75 Years of the Bar Journal: a forum for improving the practice of law.

Here's a toast to 1927--a dazzling year of events that shrunk the world and expanded newfangled ways to communicate.

Charles "Lucky Lindy" Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis in Paris, to a cheering crowd of 100,000, and claimed the $25,000 prize for the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic.

Voices crossed the ocean, too, with the public's first chance to make a three-minute telephone call between London and New York for $ 75.

Comedienne Mae West found out that dirty words can get a gal in trouble when suggestive ad libs on Broadway landed her a conviction for obscenity and 10 days in jail.

Philo Farnsworth, struck by a brainstorm while plowing a field as a teenage genius, unveiled his invention of the first all-electronic television model.

Vaudevillian Al Jolson wowed audiences in "The Jazz Singer," the first feature-length talkie.

And Florida State Bar President W.I. Evans thought it was high time for lawyers to communicate statewide via a monthly law journal.

At the 20th Annual Convention in Jacksonville, Bar members approved the resolution to create the Florida State Bar Association Law Journal.

"By reason of the increase in membership, the annual income of the association has reached a sum which will enable us to expand our sphere of activities," Evans said.

Florida's economy went bust the year before, as money and credit ran out and banks and investors stopped trusting the "paper" millionaires. Nonetheless, 1927 was a boom year for Bar membership, doubling from 404 to 808--a far cry from today's 70,771 members, but impressive at the time.

Instead of saving surplus money, Bar members voted to spend it to improve the fledgling statewide organization of lawyers. The earliest vision for the Journal was that it would serve as a "medium of communication for the interchange of ideas." President Evans hoped the Journal would serve as a focal point for the profession, a tangible return for dues, a magnet for new membership in these decades before the 1950 integrated Bar.

When the first issue appeared in August 1927, the Florida State Bar Association Law Journal was edited by lawyer J.C. Cooper, Jr., of Jacksonville, along with a committee of five lawyers that included three judges. Their first editorial, titled "A Beginning," asked new readers two questions:

* "Is the effort entailed in the publication of a journal such as this worthwhile; in other words, will it be of real value to the members of the association?"

* "Is the form and general character of this first issue in accord with the view of the bar?"

On this 75th anniversary of the Bar Journal, let us celebrate the obvious positive responses received from those first lawyer readers in 1927--and the continuing exchange of opinions and solutions about legal issues in the years since.

From the January 1928 issue in which Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Ellis wrote the salient points of a case to the high court should be summed up in one typewritten page to the March 2000 issue featuring a feisty pro-and-con debate on multidisdplinary practices, the Bar Journal has remained a vehicle for lawyers and judges to vent frustrations, offer suggestions to improve the profession, and provide practical ways to hone the practice of law.

The President's Page was a regular feature that continues today.

Marshall Cassedy, former executive director of the Bar and former editor of the Journal, reminisced in the July/August 1977 issue about that presidential prose.

"On the subject of the President's Page, some prizes are in order. Who wrote the shortest? Charley Fulton, John McCarty. The longest? Reece Smith, Bob Ervin, with Fletcher Rush running a close third. Who was the latest? Eddie Atkins. who was the most articulate? Mark Hulsey. The most innovative? Earl Hadlow. Who raised the most hell? Chesterfield Smith.

"Always stirring the pot, Chesterfield hit a calm period in midterm of his presidential year," Cassedy continued. "It was too calm for him. So, almost as a lark, he purposely brought out from the back closet the most controversial subject he could find, hidden on the shelf--yes, the Clients' Security Fund. He laid it out in full view in the December 1964 issue....

"And who got the maddest? Marshall Criser. Never a revolutionary himself, it fell his lot to be Bar president during the sizzling late Sixties when campus unrest was at its apex.

From the beginning, at the heart of the philosophy of the Bar Journal was a mission for an independent exchange of ideas--free from constraints endured by many other association publications.

As 1983 Bar President William O.E. Henry of Lakeland said in a 1984 speech to the Lawyers Title Guaranty Fund Assembly: "Policy for the Journal and News is set by an editorial board.... Many members of the editorial board have had professional journalism experience, and they have, over the years, developed a strong First Amendment approach to the policies of the Journal and the News. Those are not typical house-organ publications, where management uses them for company propaganda to put controlled messages across to the employees and customers. On the contrary, the Journal and News are as close to independent publications as you can find anywhere."

And, Henry stressed, "This independence was earned for you by Linda Yates and her integrity."

With "ink in her blood" since she was editor of her high school newspaper Leon High Life and armed with a degree in journalism from the University of Florida, Yates was the longtime editor of the Journal from 1959 until 1989. She is amused by the fact that she was born in 1927, the same year the Journal hit the scene.

"We had an independent press from the very beginning," Yates said from her home in Tallahassee, where she is a master gardener, volunteers at Goodwood Museum and Gardens, and writes occasional gardening articles for the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper.

"It really happened by default. The executive director (first Paul Comstock and then Marshall Cassedy in 1961) was too busy to worry about the Journal and just felt happy there was someone responsible enough to get it done. The fact that it was accurate and responsible and fair, those kinds of good journalistic terms, you got more and more independence and more responsibility."

That was unusual, Yates said, among other association publications nationwide who looked to The Florida Bar Journal (and later, the News) as a model to emulate.

"Other publications, I sensed they printed what the leadership of the bars said they could print. I'm sure they must have had arguments and criticism that was not published," Yates said. "Well, from the very beginning, we published the good, the bad, and the ugly."

Winning the Journal a second place award for "Most Gutsy Story" from the Florida Magazine Association in 1980 was an article titled "Why Doesn't The Florida Bar Do Something?" by former Bar Board of Governors member John Hume, writing on behalf of the Long Range Planning Committee.

"Even the Magazine Association didn't expect the Bar to publish criticism about themselves," Yates said.

In 1974, in response to getting news out to Bar members in a more timely manner than the monthly Journal allowed, the Bar News was created as the bimonthly newsy companion tabloid to the more scholarly magazine.

"It took so long to produce in our archaic, prehistoric way, that by the time the Journal came out, the events in our calendar of events were over," Yates said. "I got quite a bit of criticism from the Bar president of that time--not severe, but pointing out this is not yew timely. That's when I recommended that we start the newspaper.

Yates recalled she made the pitch before the Board of Governors, as it happened, on the day the Supreme Court justices came for lunch.

"They must have thought, `Who is this little gift from the sticks talking to these people?' It's just amazing. They approved it without question."

Separating the News from the Journal, Yates said, was "a wonderful move, the best thing I ever did."

"I think one of the reasons for our success is that the Board of Governors let us alone, let us have freedom of the press. And in response, we tried to be responsible, fair reporters. So it was a good working relationship from the very beginning," Yates said.

That independence, she said, was important for the credibility of both the Journal and News.

"I always felt that our publications were the members' publications. They paid the dues. They supported it. It was their voice," Yates said.

In the beginning of her triple-decade tenure at the Bar, Yates recalled, the managing editor would review the articles and hand her a stack and say, "Look at these and see which ones you think are good."

"I was not a lawyer. He was not a lawyer, and we were picking legal articles, which was a very poor system," Yates said.

So an editorial board was created to choose and edit legal articles for the Journal. To this day, the editorial board, currently chaired by Steven Lesser of Ft. Lauderdale, is made up of lawyers with an interest in research, writing, and editing, many with law review experience. They are willing to serve to advance the competence and public responsibility of the profession.

"The lawyers of Florida have come to depend on the Bar Journal to chronicle the evolution of the law in the state," said Bar Executive Director John F. Harkness, Jr.

"Through our editorial board of lawyers dedicated to keeping up with the latest legal trends and practices, Florida's many scholarly lawyers willing to put ideas into words, and our in-house staff of experienced editors, we are able to deliver useful information in a timely manner."

Said Yates: "What thrills me is that I left the Journal and News in such excellent hands. This current staff is carrying on admirably and publishing more and more pages and doing a very good job. The Journal and News are in a great leadership position to continue to guide the lawyers to aspire to the highest ideals and ethics of service, and for continuing education."

Following Yates' tenure as editor was dud Orrick, a lawyer now in private practice in Tallahassee. In 2000, longtime Journal and News staff member Cheryle Dodd took the helm as top editor, leading a staff of 10.

Dodd has watched technology affect the production of the Journal. "When I began as an editorial assistant, long strips of camera-ready type were cut with an Xacto knife and waxed to lightweight cardboard. Now all editing and layout is accomplished on a PC. The News is e-mailed directly to the Miami printer, while we send the Journal to press via CD-ROM. Digital files have revolutionized the publishing industry."

Both publications are available on the Bar's Web site. Does this availability indicate that the monthly Bar Journal will be replaced by an electronic version?

"No," she said, "not in the immediate future. There are benefits to having the publication on the Internet, particularly for research, but members still want to receive a hard copy of the magazine. Advertising sales defray much of the printing and postage costs."

A milestone in the history of the Bar was the first special directory issue of the Journal in 1955. For the first time, one reference book covered all Florida lawyers and courts and most statewide legal organizations. The first roster and directory was 220 pages. By 2002, the directory has expanded to 852 pages, plus sections on board certified lawyers and continuing legal education.

Dodd is concerned, however, about the expansion of costs to produce the annual September directory. "It grows every year as the Bar's membership grows. The directory has always been considered a Bar service to members--one source of information in which the practicing attorney can find a telephone number for the attorney general or the address for flue U.S. Court of Appeals or the e-mail address of a U of F law school chum."

More of the directory's information is being offered on the Web site with the hope that members will come to depend on it as their source of information. "I am hopeful that members come to rely on the Web site in the same way they currently utilize the directory." It's a slow process to convert users from the printed book to the electronic version, but a conversion that the Board of Governors and Dodd must consider as the book increases in size and cost.

One of the biggest continuing challenges is illustrating scholarly legal articles. The earliest Journal issues were totally gray. For many years--from the 1930s through the 1960s--the Journal was a pocket-sized 6-by-9-inch booklet.

"We really had identity problems," Yates acknowledged. "Are we a magazine or are we a journal? When we couldn't come up with good graphics, we called ourselves `scholarly.'"

When Bar Executive Director Cassedy served as the Journal's editor, he loved to contribute his own photography to grace the cover.

"After the purchase of a Yaschica camera in Tokyo during the second `Orient Adventure,' photography became a hobby," Cassedy wrote in the July/August 1977 Journal.

"Photographs of the setting sun at Mexico Beach, dogwood in front of the new Bar Center, and of Judge Paul H. Roney met with Linda's approval as Journal covers. This was fun."

More than a decade ago, Tallahassee artist Joe McFadden, who has a degree in fine arts from Florida State University and is a successful painter, was enlisted as a freelancer to illustrate a cover story. Ever since, McFadden has given the Journal a signature look with his colorful, often playful, drawings that have won the Journal many statewide awards.

Coming up with illustrations for often esoteric legal subjects is an art in itself.

Take, for example, the November 1992 article by Scott D. Makar: "Judicial Staff and Ethical Conduct," dealing with the subject of how judges are responsible for the conduct of their staff.

McFadden came up with a drawing of a judge sitting behind a mahogany desk, with the bench being held up by playing cards--a house of cards where, if one falls, they all fall.

"I love language, and I love the visual imagery that can be conjured up by words, and I like idioms and plays on words," McFadden said. "I try to use fairy tales or something whimsical to illustrate articles that are anything but whimsical. I try to come up with something eye-catching that adds a degree of humor."

But sometimes, McFadden admitted, he is stumped.

One example of brainstorming and coming up dry was the assignment to illustrate this pair of articles about judgments: "Florida Should Adopt the Celotex Standard for Summary Judgments," by Thomas Logue and Javier Alberto Soto, and "Application of Summary Procedure by Agreement--A Proposal to Expedite Litigation," by Daniel Morman.

No images sprang to mind, and McFadden mentioned his creative block to his friend, Florida Supreme Court Justice Major Harding, while they were having lunch at the FSU's University Center dining room.

"Justice Harding just jumped out of his chair and practically yelled, `A big zipper!'" McFadden recalled with a laugh.

All McFadden could think of was the image of the rock band Rolling Stones' famous album cover with the zipper, "Sticky Fingers." Not exactly apropos for the Journal, McFadden thought to himself. What the justice had in mind was "zip your lips," when both sides agree to arbitration.

Aha! The idea worked and graced the cover of the February 2002 issue of the Journal.

In 2002, after 75 years of publication, the editorial in the very first August 1927 issue still rings true that it takes the participation of Florida's lawyers to make the Journal useful and well-read.

"We hope, as time goes on, to see this journal used as a clearinghouse for worthwhile professional discussion, which will assist both the bar and the court," the Journal's first editors wrote in 1927.

"To that end, every member of the bar is urged to contribute, when he can, notes on cases which have interested him, or a discussion of any unusual points or of any of the thousand and one problems which confront the practicing lawyer, for without this cooperation, we cannot hope to succeed."

Jan Pudlow is associate editor for The Florida Bar News.