History of the New York City Bar Association
By the 1860s in many districts restrictions on practicing law were minimal, and judges were too fearful of a popular electoral backlash to raise them significantly, resulting in a glut of under-qualified lawyers in the city's courts.
[1] In addition, the profession was marred by a series of high-profile scandals and allegations of corruption linking prominent New York lawyers to the politicians of Tammany Hall and the questionable business practices of powerful industrialists.
The court battle implicated some of New York's leading lawyers and judges in widely criticized instances of corruption, vote buying, and obstructionist legal tactics.
[2] New York judge George G. Barnard, before whom many of the arguments were heard, and who was a known associate of the infamous William "Boss" Tweed, was later impeached on corruption charges in part for rulings made during the case.
"Such an organization is sadly needed in this City," the Times editorialized on June 20, 1869, "and if the respectable members consult their professional interests and expectations they will form one at an early date.
The two hundred initial signatories of the document — all prominent New York attorneys — met to draft the Association's constitution and bylaws on February 15, 1870 in a school house on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 28th Street.
Aside from the establishment of a law library, still considered the most comprehensive in the country, the Bar Association's purpose, as stated in its constitution, was legal reform: "cultivating the science of jurisprudence, promoting reforms in the law, facilitating and improving the administration of justice, elevating the standard of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession, and cherishing the spirit of collegiality among the members thereof.
Tilden and other powerful members of the Association, including Joseph H. Choate, Henry Nicoll, Wheeler H. Peckham, and Charles O'Conor, who was appointed special state attorney in the investigation, were primarily responsible for obtaining convictions against "Boss" Tweed and other Tammany Hall associates, including Mayor A. Oakey Hall, for the embezzlement of an estimated $75 million to $200 million (though the investigation and trial were never officially endorsed by the New York City Bar).
[7] In 1873, the Bar's Committee on the Judiciary, under Peckham's leadership, submitted a report on judicial corruption to the legislature that led to the removal of four notorious New York judges: Albert Cardozo, John McCunn, D.P.
The Association published a resolution condemning the Assembly's decision on the front page of several leading national newspapers and, in the following days, sent a committee of five, headed by Hughes, to the Legislature in Albany where they confronted the Speaker, Thaddeus Sweet, and distributed letters of protest.
The Association vocally opposed the investigations of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee into suspected communist affiliations of government employees.
[16] Throughout much of the late 1950s and 1960s, the Association continued to improve its organization, acquiring an administrative and library staff of 120 by 1969 and gradually increasing the number of specialized committees it supported.
In the early 1980s, under presidents Oscar M. Ruebhausen and Louis A. Craco, the Association worked to improve its relationship with broader segments of the legal profession.
VOLS, as the program was known, represented clients in criminal justice prosecutions and civil matters such as landlord-tenant disputes and family law, and also addressed problems of growing concern in the 1980s.
Under presidents Sheldon Oliensis and Conrad K. Harper, the Association developed an active policy "of inclusion and diversity with respect to the composition of its staff, its membership, the chairs and members of its committees and its officers," which prioritized the recruitment of women and minorities and the encouragement of similar programs in large private law firms.
