Professor Patrick E. Longan
Legal Profession
Walter F. George School of Law
Mercer University
Excerpts from Student Reflections, Spring 2004
#4255
I thought that this course was eroding my ideals, my foundation. I was wrong. You tricked me. I hate when professors do that (and they tend to do it a lot here). In the beginning, it seemed as if there was nothing noble left in the law. Instead of a blindfolded lady with scales, there was an endless line of suits just waiting for their “fair share” of the pie. There is nothing graceful about greed. It disgusts me. In fact, a lot of the stuff we talked about disturbed me. I suppose that is how I got sidetracked. I lost sight of what the course was really about.
The inevitable next question is: “What was the class really about?” Well, that’s a little bit more difficult to talk about. It’s not so much what the class was about as it is what the class did for me. It gave me a strange sort of legal lexicon, a way to approach ethical and moral problems in the profession and a system to work through them. I didn’t realize that until the last day of class, when it was all spelled out for us. Thanks for that, by the way, it explains a lot. I feel better about what we learning in the beginning now. It makes more sense in hindsight. Actually, I kind of feel like the karate kid. You know: wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off. We’ve been waxing for a long time, and I was really getting irritated with the exercise. How was I supposed to know that learning about the billable hour was going to affect my ability to transcend greed?
Nonetheless, all of that waxing paid off in the end. I am prepared for battle now. I will use my time efficiently and fairly. I will think twice before becoming argumentative with other lawyers. I will have an intelligent defense for self-regulation of the profession. I will know the holes in the system when I see them, and I will try to fix them. At least, I hope that I will. The point is that my ideals have not been eroded. Much the opposite, they have been reinforced. My foundation is stronger, and my footing is surer. I had a lot of baseless concepts about what the law should be. I was a layman. I had the desire, but none of the skills. I would like to think that I have a green belt in professionalism now.
Maybe I would have been fine with it before this class, but not now. I want to be part of a better generation of lawyers, and I want directions on how to do it from someone who cares. It’s a lot to ask, I know, but I want a real mentor. I hope that I will someday become a good enough lawyer to return the favor.
My challenge now is to incorporate the information about civility, public service, transcendence, ethics, and craftsmanship into my evolving idea about what it means to be a lawyer. I’m still wandering around in the dark, here, but at least I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. Like I said before, it’s not so much that I know where to go from here. I don’t think that is going to change anytime soon. It will take years of training in procedure and substance. Still, it’s good to know that I have the tools to understand possible problems when I get to wherever it is that I’m going.
# 4189
My success will not be measured in dollars, or social status, or even a client’s handshake. For me, success is internal and a choice that you make to follow your own individual path. I will have a family and a legal career, and I will choose to attend every recital and every track meet. I will not be blinded by the dollar signs and the “easy way out.” I will not be the richest or most popular. I will not have fame and rub elbows with the rich and famous. But I will be armed with the tools that I learned from my semester of Legal Profession. I will honor this noble profession and my teacher, who tried to instill values and inspire transcendence in a world of snakes and liars and cheats. He took a class of wide-eyed, naïve children and made us respect the heroes that came before us and honor the traditions that have been laid down at our feet. I will exercise my skills and develop my craft around the teachings of civility, transcendence, public service, and expertise. I will obey the Rules of Professional conduct and remember that success comes with character and respect come from humility.
I will model my career as I try to model my life. By striving to live everyday with a sense of purpose and perspective, one can begin to move away from the temptation to become arrogant or greedy. Law is not a business, it is a calling. Those who choose to market their craft and sell it to the highest bidder are selling themselves to a lifestyle of emptiness and unfulfillment. It is an amazing trait to always challenge yourself and improve your position, but that improvement should be an internal one. As a lawyer, the challenges that are faced daily are immense and almost unbearable, but a strong character will always prevail and success will always be had. I know that Addicus Finch was a character in a movie, and unrealistic in many regards today, I am choosing to use his qualities as a benchmark for my own personal standards as an individual and as a lawyer.
We live in a world and practice in a profession with so few role models by which we can judge true character. Legal Profession was a way to develop those traits and ideals that any young lawyer should use as touchstones by which to live and practice. If only a few students are reached by the lessons learned, I would mark this class as a success. I know that I will be one such student that has been forever changed by this class and will make a fine example of the kind of attorney that this class wishes to produce. I will set an example and make this profession proud to have me as a member.
#4480
Money has never been an important thing to me, but “professionalism” was not either. “As long as I was happy with what I was doing” was my train of thought. Now looking back at what we have learned in this class, after reading about lawyers, meeting with an outstanding one, I see that in order to be content with practicing law, I cannot escape professionalism and its principles. I could be the dirtiest, sleaziest, slimy character out there, serving my own self interests; but it seems that such a path would only lead to me being miserable. The true joy of practicing law seems to derive from being professional. If you had told me this before this class, I would have probably laughed. From all that I have read and seen, I see that the key to being happy as a lawyer is aspiring to meet the standards of professionalism that we discussed: excellence, civility, transcendence, public service and compliance with ethics. I noticed the unhappiest of lawyers were distracted from these principles.
# 4388
The overall effect of the course on me is that I am more passionate about my career in the legal field.
I plan to practice as if law is still a noble calling. This is not a change in me, but it is through the course as well as the entire first year of law school that I have gained this focus. When I applied to law school I did not know what I wanted specifically from the practice of law. I had an idea but I did not feel as passionate as I do now about the work I want to do in the field.
# 2148
I know and have witnessed the qualities I want to possess in practice. They include the following: civility, craftsmanship, transcendence, public service, and ethics. I do not want to possess the least amount of these qualities; I want to strive everyday towards having a better grasp of these qualities. I anticipate continually learning, growing, teaching, and helping others along the path towards these qualities. I came to law school with a foundation of these qualities so they are not new to me. My mother and grandmother instilled them into me at a very young age.
This is my calling and somehow in the future it will fall into place, this I know. If anything after The Legal Profession I am more determined then ever to fulfill my destiny wherever that may lead.
# 4426
In the end, I still feel like I made the right choice by coming to law school. It is frightening now to know what all lies ahead and that a large part of the journey may be uphill, but I’m not going in blind. I know what I want to be and a lot more than I did about how to get there, as well as what I don’t want to be and how to get back to center if I start to stray. These are good things to know, no matter how I feel about being a lawyer right this instant. Knowing ahead of time of the stresses, pressures, hardships, demands and tensions that I will no doubt encounter along the way will surely make them much, much easier to deal with when they do arise. More important than whether or how my ambitions as a lawyer and as a person have changed is the fact that I know a lot more about how to achieve those ambitions. I think that most people in my class, whether we could articulate it or not, essentially wanted to be all of the good things we talked about lawyer being this semester. And I don’t think that anyone feels differently in that regard as a result of taking this class. The most important thing that I am taking away from this semester is that being a good lawyer and a good person at the same time is, without a doubt harder than I realized. But it is also very possible. There are probably a lot of lawyers along the way that have either given up on the profession or, worse than that, on themselves as a result of not knowing the things that we all now know. I don’t think that will happen to any of us because we know what to expect.
# 4498
My ambitions are to apply each of the professionalism characteristics that we learned in this course to my daily life as a lawyer and even as a law student. Indeed, it seems to me that these aspects can not only be applied to the life of lawyers, but also to the lives of law students.
# 4135
I feel this class did not change the impact on the world I want to have as a lawyer, but it did teach me a lot about how to choose where I work as a lawyer. It has taught me how to spot the pitfalls a lawyer is susceptible to and in some cases how to avoid them. It has changed my outlook on how the life of a lawyer really is. It has taught me what I want to really focus on in my career as a lawyer; the values of competence, civility, transcendence, public service, and ethics. This class has served to point me in the right direction by giving me a good basis for future decisions I will make as a lawyer and how those decisions impact the profession as a whole. I hope to take these lessons and apply them well.
# 3252
I am determined to finish my legal education and to make a difference within the profession.
Instead of ignoring problems that do exist and presenting the educational system and legal system as issues to tackle after graduation or never, the class has confronted face to face issues all law students and professionals encounter and about which they are concerned.
I can be a part of changing the environment of the legal profession by committing, before I even begin practicing, to suggested rules of civility like the standards for professional conduct within the 7th federal judicial circuit. I can also search for employment which allows me to be in a position to suggest such standards or to police such standards.
I have been more discouraged and more enlightened by the discussions which occur in the Legal Profession. I am excited to have participated in the first effort of Mercer University to undertake this class experiment. I feel that I am more aware of the harsh realities of misconduct and stress which occur in the profession, but I also feel that through being educated on these issues I can make wiser choices as an individual participating in the larger discussion of justice in the legal field.
# 4512
In general the class on legal professionalism has changed my personal views on what is to be expected but not why I chose to enter the profession. I believe that I am well equipped to handle the challenges that lie ahead and have a basic sense of direction on how professionalism is interwoven into the practice of law. There seems to be an emphasis on doing your job well and at the same time conducting yourself in a manner consistent with the standards set forth by the bar. I have an obligation to carry on the tradition in the area of professionalism and pass what I have learned on to the next generation of attorneys. Hopefully lawyers will regain some of the public respect that at times seems to be lost.
# 4534
In an atmosphere which encourages, if tacitly, rather ruthless competition, putting self above all others, and success at almost any cost, “The Legal Profession” is a welcome respite, validating my life choices, and lending to further understanding of why the goals I came into this challenge with are the correct goals for me.
In my life, the most important lesson learned is that happiness has to come from within oneself, in doing what one believes in, and striking a balance which allows one to pursue this via an occupation and a personal life. This lends to being a better person, better member of society, better family member, and better member of the legal profession as a whole. These ideals were firmly reinforced via “The Legal Profession.” There is not a doubt in my mind that as concepts taught in “The Legal Profession” affected my choice in summer jobs, they, combined with my personal belief structure, will continue to have a lasting affect on my professional choices and my career.
# 4191
In my first essay I wrote that I hoped to appear ethical and just but that I did not strive to be moral. I sincerely hope that this course has changed that faulty view. I now understand that being ethical involves being moral. Also, one cannot only appear ethical, one has to be ethical. Appearing ethical can never be equivalent to ethical behavior. During the first few weeks of class we defined ethical as following the rules even when no one is looking. Appearing ethical would only entail following the rules when there are people looking, or only following the rules to stay out of trouble. It is clear that neither of these reasons satisfy the professionalism requirement of “ethics.” I have always considered myself an ethical person, but before this course I am not sure I knew what that meant. I understand that being ethical for the sake of others will never be enough to satisfy my conscience. That has been the greatest lesson of the course.
The class also forced me to think seriously about pro bono work and its purposes and necessity. I still believe that working in the community is very important for any person in any profession. I now have a good idea about how being a lawyer can help a community or just one needy person and I know how I am going to be able to help.
I am grateful that this class has bolstered my aspirations and goals and my desire to be an attorney. I know that I will be an ethical attorney and now understand what that truly means. I also know that I will do pro bono work. I may not save the world everyday at my job or in volunteering, but I can make a difference – and I will. I am fearful about the effects this profession will have on my life, but I feel armed to deal with those challenges and confident that I will succeed. Overall, I end the year on a high note-I have made the right choice by coming to law school and I can be a true professional.
#4368
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers . . . do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:1-2
But I think the course has allowed me to rethink and prevent my ambitions from being changed by the school environment and the profession itself.
The course has taught me about professionalism and given me a heightened awareness of competence, civility, transcendence, public service, and ethics. In acquiring this knowledge, I’ve identified a propensity and temptation for me to accept and even conform to many of the problems in the legal profession. In face, I realized that I had already begun to make subtle changes in the way I approached my studies and the way I thought about the practice of law. I realized how, in just my second semester of law school, I was losing focus of people and my desire to make an impact. Instead, I was conforming to a pattern of obsessive competition, a desire to get the big summer internship and ultimately a practice making a sizeable amount of money. Without even realizing the subtle changes, I was becoming a victim. From what I learned during the course, these are the same things which have resulted in the current state of the legal profession. Not that the attribute of this pattern are all bad, but these obsessive desires lead to much more harm than good and conflict with many noble virtues of professionalism. By doing our oral interviews, reading biographies, and critiques of the profession. I’ve discovered a common theme. Those lawyers who have a satisfying and meaningful career do not emphasize those attributes as being a necessary part of practicing law. In fact, they deemphasize them. Those satisfied lawyers personified transcendence, civility, ethics, public service and competence.
In conclusion, I have been transformed by a renewed way of thinking about the practice of law. I’ve been educated about the current status and environment of legal practice. I’m now better equipped to watch and learn with a critical eye. I understand there’s a standard of professionalism and am aware that many, including myself, may stray away. As a result, I’m aware of the risks of falling below what it means to be a professional and the rewards of making those qualities a priority. Only in my second semester, I find myself already starting to conform to the pattern of the legal world in both negative and positive ways. But by this “renewing of my mind,” I am aware and can now guard against the negative pattern. My overall ambition and vision of practicing law has been somewhat sharpened. And I now have a somewhat better picture of what I need to do in addition to those things I want to do.
#4398
At the beginning of this course, I wanted to become a lawyer that could be an inspiration to others in the way that I did my job and lived my life. I wanted to be a lawyer who was not only dedicated to my profession but also to my clients. I wanted to help those who could not help themselves. My ambitions as a lawyer and as a person have been affected as a result of this course. Now I not only want to do the things I mentioned above, I also want to change society’s impression of lawyers. I want to make people aware that the legal profession still is trustworthy. This profession still has attentive attorneys who understand the concept of transcendence.
Taking this course will help me to become the type of lawyer I hope to be. I think this course has inspired me in a different way than was expected. It told me the negative aspects of the profession, and that made me want to prove that not all people fall into these traps. The visit with the lawyer was a definite positive point in this course because it allowed me to see an example of a lawyer who epitomizes the type of lawyer I hope to be.
#4194
The legal profession class has been a good eye opening experience for me. It has shown me the ups and downs that come with a career in the law. From the substance abuse all the way to pro bono services, this class has shined a light on areas of the legal profession that I did not know even existed. While some of the lows in the class have been very low (such as the billable hour, lack of balance in a lawyer’s life, etc) the overall feel from the class has been positive. Throughout the semester the topics discussed in class have fueled my increasing desire to become a lawyer. I believe that I am now ready to go out and face the world with knowledge of how the profession works. When I see things going on in the profession that I do not like I will stand up and let people know. I would not be able to do this if I did not know what goes on, and I did not have an idea of how things should be run. Thank you for exposing me to the realities of the legal profession.
#3152
Yet, I think that the most important thing that I have gained from this class is the ability to question what it told to me or asked of me in the legal profession. Because of the prestige and history of the bar, I think that when most law students graduate and begin practicing, they just try to mirror what they see the more experienced lawyers do. Although this is not necessarily a bad thing, it can be when a new lawyer stops thinking for themselves about what is right or wrong and just begins to follow the leader. Especially if the leader is uncivil or unprofessional.
I am glad to know that I now have been engrained with information that, if nothing else, has taught me that it is okay to question the actions of the bar and other attorneys and to have a framework to model my belief system around. Before this class I would have never questioned an action by a lawyer (unless it was obviously egregious) or a rule implemented by the bar. I just accepted that “that is just what lawyers do” or “that is just how the bar works.” I will now ask myself if that is what lawyers should do or is that how the bar should work. I now know that the way things are done are not necessarily the right ways. The problem is that there is no easy answer to make the bar happy, the courts happy, society happy, and the lawyers happy. There are too many competing interests. I think that this course is valuable in that it at least gets us to think about the problems. Becoming aware of these flaws in the system or the profession is the first step towards fixing these flaws.
It is difficult to really articulate how this course has changed my perspective because I feel like the information is the type of knowledge that we won’t really completely recognize that we know until we are faced with a decision or choice that challenges us. I feel confident that in a situation such as this, my mind will immediately revert to this class. It is then, when I have the foundational knowledge to question the issue I’m facing, and remember the elements of professionalism, and focus on why such activity is presenting itself, that I will feel more confident in my decision to do what is best. This is a baby-step in the right direction and I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to take this step. If nothing else, I feel more confident about my decision to be a lawyer and I know whole-heartedly that I am in this for the right reasons.
# 2438
I will strive to meet the standards of professionalism at all times during my career and hope that I can do my part to bring honor to the profession. Despite what I have read this semester, I do believe that the law is a noble profession and hope that others who come in contact with me will agree. I look forward to a well-balanced fulfilled life as a lawyer and am thankful that I have had this course to keep me from going into this career with rose-colored glasses. Although I know the road will not be easy at times, I am as enthusiastic about my career choice today as I was when I learned of my acceptance to law school. I will be proud to hold the title of “juris doctor.”
#2434
Next, my ambitions have been modified, to some extent, in terms of how I now see my role as a professional. Before this course, I was aware of some of the basic standards of decency and professionalism. However, this course has helped me to realize the impact that just my conduct and choices alone, could potentially have on both the profession, and on society in general. I have always prided myself in being civil, hardworking, and compassionate, just because it was the right thing to do. However, as the stakes become higher, and as I enter a profession where my sense of values may be questioned on a more severe and frequent basis, I feel content in knowing that if somehow I stumble or falter along the way, I will always have the wealth of knowledge that this course has imparted.
Finally, this course has helped me to discover an additional purpose (as opposed to my primary purpose in being a voice for others). I now not only want to be a voice for others (i.e. clients), I would also like to be a voice for change within the profession. This newfound and albeit idealistic purpose, is sobered by a realization that change will not happen immediately. Change, as often is the case with anything over the course of history, takes time and people who are willing to do their part in bringing about such change one day at a time. My goals are small in this regard. I do not plan on writing volumes of books on legal professionalism. Nor, do I plan to head up a commission outlining the rules of civility. However, I do plan to try my best to live my life in relation to my career, in such a way as to always be acting on the sense of professionalism and values that I have. In this way, I feel that I can have a positive influence on the profession. Also, I feel that I can do my part in perhaps changing some of the perceptions of mistrust that much of society has towards the legal field.
#2491
Now that the course is at its end, I feel much more informed about the life of the lawyer and the challenges and rewards that are out there. I think I know what I am getting into now and that is a very reassuring feeling. After starting the semester on such shaky terms, I feel much more confident about the decision I have made to pursue a career in law. I know now that this is the place I need to be and my true calling.
I am so thankful for the view into the life of the lawyer this course has given me. I know now more than ever that law fits who I am and what I want to be. I am going to make it my goal to be a lawyer that is worthy of respect and dignity. I hope to avoid the pitfalls that law sometimes contains and reach a happy and balanced life. Now that I know of these pitfalls, I think they will be easier to manage and avoid if possible. I am sure that I am not the only first year law student to ever doubt the career choice he or she has made, so I think this course is beneficial. Any professional deserves to know what he or she is getting into.
# 4271
I discovered some gut instincts of my own that I didn’t know were there. For instance, when we read about the lawyer who managed to bill more than 24 hours in a single day and how he did it, my first thought wasn’t: “Gosh, that’s unethical. Something should be done,” but rather: “Wow. He made twice as much money that way. When do I get to do it?” It’s a good thing this new Legal Profession class is reaching out to law students in their first year, since I imagine the temptation of the first thought grows, rather than decreases, over time.
# 2298
I still believe that there is room in the law for a business-oriented methodology. What I have learned this semester, however, is that there is nobility in being a lawyer. Our in-class discussion and outside meetings with the local legal professionals and judges made me realize that it’s not just about “business.” Happy, well-adjusted lawyers don’t take pride in their profession because it demonstrates their intelligence, or is the means to a desirable lifestyle, or because it impresses other people. Their sense of pride is derived from a much deeper place. They are proud because they are apart of a profession that helps people; the world runs more smoothly as a direct result of their work. We read about lawyers who do massive amounts of pro bono, who willingly represent those who some call undeserving, who work in jobs that maybe don’t pay the salaries that BIGLAW would, but are in areas that mesh with their interests.
I was convinced that the only way to go was the big law firm. Go in, make tons of money in a short amount of time, and the negative impact on my personal life would be worth it. I didn’t really know that there were other options available to me, options that were more in line with my personal beliefs and preferences. I said in my earlier essay that I wanted to leave law school knowing that I could effect change. Now I know that I want more. I want to effect change, I want to put this expensive and intense education to work for more than just myself, and I want to do it all while staying true to my sense of who I am. My goal at the beginning of the semester was just to get by; now I want to do more than that. I want to graduate with honor- not scholastic (although that would be nice), but professional. I want to reclaim my profession from the joke and the insults and make it something to aspire to. I want to walk back into the world as a Lawyer- not a “lawyer” who is driven by selfish desires, but a true advocate for people who works hard, is professional, and at the end of the day, remains a happy person.