From the President
Niall P. McCarthy Consumer Attorneys of California
Our oath Living up to your oath as an attorney includes supporting candidates who work to preserve the civil justice system
We all swore to it. Section 6067 of the California
Business and Professions Code requires every attorney to take an oath before admission to practice law in California. That oath requires an attorney to “sup- port the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California.” The California Bar Admission Certificate that hangs in your office states that you have “taken and subscribed the oath required by law.” Are you taking that oath seriously? The Seventh Amendment of the
United States Constitution guarantees a civil jury trial by stating: In suits at common law, where the value
in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be other- wise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. The California Constitution protects
the same fundamental right to a civil jury trial at Article 1, Section 16, which states: Trial by jury is an inviolate right and
shall be secured to all, but in a civil cause three-fourths of the jury may render a ver- dict.
Thus, all California attorneys have
taken an oath to protect and defend the civil jury system. For plaintiffs’ attorneys this oath is particularly acute. While large corporations have the power to privately negotiate remedies if they are wronged, or pass their losses onto consumers, our clients depend on the court system to enforce their rights. Each day in Sacramento there are
efforts by big oil, insurance and other cor- porations to chip away at the civil jury sys- tem and the constitutional rights of California consumers. It seems an endless fight, and it harkens back to that oath: To uphold the constitution, to support the
FEBRUARY 2012 The Advocate Magazine — 87
Seventh Amendment right to trial. The proving ground is in the statehouse against corporate foes willing and ready to shred the Seventh Amendment. So answer this honestly: What steps
have you taken to live up to the oath you took?
Our chances of defeating those
who would undercut civil justice depend on the lawmakers who are sent to Sacramento. The most fundamental part of a democracy is an election. Though it’s maddeningly routine in these cynical times to lapse into apathy, we all have a say in the process – and elections do have consequences. In California, a whole cadre of candidates campaign against all we stand for. They want to limit damage awards, promote arbitration and prohibit jury trials completely. They wrap them- selves in the constitution while proposing changes that would undercut our most fundamental constitutional rights. Thankfully, other candidates have a
profound understanding of the impor- tance of the civil jury system as an avenue to justice. If you are taking your oath seriously, you have an obligation to
support those candidates who work hard to preserve the civil justice system. In this election cycle, candidates such as Betsy Butler, Bill Monning, Fran Pavley and Loni Hancock are under fire for standing up for the rights of your clients. The list of legislators who “get it” directly impacts whether you can do your job. Plaintiffs’ lawyers need to devote their time, talent and treasure to be stewards of the civil justice system. As with all elections, the 2012 leg-
islative races bring both great opportuni- ty and great peril. Leaders of the organi- zations that represent you – Consumer Attorneys of California at the state level, CAALA and OCTLA locally – will be ask- ing you to contribute your fair share financially, as many of your brothers and sisters at the plaintiff bar have done in the past and are doing today. When the ask comes, remember your
oath. Niall P. McCarthy is president of
Consumer Attorneys of California and a prin- cipal at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP. He has practiced extensively in the area of financial fraud.
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