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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1920)
THE SUNDAY OREGOMAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 12, 1920 WOMAN OR LAWYER: WHICH SUCCEEDS IN HARD CASES? s An Interview With the Youngest Woman Admitted to Practice Before U. S. Supreme Court, Who Tells How She Views a Client and His Interests . J v.. BT MATME OBER PEAK. MISS DORA PALKIN, who at the age of 24 is the youngest woman ever admitted to practice in the ever admitted to practice in the United States supreme court, has a very modest little office in the Co lumbian building, which is in Wash ington's law - town, just across from the courthouse. To reach It one has to ride in a funny little elevator that meanders upward as leisurely as the "cullud lady" who runs it. There Is no pretense of "style" anywhere; nothing In the plain oak chairs, desk and bookshelves that would overawe the humblest client or impress the Interior decorative soul of the home beautiful editors. But there's a great spirit of camaraderie down in law town which one doesn't find in the richly furnished sanctums of the so called great. Suites of offices are thrown open, and If one lawyer goes out his neighbor answers his tele phone, holds on to clients and "keeps office" generally. Miss Palkin was partly engaged In this neighborly act on the morning I called, but gave me as much atten tion as she could under the circum stances. And In the interims I had ample opportunity to get the "local flavor" of the place and of the little woman herself whose feet barely touched the stool that rested under her desk. Dressed In a blue serge dress-skirt, accordion plaited jacket, an Eton blouse, frlUy a dainty Btring of pearls around her neck, she looked distinctly feminine. For which she apologized, however, saying that since ehe "couldn't raise a mustache," she had. "to do something to make her look old," and generally wore a shirt waist and stock. ' Had she had a very hard time breaking in, establishing a practice? was- my first question. Tes, she had, though probably no harder than the usual man lawyer starting out without money and with out friends. After graduating from the high school in the little Connecti cut town where she lived, she went to Washington and entered the Wash ington College of Law, where she took a three-year course, obtaining her LL.B. before she was 21. She suc cessfully passed -the district bar ex amination and at once started in to practice law. Renting two back rooms around the corner from the old courthouse, she hung her diploma on the wall, in stalled a telephone, and sat down to wait. But while she waited she did not put her feet on the table and smoke and dream. Not a bit of it. She "boned" law ten hours a day. obtain- lnging her books from the congres sional library instead of buying them. She read everything she could get on criminology and can quote whole pages from Lombroso, the great au thority on criminal law, studied so closely in those days. Hungry for work, she was delighted after months of waiting to have one of the district judges ask her one day if she would care to have an "assigned case" (when an offender cannot af ford to engage counsel, the court as signs some one the case). She took the case and won it, which was ti beginning of her success. Having established her, as it were, on the road to the success she has reached, I went on to discuss with her some of the whys and wherefore's that make it notable for a' woman to succeed at the bar. Why is it that women make better criminal lawyers than men? Is it be cause they are more sympathetic - v which would appeal merely to a man's legal sense of justice? Is it the age old maternal side of a woman that is aroused when the wayward and weak i the "under dogs" need her protec tion end aid, and is this what enables her to bring more than legal pressure to bear both on the court and her client? In discussing1 the psychology of this situation with Miss Palkin, who is specializing in criminal law, she gave me Borne enlightening information. "My first case," she told me, "was that of a poor woman and her hus band accused of stealing a bucket of coal. I felt so sorry for them. When I examined into the case I found that, although the woman had actually taken the coal, the person robbed could not prove the coal was his. And so the case was dismissed in favor of my client." "Do you keep In touch with such clients?" I asked. "The 'old offenders,' " she said, "as we call the men and women who re peat their crimes and are arrested, freed, then arrested again, are -the hardest class of criminals to reach. Crime with them is like an incurable disease. But I never let them think so. I receive telephone calls from them constantly, as I like them to keep in touch with me so I can help them go straight." Are there many men lawyers, I wonder, who think about that phase of the situation? A man (or woman) goes into a lawyer's office, states his case, pays his retaining fee. In re turn he gets legal advice and, whether guilty or not, his lawyer conducts the case so as to win it his effi ciency and reputation as ,a lawyer be ing as much at stake possibly as the honor or neck of his client. It is a thoroughly businesslike proposition; the average lawyer feels that in ex change for his fee he must give his best legal service in defense of his client not a . man or a woman or a personality but a client. If he win or lose the case, that is the end of it; no further responsibility is at tached. While with a woman lawyer the situation is different. She is not only a lawyer but a woman. You can pay her for her legal advice, but you can not pay her for that which, as a woman, she ' symbolizes a superior morality, higher standards of right and wrong, of justice and fair play, and' an instinct, not built on reason or man-made laws, that finds the truth as unfailingly as the light from an X-ray machine. A combination of brain and heart, she Is your mentor and inspiration, not only pointing out the way for you, but after you have gotten your feet in the road, helping you to go straight along it. And women lawyers, so far as I have been able to observe, are not mercenary. One reason that women are always glad to find a woman to represent them in their legal tangles ide from the act that they can tell their troubles more freely is that they feel the monetary consider ation is not first with a woman law yer. They believe she is trying to do something for them instead of trying to do them. Answering the question whether women trust women lawyers. Mi Palkin said that she has as many women clients as men, and that they place the most Implicit confidence in her. One day an old colored woman called at her office to inquire her terms for getting- a divorce. Miss Palkin, who was busy with a client, briefly stated her terms and asked the old darky to come back the next day, when she would give her fuller Information. Early the following morning her would-be client ap peared. "It's Jes dis way," she began, set tling down for a comfortable chat, "my fust husban' and I put off get tin' married and put off 'til we plum forgot it. Now, a yaller man's cum along what I likes better and what likes me. He is pesterin' me to marry him, and my husban' he likes sumbudy else, too. And hVs wlllin. But afo I kin go and live with my secun' husban' I gotta git a davorce, ain't I?" , "But. Auntie." Inquired Miss Palkin, "you say you never married your first husband, didn't you?" "Yes'm, but I kep' Intendln to." "Then you are In for a lot of trou ble if you go seeking a divorce in order to 'marry' another man," and Miss Palkin carefully explained to the old darky what laws .she had broken and what the legal answer would be, stating that she would not take the case. The negro woman looked at her for a moment in astonishment, and then exclaimed: "Dar, now,' dar ain't a man lawyer in the wurl would have tol' me dat!" And I rather suspect myself that the average man lawyer would have asked for a "retaining fee" and at least gotten his client started on her way. I asked Miss Palkin if she had ever found her sex standing In the way, and she told me other amusing Inci dents. A dentist once placed In her hands a number of bad bills to col lect by means of legal extraction. On leaving her office, he remarked: "By the way. Miss Palkin, instead of using your full name In sending out these claims, if you don't mind, I wish you would merely sign "D. Palkin.' " Miss Dora Palkin was curious to HISS DORA PALKIX. know why a man would engage a woman lawyer and be ashamed for anybody to know it. So she asked him point-blank what his reason was. He replied: "Well, If they know, you are a woman they won't be afraid of you!" On another occasion Miss Palkin was engaged as counsel by a Spanish-American war veteran accused of disloyalty and creating a disturbance at a liberty bond meeting. He Is said to have called out during the drive for bonds "America is a white feather. Why didn't they bring "Villa back! tTntil they do I won't buy a liberty bond." He was arrested, though released later on his personal bond. He came MANY GRAY HAIRS BLOSSOM IF TEACHING HER TO DRIVE Time Never Lags and Eternity Seems Close When She Shaves Trees and Other Cars in Precarious Efforts at Mastering Simple Task. T DOST SHOUT MY HEARING'S GOOD. BY JAMES J. MONTAGUE. HE pupil I don't see why I can't take the wheel here. I know which way to turn. The teacher There's too much traf fic on this road. Wait till we get on a back street. The pupil But it won't do me any good to learn to drive on a back street. If I can't drive in traffic, what's the good of driving at all. I know which way to' turn the wheel now. . The teacher But you can't stop, and you can't start eay nothing of shifting gears. The pupil I don't think that Is so very important. If I know which way to turn the wheel, I can't run into anybody, can I? The teacher Supposing a car is more apt to put their hearts in cases j ahead of you and don't turn out? The pupil Well, If he hasn't got sense enough to turn out, so much the worse for it. The teacher That won't do you any good when you are spilled out on the road. The pupil Oh, very well. But we're wasting a lot of time. I know which way to turn- the wheel. Pupil Proven Perverse. The teacher Here's a quiet street. Now take the wheel. The pupil rve got it. "Now what do I do? The teacher Take out the clutch. The pupil What is the clutch?' The teacher The thing you've got your foot on The pupil Why didn't you say so? Is this the right one? The teacher Stop! stop! You have not put the gear in. The pupil If you would let me ex periment around till I found out how to start it myself, I'd get along faster. The teacher1 And wreck us both, to say nothing of the car. Now watch. Pull this lever back on the lefthand side. Now take out the clutch very slowly. No, not that way. You near ly hit that tree. The pupil I did exactly as you told me to. Foot Bfuat Have Place. The teachei- Yes, but you put your foot on the accelerator. The pupil Well, I had to put my foot on something, didn't I? 1 The teachei 1 suppose so. Now try again. No, don't do that! The pupil Don't do what? The teacher Start with the wheels cramped around that way. You'll go right into the ditch. The pupil I tow did I know the wheels were cramped around? The teacher Couldn't you see they were. The pupil Certainly not. I was looking at the clutch. The teacher Try again. That's right. Now keep her going slowly. The pupil I knew how to do that. I could run this car If you'd get out. What makes It grind that way! The teacher You're In the first gear. You want to shift now. The pupil No, I don't. I'm doing very well. Let me alone. The teaefcer But you must shift. Take your foot off the accelerator. No, not off the clutch, off the accel erator. Now let out the clutch, slowly. Now shift the lever diagonally. No! Not so fast. You'll tear out the trans mission. . ' Harsh Commands Frighten. The pupil Don't speak to me like that. You frighten me and get me all confused. The teacher Now shift diagonally. as I told you. There, that's right. Go The pupil All right, it's out. Why I ahead slowly. SIXIWLY, I tell you. on't it start? - 1 The pupil Gee, it's fun ' to kn lhow. Isn't it? Now shall we run out ow The teacher- That's the brake. Into traffic? I know which way to turn the wheel. The teacher Not yet. You still have got to go Into high. The pupil Where is .high? The teacher High gear. I mean. Take your foot off the clutch again. The pupil You're always making me take my foot off the clutch and every time I do it the old thing stops. The teachei' Put the lever back, straight. No, not that way, straight! That's right! Now you're in high. Not so fast, not so FAST! The pupil I'm sure I'm not mak ing it go fast. It just sort of jumped forward. The teachei" Take your foot off the accelerator. The pupil Which did you say the accelerator was? The teacher That small knob at your right. Stop stamping on it that way. Turn away from the ditch. QUICK! " . New Teacher Tetred. The pupil It Isn't at all necessary to shout like that. My hearing is perfectly good. The teachei' Maybe, but you don't pay any attention to me if I don't shout. Look out for that car coming. The pupil But it's on the, wrong side of the street. ..The teachei" Supposing it Is. do you want to smash the car? The pupil But why doesn't It get on the right side of the street? The teacher Never mind that now. Turn out! Turn out! The pupil All right; I'm turning out. ' But I ought to have hit the old thing just the same. ' The teacher1 Look out! There's another one. The pupil I can't look out. Tve forgotten which way to turn the wheel. Anyway, he looked out. The teacher I guess I'll take her now. The pupil Tnat's always the way. Just because you see that I'm going to drive better than you do, y.ou take the car away from me. I'm going to get a regular teacher. The teacher The Lord have mercy on his soul! (Copyrixht. 1920, by the Bell Syndicate, Inc.). U. S. Believes It Knows What Makes Manna. Original Honry Dew Discovered In Pennsylvania. BELIEF that it has discovered one of the constituents of the manna of the Bible is agitating the federal bureau of chemistry. Be that as it may. It certainly has found and se cured several pounds of melezitose, a form of sugar extremely valuable in scientific experimentation and hardly more plentiful than radium. The sup ply never has been sufficient to come anywhere near meeting" the demands of scientists in laboratory work. Melezitose Is the original honey dew. It gets its name from the French word melez. which means larch tree, on which it first was found in. minute and rarely-met-with quan tities. It seems that bees and peculiar summer weather in central Pennsyl vania recently conspired to lay up a lot of this unusual saccharine sub stance In numerous hives, where It crystallized and dealt death and de struction to so many bees when they tried to live on it that special in quests were held to find out the cause of this wholesale mortality among the busy workers. It was found to have been too rich for their digestion, and that they literally starved to death. "This rare sugar." says Dr. E. T. Wherry of the bureau, "also occurs in a honey incrustation for manna on a leguminous tree in Persia and ad joining countries. Recently it has been found by the bureau pf chem istry in a similar product on the Douglas fir in British Columbia. And now it has turned up in Pennsylva nia stored away in honeycombs in or dinary hives. As nearly as we can tell the origin of (his still scarce sugar is due to the attacks on the scrub and. more rarely, other species of pine by a rtlant ImiHA n n H a rAtain if.l . In sect. In the course of their activities i she spoke up: these creatures produce a honey dew which is rich in melezitose. "In dry summers after the white clover flowers have ceased to yield honey, the bees turn to this honey dew and collect it. but it crystallizes as fast as they store it away. This occurred in 1917 and 1918. In the win ters following the beekeepers sus tained considerable losses when their swarmt tried to live on it. swarms tried to live on It- . . to Miss Palkin In great distress and told her the whoie story of his serv ice in the war, how he felt about the. Mexican situation, and his en deavor to get in the then European war. She took the case, and when his friends found out that he had placed it in her hands, they were much concerned. "You've cooked your case," they- warned him. "The Idea of giving it to a woman!" But the client stuck to Miss Palkin not without telling her, however, what had been said. And, being a woman, she just naturally resented it so that she won that case. I under stand .she told the jury that instead of being unpatriotic, disloyal to his country, here was a man who was a super-patriot actually in one war and wanted to get In two more! Having had considerable experience as stenographer to the Associated Charities in Washington spoken of by one of her clients as the "sociable charities" Miss Palkin understands this class of unfortunates well, and in part perhaps owes her success as a lawyer for the downtrodden because of her intimate knowledge of their trials and tribulations. She Is now the legal adviser of this association and. during the war, acted also as a member of the legal advisory counsel which rendered advice to thousands of drafted men. Around the court rooms Miss Palkin is well known and well liked. Judges and lawyers call her "Sister Portia" and sometimes when court is in ses sion unconsciously drop into so salut ing her. On one occasion Miss Palkin was arguing for the reduction of a client's bond. The amount assessed by the court J1000 was too high for rela tives and friends to reach, and as the man's family was in dire need and It was desirous to bail him out of jail and put him to work, a reduc tion of the bond had to be forth coming. The prosecuting attorney argued against it. stating that there was no legal reason on earth why the of fender's bond should be reduced in order to release him before his trial; that he was a criminal with an old record theisort that was better off in jail than out, and so on and so on. The judge looked up over his glasses at Miss Palkin. "What have you to say. Sister Portia; can you give the court any good reason why your client's bond should be reduced?" As a matter of fact, "Sister Portia" didn't have a single good legal rea son to offer. But, quick as a flash. "Yes, your honor; this is Friday, bargain day!" It was a refreshingly feminine re tort, and everybody laughed. To thx judge it was like a ray of sunshine breaking Into the sordid routine of his courtroom, and he valued it at $300. For he cut that bond in half. Was it the woman or the lawyer who accomplished the feat? Both.
