Word: burger
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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British Model. Burger urged that the regular law school course of three years be compressed into two, so that a third year for prospective trial lawyers could be devoted to courtroom training. He also suggested that this third year be followed by a few years of apprentice practice not unlike medical residency programs...
...Burger's legal model is the British system, under which some 300,000 solicitors defer to 3,000 barristers for all courtroom advocacy. The resulting professionalism speeds the trial process and tends to prevent a case turning primarily on the uneven skills of opposing advocates. Critics contend that the clubbiness of British barristers sometimes leads them to pull punches rather than fight for the best interests of clients. But Burger feels that too many U.S. lawyers push the adversary system to the other extreme and brawl to an unreasonable degree that wastes court time...
...Chiefs stature had finally addressed the problem. "Judges and lawyers have been talking about this privately for years," commented Federal Appeals Court Judge Irving Kaufman, "but they've hesitated to say it publicly." Most attorneys who now specialize in trial work will doubtless support the proposal; for opponents, Burger had a warning: "The views of practitioners who are affected cannot be controlling any more than we allow the automobile or drug industry to have control of safety or public health standards. There are 'consumers' of justice whose rights and interests must have protection...
When such weighty concerns as inept trial lawyers are not on his mind, Chief Justice Burger can get his pique up about remarkably picayune matters. Lately he and some fellow Justices have been smoldering about the attire of attorneys appearing before the Supreme Court...
...Burger was particularly upset by an incident in October. A woman lawyer about to argue a case told Court Clerk Michael Kodak, "All I own are pantsuits. Should I go out and buy a dress?" Rodak checked with Burger and reported back that the Chief had said "no to pantsuits in no uncertain terms." Apparently unimpressed, the woman appeared in a pantsuit...