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FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD ±87 washington ADDRESS OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE TO THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD X-4550 March 9, 1926. Dear Sir: There i s enclosed herewith, for your information, copy of a letter received from the Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, in which the suggestion is renewed that there he employed permanently at a fixed retainer special counsel of outstanding ability to assist in l i t i g a t i o n of systemwide interest, and to act as a clearing house for the legal departments of a l l Federal reserve "banks. The suggestion was made a topic for consideration at the last Governors' conference, azid the conference voted to concur in the opinion of the Counsel of the Federal reserve hanks voted at the joint meeting of those counsel on July 13, 1925 to the effect that i t is not essential to the proper administration of the Federal reserve banks to employ advisory counsel for general supervision of legal matters affecting the System, and that the tanks continue as heretofore to employ special counsel to assist in litigation of system-wide interest when in the judgment of counsel concerned the occasion requires i t and the banks are agreeable. In view of the statements contained in the enclosed letter from the Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Board requests that this matter be again made a subject of discussion at the forthcoming Governors' Conference. Very truly yours, D. R. Crissinger, Governor. (Enclosure ) TO GOVERNORS OF ALL F. R. BAMS. ( COPY ) X-4550-a FEDERAL RESERVE BANK 188 OF lulLLAS , n My dear Governor Orissinger: January 28, 1926. . , T ^ i s w i l 1 aclcioivledge receipt of the Board's X letter 4510: wish to advise you that the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is 1:1 Mr B a k c r s f e e v° f * ' Pro rata with the other Federal provlded the v^wh f e r i t y of the other banks concur in the l t 18 proper for the expense to he pro rated. , and 1T connection, however, I wish to advise the Board that ^ opinion the practice of employing outside counsel under such 11 L™mtna?h°S aS Francisco case is not sound in principle. We d e s i r e . 1 Y °?" w i l 1 t o reca11 that some time ago I submitted as a tonic for T ! i ^ ° n ° f a 1 1 F e d e r a l R e s e r v e b a z i k s employing a conf attorney, hut the matter met with the disapproval of the Confer°UnSe ^ f l a s t J u l y i n Washington. The Board seemed to be . impressed with the views which I expressed on this subject in P r Counsels' S I : : te " ieen *»»«««« ^ that ^omb of the Governors may have changed their view. <*«»» of the At the risk of heretofore, the reasons underlying our previous reference to the subject. My idea of making this suggestion Was to obtain the Services of available only in the event a particular Federal Resdrve bank desired to call upon him for information and advice* It Was my idea that such an attorney would bear the same relation to the federal Reserve Board as the otner attorneys employed by the Federal Reservd bankB, and that he would ave no control over yie legal departments of respective Federal Reserve banks, but would merely be available for use in those cases where a matter general importance was presented, and a particular bank debited to use every precaution to insure the proper presentation of matters of general could also serve as a clearing house for legal information among the various tanks# X-4550-a 189 - 2 - The idea which led to my original suggestion was obtained from the practice prevailing among railroads in Texas and. perhaps elsewhere, where each road has i t s own general attorney, but they a l l pro rate the expense of a consulting attorney whose services are used in much the same manner as above suggested. We feel that the practice of employing outside counsel after a case has been taken to an appellate court i s expensive, and probably insures no better presentation of the case than could be made by the general counsel of the bank involved, who has been familiar with the litigation from i t s inception. We also feel that there are many cases such as the San Francisco case - which turn on facts peculiar to that particular case alone, but which involve principles of general importance. In such cases, we think i t very valuable to know of .similar experiences and litigation of other Federal Reserve banks at the beginning; but we very seriously doubt the wisdom of employing outside counsel after such a case has reached an appellate court. I f , after having obtained some later views of some of the other Governors, i f you so desire, you think i t would be worth while to place the topic on the program of the Governors' spring conference, I would be willing to lead the discussion and defend the merits of my proposal. Yours very truly, (signed) Lynn P., Talley Governor The Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D. C. Attention Mr. D. R. Crissinger, Governor.
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