PRACTICING LAW WITH LA FOLLETTE
Roe, Gilbert E.
Practicing Law With La Follette For Ten Years Mr. Roe Was Associated with Mr. La Follette and Here Relates Many Interesting Experiences in That Alliance BY GILBERT E. ROE Y ASSOCIATION with...
...The patient, careful and exhaustive study which as Governor and United States Senator he gave to every question upon which he was called to act, was merely applying the same methods which as a lawyer he used in preparing a case for trial...
...FOR the first time in decades the stalwart faction in Wisconsin is without a state ticket that is a serious contender for election...
...La Follette saw a great light, and ' discarded his bundle of papers which he had up to that time been so vigorously examining, and gravely announced that the record did not seem to show whether the accused had been "arraigned" or not, but that in order that there might be no question about it, he would "arraign" him at that time, and then went through the process of "arraigning" the prisoner in a manner which indicated that he was quite familiar with such proceeding...
...SO overwhelmingly has progressive sentiment in Wisconsin become that the old guard strategy is to invent ways and means to divide the progressive strength...
...He had little patience, however, with the technicalities of the law, and believed that under our system too much respect was paid to precedents...
...Any one of a dozen or more men who were practicing law at Madison during this time compared favorably in point of ability, and especially in trial skill, with any of the great lawyers of this country in this or any other period of our history...
...First Case in Court >tHHE CASE was called, he answered "ready" A and moved into the prosecutor's seat ready to open the case and prove the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by unimpeachable evidence...
...When a match is scheduled, th« contesting fish are first placed in adjoining glass bowls where they can see one another...
...It was easy to establish from this model that defendant's testimony had been incorrect on the vital points of the case, and with this new evidence before the jury, the defense practically collapsed, and at the conclusion of the trial & verdict was promptly returned for the plaintiff...
...Senator Lenroot ducked the Milwaukee convention and maneuvered in suck a way that be would not be openly identified with the Campbell crowd...
...La Follette later became celebrated in public life were clearly marked in his work as a lawyer...
...By this time the courtroom was in confusion and the jury had come to appreciate the full significance of the testimony the wiftness was giving...
...Special Privilege, his clients, the plaintiffs, were the common people of the country...
...And when court opened the next morning we walked in carrying our model, whkh was virtually a reproduction of the highway not only at the point of the -accident, but for many feet both ways...
...A number of stalking horses and figureheads are therefore being trotted out for nomination for Congress against the present members...
...He did not, if he could avoid it, enter upon the trial of any case until he had exhausted every possible source of information concerning it...
...Handicapped as he was by lack of legal experience and familiarity with the technicalities of the law, his unusual'gifts together with his remarkable industry and capacity for hard work, placed him at once on an equality with men who had devoted their entire energies for years strictly to the practice of law...
...There were in active practice there at that time such men as William F. Vilas, United States Senator and member of President Cleveland's cabinet, John C. Spooner, for many years United States Senator, S. U. Pinney, for many years a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, Burr W. Jones, Congressman, author of several standard legal works, and Judge of the Supreme Court for many years, and a number of other equally able though less well known attorneys...
...La Follette turned to me and said, "Get Lew Porter" (referring to a well known civil engineer of the city) "and tell him he has an all-night job on his hands...
...La Follette was able at the psychological moment in a trial with a few deft sentences to paint for the jury an unforgettable picture against a background of drab and commonplace evidence which revealed to them in a flash of understanding the real significance of the case...
...A sheet may be substituted if a spread is not available...
...In 1900 he was elected Governor of Wisconsin, and was successively Governor of the State and United States Senator continuously thereafter...
...Hastily backing to where Mr...
...I cannot recall a single case in which a jury ever brought in a verdict against him...
...Yet he tried the dullest case in an entertaining manner...
...contrary to his usual manner of handling an adverse witness, took each of the defendant's witnesses over the ground of their direct examination, with the result that the testimony against us was strengthened instead of weakened by the cross-examination...
...La Follette at once objected and moved to strike out the testimony, and the motion was promptly granted...
...Thus by a three to two decision of the highest court of the state, after something like six years of persistent litigation, the case was lost...
...La Follette did many thousands of dollars worth of work for what he deemed worthy causes, for which the clients never paid and were never expected to pay...
...Three of the judges united in ordering a reversal of the judgment appealed from, but two of the judges dissented...
...Even our own witnesses were disappointing in 'their testimony, and when defendant's witnesses came on, they simply overwhelmed us...
...In the course of his argument, which, as usual, dealt largely and in detail with the facts and circumstances in evidence, and when the facts had been so assembled to bring them vividly before the jury, Mr...
...The on...
...The court also, in his sternest manner, ordered the witness to stop...
...La Follette at once appealed to the Supreme Court of the State, which was then composed of five judges...
...If a client was able to pay for the services, well and good, bu\ if he was unable to pay, he received exactly the same services as he would have received if he had paid generously...
...And now Mr...
...La Follette for the plaintiff preventing the diversion of the water pending the trial...
...La Follette, as was his custom, had caused the scene of the accident to be carefully examined, measurements made, and a map drawn to show the material facts in great detail...
...La Follette, and was the result of the inspiration of the moment...
...Miter the corners of each of the sheets, the blanfct, and the spread, before tucking in...
...Hut he always insisted that the only inspiration a lawyer could afford came through hard, persistent and conscientious work...
...Sometimes, though not often, the appellate court would set aside verdicts which had been rendered in his favor...
...But the witness kept on talking...
...When he described to the jury how it was only for the purest purpose and with "hallowed hands" that the physician should lay bare the inneimost secrets of the soul and bodies of their diiughteis, wives or mothers, men on the jury who had schooled themselves through long, hard lives not to show emotion, did not even try to conceal their tears...
...I remember in one case he had under cross-examination a very hostile, pugnacious and voluble woman witness...
...It was soon apparent to me he was merely killing time and wished to avoid putting on our rebuttal testimony until the next day...
...I recall a case which arose while we were in general practice together, which illustrates Mr, La Follette's courage and confidence in his own Judgment, as well as his ability to extricate himself from a seemingly hopeless situation...
...In preparing a case for trial, his inquiry was not, what evidence was necessary, but what evidence might by any possibility become material...
...Instantly Mr...
...But stop she would not...
...The last named justice, joining with the two members of the Supreme Court who had dissented at the former hearing, now constituted a majority of that body and decided as they had all done before, that the plaintiff had no cause of action and ordered the complaint dismissed...
...La Follette's brilliant achievements as a statesman have in the public mind at least overshadowed his work as a lawyer...
...the same btrwt where they fight to the...
...The ablest veteran of the Bar realized as soon as he knew that Mr...
...Avoid too much covering at the upper end of the bed...
...In that case the action was brought by the owner of a cranberry marsh several hundred acres in extent, to prevent the diversion of water from the plaintiff's lands by persons who owned or controlled the lands higher up...
...Quite as a matter of course he assumed that the members of a jury were honest and were quite capable of understanding any evidence if clearly presented, and of following any argument if logically made...
...La Follette was to oppose him in the trial of a case that he would need all his resources and resourcefulness if he would escape a crushing defeat...
...While he had served as District Attorney of Dane County, of which Madison is the principal city, from 1880 to 1884, prior to his election to Congress in 1885, his law work as District Attorney was largely criminal in character...
...The manner in which the stalwart crowd has ditched Charles B. Perry, conservative candidate for governor, shows how the game is now being played in Wisconsin...
...Famous Marsh Case BRIEFLY the issue was whether the waters which were diverted from the lands of the plaintiff by the defendant were those of a water course or were mere surface waters...
...You must remember, however, to put the center of each article in, the center of the bed...
...It is an indication of the recognition of the hold which the movement has on the affections and the consciences of the people of this state...
...I have often been with him in the trial of a case when I knew some unexpected twist in the evidence had come as a complete surprise, and disarranged perhaps his whole plan of trial,"but never by his manner or even the tone of his voice, was the court or jury led to "suspect that he had not anticipated exactly what had occurred and was fully prepared to meet it...
...The stalwarts recognize this year that their only chance is to try to break the progressive front by electing near stalwarts who are wearing the disguise of prbgressiveism...
...He was a strong believer in the jury system and I have often heard him say that if the lawyers would properly present their facts to the jury and the judge instruct them intelligently as to the law, there would be very little reason to complain of verdicts rendered by juries...
...The sudden and accidental death, however, occurring at or about this time of the judge who had been disqualified from sitting in the case in the Supreme Court, and the prompt appointment of his successor, gave the defendant a new lease of life, and it was necessary to argue the case all over again before the full bench...
...La Follette thoroughly enjoyed the practice of law...
...Strips of cloth across the ends of a heavy quilt can be taken, off when soiled and the quilt will not have to be laundered so frequently...
...If they were mere surface waters, then the right to divert them existed...
...For this purpose, no fact in evidence was too remote, no incident too trifling, to be fitted into the picture...
...It was a joke in the office that while he was very insistent upon legislation limiting the hours of labor for others, eighteen hours was an average day for himself during court terms, and not infrequently this was stretched to twenty-four hours a day when occasion required it...
...Make the bed entirely on one side, even to the spread, and then go to the opposite side...
...Porter, his assistants, and instruments, we bundled ourselves into a wagon that night and drove with a team of horses some twenty or more miles to the scene of the accident, made new measurements by lantern light which completely refuted the testimony of defendant's witnesses, returned to Madison while it was still dark, and repaired to the engineer's office, where the remaining hours up to 9 a. m., when court opened, were put in making a complete model of the highway, prepared with mathematical accuracy, drawn of course to a reduced scale...
...A Tribute to the Progressive Movement ONE of the greatest tributes that can be paid to the progressive movement in Wisconsin is the fact that every candidate who thinks he has a chance to be elected to any public office of importance feels the necessity of labelling himself as a "progressive...
...His mastery of the complicated questions of finance, taxation, railway legislation and many other questions of most vital public concern, which in later years won him a national reputation, was due to the application of the same patient and exhaustive methods of study which he gave to his cases while in active practice as a lawyer...
...There was something of a prejudice against this class of cases in the community, and as most of the jurors were farmers who paid the taxes necessary to settle any judgment whkh might be recovered against their town for damages it was natural that you had to have a very strong case in order to get a verdict for the plaintiff...
...Here are some of the ways students learn to make bed-making easier: If you are in the habit of tiring yourself out by running around the bed a dozen times to straighten a corner here and there, try moving around the bed only once...
...Strong Dane County Bar IT WAS not until in later life, when I had the-opportunity to eompare the work of these men with that of other famous attorneys throughout the country, that I came fully to appreciate the great abilities of the leaders of the Dane County Bar during the years from 1890 to 1900...
...If preferred, the spread can be left hanging over the edge of the bed, with the bottom corners mitered.—University of Wisconsin Press Bulletin...
...La Follette was distinguished chiefly as a lawyer for his success in handling jury cases, he also mastered legal principles readily, and as it sometimes seemed to me, almost intuitively...
...Lenroot, in spite of his record on Teapot Dome, Newberryism, Warren, Daugherty, etc., is a "constructive progressive" and a "sane progressive/' In lino with that sort of strategy we are hearing little in Wisconsin this year of the necessity of "standing by Coolidge" in electing Lenroot...
...The laugh which went up from the jury and spectators in the courtroom, caused as much by Mr...
...This woman on her cross-examination launched upon a line of testimony most damaging to Mr...
...Robs Trial of Tenseness INEVER went through a trial with Mr...
...La Follette had had very little office experience and he had studied law for only a brief period up to the time he was elected District Attorney...
...Never during the eight years that this litigation lasted, did Mr...
...Neither the importance of a case nor the prominence of a client affected his method of trial...
...This was before the days of the automobile...
...One such case which I recall is that of Case v. Hoffman, 84 Wisconsin 438, and a number of other decisions in the same litigation are reported in Volume 100 of the Wisconsin Reports...
...1 have known many a lawyer who would try a case ably, and even brilliantly, if the trial progressed along the anticipated lines, but if some surprise evidence was presented by his adversary, or a trusted witness forgot or falsified, or an unthought of point of law was raised, he immediately lost his head, showed how hard he had been hit, and through lack of resourcefuln&ss lost his case...
...But as this did not interrupt the flow of the testimony, he sank back in his chair with a dramatic gesture of despair, and added the words, "If you can...
...I recall a case we tried which involved the professional conduct of a physician...
...The action was brought in 1890 and a temporary injunction was obtained by Mr...
...The under sheet will not loosen up from under the mattress if each sheet and blanket, and the spread, before tucking in...
...He often used his ready wit and keen humor irT a trial to help himself out of an embarrassing situation...
...In that field his cause was, Equal Rights vs...
...It looked to me as though this was one case in which the jury would bring in a verdict against us...
...Wanted Plain Justice WHILE Mr...
...La Follette ever make a suggestion of compromise or settlement, nor was he at any time willing to entertain overtures of settlement from the other side...
...At that moment it happened that P. J. Lamb, one of the oldest attorneys at the Bar, and a great friend of Mr...
...This time Mr...
...La Follette objected, and was sustained by the judge, who emphasized his ruling by vigorously pounding the desk with his gavel to bring the witness to order...
...Lamb was sitting, and vigorously and noisily turning over the papers at the same time, and talking out of the corner of his mouth a la Eddie Foy, Mr...
...After extended argument, this motion was granted and the judgment of the lower court in favor of the plaintiff would naturally have been affirmed under the rule, as -the appellate court stood equally divided...
...We were suing a town for damages for defective highway...
...La Follette in which some incident did not occur which his quick sense of humor seized on to create a laugh or relieve for a few moments the tenseness of the trial...
...Just as a lightning flash out of the night will sometimes show a familiar scene against a background of clouds and darkness, with a brilliancy which stamps it upon the mind forever, so Mr...
...He therefore responded briskly to the judge's query by stating that he would examine the papers of the case prepared by his predecessor and see what the record showed in the matter...
...Fought for the Right WITHIN due time he moved to set aside the last mentioned judgment rendered by the Supreme Court, on the grounds that the judge who had decided the case against the plaintiff at the Circuit on a demurrer, had no right to Sit in the case on the appeal from the judgment upon the facts...
...If he was sometimes merciless in his cross-examination, it was only when he believed the witness was lying and was pretty certain that the jury was of the same opinion...
...I think Senator William . F. Vilas was the opposing attorney in this case...
...So, with Mr...
...Whether it was in running down elusive points of law or arranging and marshalling his facts for most effective use, there seemed to be no limit to his endurance in his work...
...He won many a case just as he afterwards won many political victories, because his opponent grew tired of the persistent and gruelling fight which Mr...
...If they were the waters of a water course, their diversion was unlawful...
...The bed clothing should only reach to the person's neck and is only brought up that far on the bed when making it...
...displaying the most brilliant color* wins initial humoral The...
...I have forgotten whether it was a malpractice case or in precisely what form the issue arose, but the case involved the charge of professional misconduct of a well-known physician...
...I think this was always unstudied on the part of Mr...
...La Follette put all his energy in one last command to the witness to "Stop...
...But Mr...
...La Follette suddenly turned aside from his discussion of the evidence and for five or ten minutes described the importance and sacredness of the physician's office, in language which, in its beauty and truthfulness, went straight to the heart of every hearer...
...At this point the presiding justice inquired whether or not the accused had been "arraigned...
...With a woolen blanket for covering, a quilt is not often necessary, but, if used, it should be light and washable...
...But the evidence went badly from the start...
...La Follette had only begun to fight...
...If should be made tight and if each cover is tucked in tight by itself it will stay that way, even after the bed is opened...
...The knowledge that Mr...
...One third of your Mfe is spent in bed...
...La Follette won, as he usually did where the issue depended upon developing arid marshalling the facts...
...Therefore it behooves the housewife to see that the bed is made up for comfort as well as for attractive appearance, say home economic experts at the Wisconsin College of Agriculture...
...He prepared for this, his first trial, however, with characteristic forethought, and know thoroughly not only his own evidence but also the evidence which could be produced against him...
...La Follette's client, although no question had been asked her which justified her testimony...
...La Follette was ¦A always most courteous to witnesses and jurors as well as to the court and counsel...
...His vacations during this latter period were largely given up to lecture work, so that he had little time or opportunity to practice law...
...The trial judge saw that the witnesses were being cross-examined, at length merely for purposes of delay, and did his best to bring the trial to a close...
...He believed that a case that was worth trying at all was worth trying in the best possible manner...
...The Dane County Bar during the period from 1890 to 1900 was one of the strongest in the country...
...Every dollar that Mr...
...Use slow, steady movements but at the same time keep in mind that you want to get the bed made as soon as possible...
...He never took advantage of the nervousness or shortcomings of a witness who was really trying to tell the truth...
...Lamb, what it means to 'arraign' a prisoner...
...La Follette's client had in the world was invested in his cranberry marsh...
...To have hesitated or have admitted ignorance of this most elementary step in criminal procedure would have been fatal...
...After many months spent in making a minute survey of hundreds of acres of land, involving the taking of thousands of levels by a civil engineer, and the procurement of affidavits as to the original flow of the waters, from every old settler to be found in the township, the case came on for hearing upon the affidavits and the pleadings before the judge at the circuit, and the defendant won a sweeping victory, a demurrer to' the 'complaint being sustained, and the action ordered dismissed...
...Again Mr...
...Night and day were alike to him...
...La Follette's client, had died, and the Circuit Court judge who had decided the case against the plaintiff in the first instance, had been promoted to the Supreme Bench...
...La Follette sprang to his feet, and approaching the witness in his most commanding manner, shouted, "Stop...
...This never happened to Mr...
...And he immediately began thumbing over papers in the case, with great vigor...
...are then pfsteed In...
...He simply revealed to the jury that which at the moment • he himself saw...
...He never appealed to religious, class, race or political prejudices...
...Fortunately the new appointee to the Supreme Bench took the correct view of the case and voting with the two members of the Supreme Court who had all the time stood for the plaintiff, constituted a majority of the court and gave the plaintiff a judgment for all costs and decreed that he should ever be protected against the diversion of the waters from his lands...
...They have an uncanny ability in spotting those who are travelling under false colors...
...The opposition was made of men of large wealth and great interests in northern Wisconsin where the lands in question were located...
...They call themselves progressives but their principal job is to divide the progressive strength in order to serve reactionary candidates...
...It was, however, his labors as a lawyer which fitted him for his great service in the larger field of statesmanship...
...That Perry resents this callous betrayal is evident from the newspaper stories that he has visited Lenroot and has plainly told Lenroot of what he thinks of such procedure and of bis aligirmewt with Zimmerman...
...The wary and resourceful Lenroot earif Me*fl»raed that be eottld not eatpeet to be reelected as * stalwart or an old guard...
...It was during these years that Mr...
...Natives of Si am and Cochin, China, breed and train fish as game cocks are trained in other countries...
...La Follette was to appear as the attorney in a case, was notice to his adversary that he had the hardest kind of a fight on his hands...
...The people of Wisconsin, however, are trained to detect these subterfuges...
...Gives Rules on Bed Making DO you sleep comfortably...
...Instantly Mr...
...Was Thorough in Cases IN THIS particular case, Mr...
...La Follette and Here Relates Many Interesting Experiences in That Alliance BY GILBERT E. ROE Y ASSOCIATION with Senator La Follette in the practice of law be-gan when I was admitted to prac- tice in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1890, and continued during the next "ten years...
...The case then went back for trial on the facts...
...He never bluffed, blustered nor bull-dozed...
...This was the one thing he had not thought of, and he had only the haziest notion respecting what "arraignment" meant...
...Sheets always seem to have a way of slip-ing out from underneath the mattress, so tuck the bottom one in five inches under the mattress at the head of the bed tnd tuck the upper one in five inches under the matbress at the foot of the bed and they will remain snug...
...They will do it in this campaign.—The Capital Times...
...The only effect all this had on the witness was to make her talk faster and louder and to give if possible more damaging testimony against us...
...But Mr...
...Many months were spent in making surveys and gathering evidence, and many weeks were actually spent in the trial before another circuit judge...
...Lamb instantly realized the situation and promptly whispered in reply in sueh a manner as not to attract attention, "It means having the prisoner stand up before the court and answer upon your interrogation whether he is guilty or not guilty of the charge...
...It was against such antagonists as these that Mr...
...Painting Unforgettable Pictures EVERY CASE, of course^ did not lend itself to this kind of magic oratory, but no case was so prosaic that sometimes during the trial he did not draw for the jury a picture of the human element in it, which went with them to the jury room and usually determined their verdict...
...He never resorted to cheap methods to win a case...
...Convinced that his client'3 cause was just, and must prevail, he fought on until his judgment was vindicated...
...La Follette's hopeless and despairing manner as by what he said, put an end to the witness' testimony and made merely a laughable incident out of what, if otherwise handled, would have been a most damaging point against him...
...La Follette, entered the courtroom and took a seat at the attorneys' table...
...La Follette was pitted, when, after his retirement from the House of Representatives he took up the general practice of law...
...La Follette whispered, "For Heaven's sake, tell me, Mr...
...Naturally brilliant, quick as a flash to see and take advantage of any weakness in his adversary's case, I sometimes urged that he forego a little of his tireless preparation and trust more to the inspiration of the moment on the trial of his case...
...It gave him the opportunity of employing those peculiar abilities with which he was so richly endowed...
...In his first trial as District Attorney, he was charged with the duty of prosecuting a notorious criminal whom his predecessor in office had failed to bring to trial...
...La Follette's great moments in a trial were his serious moments, when in an argument or it might be in a masterful examination or cross-examination of a witness, he vividly brought home to the mind of the court or jury what he "conceived to be the controlling feature of the case...
...But Mr, La Follette stuck grimly to his task and the judge was obliged to adjourn the case at the end of the day with the defendant's witnesses still on the stand...
...Only the two surviving judges of the original five of the Supreme Court, voted in favor of the plaintiff...
...It was to this faculty that he owed his great success as a trial lawyer...
...Make the bed so that it can be opened without pulling the bedding out in the wrong place...
...La Follette carried to him...
...Was Never Disconcerted UNLIKE many lawyers, however, who prepare their cases with great thoroughness, he was never disconcerted by any sudden or unexpected development in a case...
...One of them was his dogged determination once- he had entered upon a cause never to quit or compromise...
...He loved to work...
...A story which I often heard him tell of his first case, and which he always regarded as a huge joke on himself, really illustrates his faculty of always landing "on his feet," no matter what happened...
...If a pillow is shaken up and the cover put on smoothly, it is much nicer to sleep on...
...La Follette was most active as a lawyer...
...Make Dull Cases Sparkle -n-N THE TRIAL of a case Mr...
...The upper sheet is put on with the wrong side up, so that the upper edge can be folded neatly over the top of the blanket and quilt...
...There was great rejoicing in the defendant camp, as was only natural, and a large bill of costs was paid to defendant's attorneys, upon which, I recall, they took a trip to Europe...
...In the life of every one of them there was some chord of memory which vibrated in sympathy and understanding to the tones and words of Mr...
...The qualities for which Mr...
...This time the defendants appealed, and as bad luck would have it, one of the three judges of the Supreme Court who had decided the former appeal in behalf of Mr...
...The wide hem is always placed at the head of the bed...
Vol. 18 • August 1926 • No. 8
