Proceedings of 1961 Annual Meeting of State Bar Association of North Dakota
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North Dakota Law Review Volume 37 Number 4 Article 13 1961 Proceedings of 1961 Annual Meeting of State Bar Association of North Dakota North Dakota State Bar Association Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/ndlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation North Dakota State Bar Association (1961) "Proceedings of 1961 Annual Meeting of State Bar Association of North Dakota," North Dakota Law Review: Vol. 37 : No. 4 , Article 13. Available at: https://commons.und.edu/ndlr/vol37/iss4/13 This Bar Proceeding is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Dakota Law Review by an authorized editor of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PROCEEDINGS OF 1961 ANNUAL MEETING OF STATE BAR ASSOCIATION OF NORTH DAKOTA MR. DEGNAN: We'll call to order the first Session of our Sixty-first Annual meeting of the State Bar Association of North Dakota. ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT DEGNAN PRESIDENT DEGNAN: Perhaps the most important, single essential of good Bar Association work is the coopera- tion of each individual member with the officers of your Association in any given year. I should like to go on record here as saying that I have had the cooperation and assistance from every member of this Bar Association during the past year. We have accomplished everything we had set out to do. Next to each individual members, the most important peo- ple are the committee heads. Without them no President or no group of officers could accomplish anything. I should like publicly here to acknowledge my thanks and indebtedness to each of these committee chairmen who served so well and so eagerly during the past year and I should like to name them for you, so the names are firm in your memory. Mr. Oehlert, of course, the Vice-President and Chairman of the Budget Committee has not only done everything that I asked him to but has volunteered for many jobs that he didn't have to. The Association couldn't have had a better Vice-President. I should like also to commend Herman Weiss of Jamestown for his leadership of the Continued Legal Education Committee. I should like to congratulate Mr. E. T. Conmy, Jr., Chairman of the Ethics and Internal Affairs Committee and for handling a very difficult job. John Shaft of Grand Forks, Chairman of the Information and Service Committee and the sub-com- mittee. men who worked very actively under him. John Tray- nor, Chairman of the Judicial Selections Committee for the second consecutive year and doing a very good job. Great thanks also go to Albert J. Greffenius of Valley City, Chair- man of the Legal Economics Committee for his work on that Committee. I think, that service performed by that Committee in the past two and a half years has been something that we could all be proud of. It may be of interest to you that our new fee schedule promulgated by this Committee in the past couple of years is an article of comment by every bar associa- tion meeting in the United States. There is hardly a month that goes by that we don't receive requests for additional copies, and in the original printing one hundred additional copies were supplied to the American Bar Association on the NORTH DAKOTA LAW REVIEW (Vol. 37 same subject. My thanks also to Dean Thormodsgard of the University of North Dakota, Chairman of the Legal Educa- tion and Admission to the Bar Committee. To Norbert J. Mug- gli for handling our Legislative Committee for the legislative year. To Everett Palmer of Williston, Chairman of the Mem- orials and Fifty Year Awards Committee who performed a very valuable service. Our thanks also to Mr. William S. Mur- ray of Bismarck for his handling of the Procedure Committee, and to Paul Pancratz, Chairman of the Title Standards Com- mittee, and to Odin J. Strandness, Chairman of the Traffic Safety Committee. For the Traffic Safety Committee I would say their handling of the meeting for the magistrates, per- sons interested in the new County Justice positions, and for police officers that was held in Bismarck, was the best at- tended school or conference that they have had in several years. Our thanks to A. J. Pederson, Kenmare, Chairman of the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee. Under Mr. Pederson the Committee has had the busiest year for many years. It was very much appreciated. And last, Eugene A. Bur- dick, Williston, Chairman of the Uniform Law Committee. Judge Burdick's pet did not get through the Legislature but most of our programs did, and we have had an outstanding record in the State of North Dakota with the adoption of the Uniform Codes. This has been the first full year of our operation as an As- sociation with a full-time Executive Director, and I should like to make a few observations in regard to how that has worked out. I am sure that Mr. Schultz and myself have been guilty of innumerable mistakes, but I am likewise certain that in his first full year as Executive Director Mr. Schultz has produced much that will be of lasting improvement and per- manent benefit to our Association. This past year has been in the nature of a shakedown cruise for a new ship. I would like each of you to know that Mr. Schultz has never skimped of his time and his willingness has been ever present. Never once has he been too busy or said, "That's not my job." He has labored very hard for our Association and I think the re- sults of that year and his efforts are obvious to each of you. The Executive Committee and the officers of our Association are fully aware of the efficient work Mr. Schultz has per- formed and we would like to publicly commend him. This year we concluded several very successful Institutes; our best attended traffic courts conference and police offi- cers school, and some very outstanding work in the field of unauthorized law practice. We went through a successful legislative campaign in which our score, although not 100 per cent, was certainly a very respectable percentage. Our Law Day and constitution awards was the best we have ever had. We have maintained contact with the Armed Services, the 1961) BENCH AND BAR press, radio and television. Each committee has performed outstanding work. Rather than look back at these events, however, I should like to look forward a bit to several con- cepts of Bar Association work that I have striven to begin with the assistance of the present officers and the Executive Director. The first of these broad concepts was in the field of legal economics. On this score, Mr. Schultz has been avail- able for eight months of the year to city, county and district bar associations. He has frequently appeared around the state. I went with him as many times as I could. It is difficult to evaluate this type of educational work as the results are not immediately apparent. I do feel, however, that a beginning has been made. Many of you have taken time to express favorable oral or written opinions to me, so that I know that the thoughts promulgated have made some impression. Another broad concept for our profession is in the field of professional dignity and in personal integrity. There are two fields here. The first is our attitude toward the public and the public's attitude toward us, and the second is our dealings with each other. There is no place in a profession, with the standing that we have, for men who refuse to stand up and be counted on the issue of principle. There is no place for men without sound moral backgrounds. There is no place for com- petition on any phase of our work except merit and knowledge. The next broad concept that I visualize for the advance- ment of our profession is in the field of public relations. This is something rather new to all of us and perhaps on the mys- terious side, since we know so little about it. Because each individual lawyer is the best public relations expert a Bar As- sociation can have, we are devoting a considerable portion of the time of this assembly to this subject matter. You will hear a nationally known public relations speaker, Mr. Hugh Bren- neman, who operates almost exclusively for professional groups. You will likewise hear the results of our economic sur- vey, which touches in this same field. You will also hear of our study on judicial selections and tenure and of our committee on clients' security fund, a new and very active field. I can also inform you that we have made arrangements for our Ex- ecutive Director to attend a public relations meeting at St. .Louis in August. Gentlemen, it has been a great pleasure for me to serve as your President during the past year. I am certainly not un- mindful of the great honor that you conferred upon me in electing me to this, the highest office in your Association. This year has been a busy one for me and the work of your Association has taken a considerable portion of my time. In leaving office, however, to each of you I extend my great thanks for having had the opportunity to serve you. NORTH DAKOTA LAW REVIEW (Vol. 37 Now, passing along to the regular order of business.