[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, March - December, 1976] Page: 4 of 227
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I
Letters to the Editor &
After reading the article in The
Houston Lawyer concerning special-
ization certification, I feel it is
proper to respond to several issues
which I feel are essential for the Bar
as well as citizens, to understand
fully. Harris County, or, in effect,
the Houston Bar Association, had
38 applicants in the Criminal Law
Specialization examination, 20 of
which were certified as specialists.
If the examination had been
meaningful, the percentage might
have been less. The examination
given was calculated to discern an
individual's knowledge of statutory
and case law only. Many people are
capable of giving the necessary
responses to those type questions.
There are some notable absences of
extremely capable criminal defense
lawyers on the list of those who
were certified, the majority of
whom chose not to take the ex-
amination at all. The question as to
why these individuals chose not to
participate is of great significance.
There are several valid concerns by
those people.
First, the sheer magnitude of the
application form was a discourag-
ing factor. Also, the inconvenience
of the necessary review and time
for testing created some problems;
however, the most cogent objection
I have heard is the lack of relevance
of specialization. In other words,
what does the certified specialist
6gain by simply being certified over
those who do not seek to be cer-
tified? The gold ring on this merry-
go-round was to permit the certified
specialist to place his name in the
yellow pages of the phone book as
a specialist. Most competent crimi-
nal defense lawyers rarely obtain
a client from the phone book, nor
do many anticipate that this will
cause a significant rise in new cases.
I personally agree with that objec-
tion. It is my earnest desire that
this should be the first step leading
to meaningful specialization. I be-
lieve that the public is entitled to
have competent representation in
their legal problems. Many of you
are aware of the fact that in our
criminal courts today, incompetent
counsel is the rule rather than the
exception. The public has no pos-
sible way to discriminate against
the incompetent because they have
no real way to find out who is or is
not competent. Since we are all
licensed by the State, each has the
imprimatur of the State as to his
competence. Unfortunately, by
virtue of this we are now saying he
is competent in all fields of law
equally, which is obviously untrue.
I would suggest an alternative of
having a barrister/solicitor system;
further, having specialization
required before you can become a
barrister. I would hope that some
day before a man's life or liberty
THE HOUSTON LAWYERshall be taken from him in a court-
room, that we would require
competent counsel be afforded him.
I would further suggest that the
English system of prosecution be
substituted for our present system.
The present system of the District
Attorney's Office would be changed
so that its function would be that
of an administrator. All barris-
ters specializing in criminal law
would be available to be appointed
as trial counsel for the State or for
persons determined to be indigents
by the courts. This would stop the
polorization of prosecution and de-
fense lawyers, end suspicion of the
defense that suppression occurs,
and by the prosecution that sub-
ornation of perjury is the name of
the game.
The advocate's desire for victorye
Bill Curtis
MARCH 1976Prestige
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prior to trial might diminish to
cause both sides to seek solutions
rather than victory. Citizens and
defendants could both benefit.
I realize that the solutions I
offer may seem remote and un-
obtainable, but I suggest that as the
people in the medical field are now
discovering the problems of mal-
practice that we in the legal field
must eventually realize that this
will be a problem of the Bar.
Jimmy James
In the original list we received
from the State Bar of the lawyers
certified as specialists, Mr. J.
Charles Whitfield's name was mis-
takenly left off the criminal cate-
gory. We wish to acknowledge his
certification here.
EditorDowntown
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[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, March - December, 1976], book, 1976; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616562/m1/4/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University.