In 1927, The Voluntary Committee of Lawyers, Inc. was organized by a group of young New York lawyers who felt that the national prohibition law was both unjust and unenforceable. Its leaders were Joseph H. Choate, Jr., who served as chairman of the Executive Committee, and Harrison Tweed, Treasurer. The organization existed to organize like-minded associates, take opinion polls of lawyers across the country, issue bulletins and annual reports reciting arguments against the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and work closely with the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment. They stressed that a Repeal Amendment should provide for ratification by state convention and then proceeded to prepare and place before all state governors in February 1933 draft bills providing for election at large of all delegates. The alertness and prestige of the members of the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers contributed to the fact that most states enacted the model convention bill verbatim. When the Twenty-First Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933, the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers disbanded.
Connecticut's Archives Online 