually is the case, that an investigation must be made in order to determine the real facts, the student will be required to go out and interview the party complained of and such other persons as may have knowledge of the facts. He will, of course, endeavor to secure a settlement upon just and reasonable terms. Or it may be that he will become satisfied that the complaint made to the Bureau was without foundation. If, however, after obtaining the facts as completely as possible, he is convinced that the complaint made to the Bureau is well founded, and finds that he can make no satisfactory settlement, he will prepare, under the guidance of the attorney, to institute such proceedings as may be necessary to secure the rights denied his client. The great majority of cases that come to the Bureau can be settled without court proceedings, by the exercise of tact and good sense; but the occasional case which is found to require proceedings in court is regarded as the case of the student to whom it was first assigned, through all of its different stages, until finally disposed of. The student is expected to prepare under supervision the papers in such case and to be present in the court whenever any steps are taken in such case by the attorney of the Bu

reau.

At least once during each week one or more of the members of the University Law Faculty visit the office of the Bureau, look over the records and generally

supervise the work of the attorney and his student assistants. At the end of each week the attorney of the Bureau who, as heretofore stated, is an instructor in the Law Faculty, will make to the Law Faculty a report of the work done by the two students who have been serving as his assistants during that week, as well as the work of any students who have pending court cases.

The extent and variety of the business. that comes into the office of the Bureau can best be shown by an abstract from the attorney's report covering the work of the office from the date of its opening, April 15, 1913, to December 31, 1913:

Total number of cases.
Number disposed of.

.1,039

864

Dependency

2

Detention of property
Domestic
Damages

Foreign matter Garnishment

Insurance

Liens

Loans

Personal injury
Probate
Notes
Nonsupport

248=8

Landlord and tenant Miscellaneous

41.

12

2

3

A nominal retainer fee of ten cents is charged, and a commission of ten per cent. for collections; but both charges are usually remitted.

Furthermore, the human element which we so much desire is most abundantly present, as the cases present the seamiest side of human nature, and the facts often reveal in a heart-rending manner the inexpressible sorrows of the unfortunate. This work is surely a noble charity, in which it will be well for the young men in the Law School to become interested. And may we not hope that such an intimate acquaintance with the misfortunes of the poorest and weakest members of society may bring these young men, who will have much to do with governing the state in the next quarter century, to undertake their work as makers and administrators of law with a little keener appreciation of the claim which the weak have to protection against the strong-that this experience will make them better citizens, as well as better lawyers?

GRADUATE INSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH IN THE LAW SCHOOL

There is still another duty which the State University Law School owes to the profession and to the people of the state who support it; that is, to make some real contribution to the knowledge which we have of law and its operation. Research work is carried on in almost every department of our great state universities. Busy research professors and graduate students search zealously for new truth in chemistry, physics, geology, agriculture, or history; but there is practically no research work done in our law schools, except such as is incident to the preparation of books and magazine articles by the professors or in their writing of occasional briefs on appeal.

In the University of Minnesota special funds are appropriated, and wisely appropriated, for conducting researches upon problems involving systems of ventilation, ore deposits, the commission form of government, and also regarding problems of medieval history, early English literature, and the like; but no money is spent by the Law School in the effort to throw more light upon the innumerable problems that arise in connection with the application of jurisprudence to modern social conditions. For instance: What is the total actual cost to the public of maintaining the courts of the state during any given year, and what proportion of that cost can be rightly charged to the personal injury litigation? To what extent have employers' liability acts reduced the amount of litigation in states in which such acts are in operation?

Again, it is loudly alleged and pretty generally believed that there are many delays in our courts that could be obviated. ated. Are the delays in fact unreasonable, or is it merely a matter of orderly

and dignified procedure in determining the right of matters in contest? Why not investigate the records of some important county and demonstrate the one thing or the other? If there are unreasonable delays, to what are they to be attributed? Is it due to defects in the system of procedure, or to the lack of efficiency on the part of the judge, or to the laziness, carelessness, or other faults of counsel? Why should we not find out?

Again, the Supreme Court of the United States, in its new equity rules, has abolished all demurrers. It has been proposed that the demurrer shall be abolished in procedure in Minnesota courts. Some lawyers think such action would tend to lessen delay, whereas others are convinced that the demurrer often disposes expeditiously of a contest. that might otherwise drag on for a long time through the courts. What has been the record of the demurrer in those cases that have come to the Supreme Court of Minnesota within the last twenty-five years? In the law library we have the paper books and other records of all those cases. A critical examination of these records would show what the demurrer has done, and it would be possible to exhibit in tabular form the results of its use during that period. From such information it is probable a reasonably accurate conclusion could be drawn as to whether the demurrer is a good or a bad feature of our practice.

Again, take the law of corporations and the many commercial misdeeds that have been done in its name. The incorporation laws of each state differ from those of every other, and the laws of all the states are believed to be sadly defective. Innumerable remedial statutes are proposed in our legislatures, and some of them are passed. One of the

most interesting is the so-called "Blue Sky Law" of Kansas. The operation of this Blue Sky Law and other measures of similar purport greatly needs analytical study. Committees of bar associations and individual lawyers have given liberally of their time and labor in the effort to work out some of these problems; but it is too much to expect that a committee of busy lawyers, hard driven by the demands of their own practice, can give or should give enough time and effort to carry on the laborious and painstaking investigations that are required to secure the facts necessary to be had in dealing with these problems.

The University Law School ought to be so equipped and organized as to make it possible for it to carry on this kind of research, not only for the benefit of the students actually being trained, but also for the benefit of the profession and the people at large, who need reliable information. Therefore a graduate department of the Law School ought to be established, in charge of at least two professors competent to carry on research work of the kind needed. They should conduct courses in the critical study of divers legal problems with special reference to the legislative activities of the time.

Of course, there are many difficulties in the way of establishing such a graduate department. In the first place, it would require the appropriation of more money to the Law School. But, even if the money were available, it would be exceedingly hard to find the men suited to serve as research professors of law. Not only would it be necessary for them to have had experience in graduate work in some institution of high standing, but they would also have to be men of ability, forcefulness, good judgment, and possessed of as wide an experience as

possible in the actual administration of the law. It would be extremely difficult to get men with these qualifications to

serve for such salaries as we can reasonably hope to pay in any University. But the end is worth the effort.

L

I

EGAL AID SOCIETIES are generally unincorporated and voluntary associations, rarely ever corporate bodies, established by private individuals, or else by representatives of the most various interests, such as associated charities, social settlements, bar associations, or, in one case at least, city governments, such as the Board of Public Welfare of Kansas City, the only municipal legal aid society in existence in this country.

The purpose of legal aid societies is to render gratuitously, if necessary, to all that appear worthy thereof, such legal assistance as, by reason of their poverty, they are unable to procure for themselves. By reason of their manhood they are entitled to what is due to them; in other words, they are entitled to justice, the greatest interest of man on earth, but they are unable to secure it, because they are unable to help themselves by securing the services of a lawyer. In theory, justice is free; but, in practice, it cannot, like salvation, be had without money and price. Hence frequent impositions upon the poor, because they are helpless and unable to take the very first step towards obtaining justice. Such is the condition of the men, wo

men, and children that a legal aid society proposes to help.

There are two laws, both absolutely essential to the success of this movement: First, the case must be unquestionably meritorious; and, second, the applicant must be unable to secure the services of an attorney by reason of his poverty and by reason of the small amount of money and property involved in his claim.

II

The first legal aid society was estab lished just thirty-eight years ago. It was early in 1876 that a number of publicspirited Germans in New York City es

tablished the German Law Protection Society, not for charity, but for justice, and the enforcement of all just and honorable claims on the part of such poor German immigrants as were imposed upon by reason of their general inexperience of conditions in the New World. The society prospered, not so much financially, as morally and socially, and soon became the refuge of the poor and oppressed of every race. So much so that in course of time, as in the case of the Chicago Legal Aid Society later on, the number of United States citizens applying for its aid exceeded that of any other nationality, the German included. In 1890,