Denver Law Review Volume 13 Issue 3 Article 2 July 2021 In Behalf of a Unified State Bar Bentley M. McMullin Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/dlr Recommended Citation Bentley M. McMullin, In Behalf of a Unified State Bar, 13 Dicta 61 (1935-1936). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Denver Law Review at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. IN BEHALF OF A UNIFIED STATE BAR By BENTLEY M. MCMULLIN, of the Denver Bar AR integration, like many other recently coined terms, is but a new name for an old principle applied to pres- ent conditions. Our first colonial bar associations com- prised what would today be termed an integrated bar. They were organized along the lines of the self-governing English Incorporated Law Society, and provided the sole regulation of the practice of law. The first such association seems to have been organized in New York in 1747. The Revolution and the impatience with restraint and authority which fol- lowed swept away all restrictions upon the right to practice law; for a time any citizen could appear and argue another's cause, and bar associations completely disappeared. This free and easy condition was of short duration; it speedily became intolerable, and the public interest forced the return of regu- lation. Regulation gradually increased with the better organi- zation of state government, but bar associations did not re- appear until about 1870, when a few lawyers again organized in New York to correct conditions felt to be grossly unethical.