De Tocqueville and the Role of the Lawyer in Society

Abstract

In keeping with the general theme of these lectures, your officers have asked me to discuss the role of the lawyer in society in the light of De Tocqueville's appraisal. I hope that I can give more than glancing respect to our assigned text. But I also hope it will be permissible if I interpret my invitation according to its spirit rather than its letter, and pose some questions about the role of the lawyer that are not directly suggested by De Tocqueville's opinions. The spirit of this lecture series, I take it, is that we should try to see our work as law students and as lawyers in a broader perspective and context than our daily close grappling with legal problems permits. That the students at Marquette Law School should initiate a lecture series with such an aim is itself evidence of a breadth of outlook here on which you should congratulate yourselves and your Student Bar Association.