What One has to Learn to be a Lawyer
129
on your part, and you if only by finding a book on the shelves. should begin early to cultivate that And as time goes on you will become sureness in your work that will come accustomed to common procedure and at first only with conscious, methodical will be intrusted with more and more painstaking, but which in time will be important work. You will soon know come a habit incalculable you. more of practice than the average law I There haveofbeen so manyvalue good to lawyers
inaccuracy
inv this country who never saw the
school man ever knows on graduation,
inside of a law school, that it is im possible to ignore the law office as a place
but the great danger is that you will be lead to neglect your text books for the practical work. If you do you are lost. You may be admitted to the bar, but
to prepare for the bar examinations. But never think that because you do not have to present a certificate to
as has been said, you can never be
enter an ofi‘ice that you can afiord to
anything but a wooden, resourceless, machine-like lawyer, if you are ignorant
neglect the preparatory study that the certificate stands for. On the contrary,
of the theoretical side of your profession. Do not decide to be a lawyer unless
the boy who has let his mind run wild and undisciplined will stand a better
you can make the sacrifice necessary to be a good one. If you have an in
chance in the law school where his
dependent means of support that will enable you to pursue your studies
work will be systematized for him, and where he will be under the guidance of instructors, than in an ofiice where
he will have to rely on his own resources
tranquilly, and will carry you over the first years at the bar which usually bring in a rather meagre recompense,
to a far greater degree. Such a boy has no business to study law anywhere,
your case is not such a difiicult one.
but least of all in an ofiice. If you are sure that you are mature enough to keep up a strict course of
you go along, the necessary sacrifice
study more or less by yourself, the first
thing is to find a lawyer who will take enough interest in you to direct your work.
It is too much to suppose that
you will find one who can spare the time from his practice to give you the same attention that you would receive from the professors in a law school, but your road will be a hard one indeed
if you fall upon a man who takes you in simply to secure your services free.
For in these services lies the pit-fall most to be dreaded. From the first day you enter the office you will be able to make yourself useful in some way,
But if you must earn your living as will be great, and you should face it squarely before you start out. It is from this generation of young lawyers that the judges of the next
generation will be chosen.
In any
community a corrupt bar will produce corrupt judges, and an ignorant bar will produce ignorant judges. The
quality of the law depends ultimately on the competence and integrity of the
practising lawyers, and whether you are destined to preside over the highest court, or to be a humble practitioner in the lowest, you should feel that the responsibility for meting out justice to your fellowmen rests upon your shoulders.
