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THE WOLF IN THE FOLD AMBULANCE chasing is an evil the extent of which has been general ly recognized at meetings of bar associa tions, and the sentiment which is strongly opposed to it has been fortified by Mr. Justice Ingraham's summary disposal of the case of a New York attorney, who has been suspended from practice for one year for unprofessional conduct. The lawyer who seeks to foment un necessary litigation, by championing for his personal profit causes in the legal and moral honesty of which he does not truly believe, is a dangerous public foe, and the problem of the legal profession is to exclude him from practice and to make it impossible for him to carry on his obnoxious occupation. In ancient Greece the informer was treated as one of the most detestable of creatures, and the profession which is charged with the maintenance of the criminal law has not yet wholly wiped out the stain left by his ignominy. The attitude of those who regard all lawyers as beasts of prey, feeding on the vitals of the inno cent and conniving with the guilty to shield them from punishment, is far too common, but is in part justified by the lack of that vigilance which should promptly discover the presence of the wolf in the fold and take steps for his discomfiture. Let that vigilance once be relaxed, and the wolves multiply. The profession gets into the habit of

taking them as a matter of course. Professional honor is slowly poisoned, and when it is proposed to make an example of one of the wolves, the cry goes up that the fences are defective, and that therefore it is unfair to slay the wolf when he is only one of many innocent trespassers. Rather let the wolf be caged for a time, so that his companions shall take heed for the safety of their lives! Rather let courts, in passing judgment in cases of this kind, follow the reasoning of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court :— "It [ambulance chasing] is a practice that has been commented upon and criticised at meetings of lawyers and in judicial decisions as well as by the general public, and now, when it is for the first time in this depart ment brought directly before the Court, it is our duty to speak in no uncertain terms in condemning it as a violation of the criminal law in this state and also a practice which is unprofessional and destructive of the honor of the profession and of the confidence of the community in the integrity and honor of its members. "It has been urged in extenuation of this offense that it is a practice which is common among members of the profession who are engaged in the prosecution of negligence cases, and that it is unfair to visit upon the offender, who has first been brought before the Court upon a charge of this character, the extreme punishment of disbarment, and a majority of the Court are of the opinion that this fact should be considered, and that instead of disbarment the respondent be suspended from practice for one year. "We wish it to be distinctly understood,