Law Commons^™

Student Practice-Limited Appearances In Court By Third Year Law Students

University of Richmond Law Review

The practice of law as it is known to our legal system has been a closely guarded institution since its development in England during the Middle Ages. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the legal profession became organized and obtained the monopoly of legal work it still enjoys today. Even before the end of the thirteenth century, it was generally recognized that although a litigant could personally appear and argue in his own behalf, the party represented by a lawyer, who was an expert in the law and its language, would have a decided advantage over his opponent.