Skip to main content

10 Things I Would Go Back & Tell My Law School Self


My 2nd year of law school at Texas Tech
(I had 2 children during law school, this is Kiki my first)

I think about my third son Spencer all the time as he just started his first year at Cornell Law School. This week, I came up with this list for him. These are the things I would go back and tell my young, full of wonder self  27 years ago. Maybe this can help other young law students or aspiring lawyers.

10 Things I would go back & tell my law school self:
  1. Focus on writing. It’s how the top lawyers in their field help other lawyers and share their knowledge en masse with the world. Publishing is essential.
  2. Give back. Look around and remember how your fellow students are struggling and need financial aid. Make it a goal to give back. It’s a worthy endeavor that I wish more lawyers would do.
  3. Show gratitude. Appreciate your professors. They have sacrificed an exciting life in the ring to teach. This is huge.
  4. Be kind. As you look around and feel the surging blood of competitiveness, know that true winners combine competitiveness with kindness. In the real world, clients don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
  5. Don’t be naive. The law is what judges and those in power determine it to be. This will shock you later. It is integrity and persistence that makes things right. You will have to work extra hard to fight bad laws, including getting involved at the lesiglature. 
  6. Perfect preparation. Trials involve more preparation that you can imagine. Great work requires many hours. There is no substitute. Find a life partner that can be patient and respect this.
  7. Learn to listen. Law school teaches you how to argue. In the real world, the best lawyers are expert listeners and master storytellers. You can’t tell a story unless you learn to listen. Lawyers love to talk. You can’t learn the facts when you are talking. Storytelling is captivating. Learn the art.
  8. Develop meaningful relationships. Everyone is important. Some of your fellow classmates will do things you would never predict, including quit the practice.  Lawyers have one of the highest rates of substance abuse and suicide. Always be that someone that anyone can turn to. 
  9. Follow your passion. You don't have to know what kind of lawyer you will become. Trust that If you follow your inner voice, work prodigiously hard and care deeply about the people you are helping, the work will come to you. It is then that you will immerse yourself into the continued training and opportunities that will establish you. 
  10. Intensely investigate. Learn to be the best at research. In the real world, this will save you time and time again. Knowing every case that remotely touches your case will distinguish you. Get used to the massive amounts of reading. In the practice, you just have to do it faster.

Spencer Crawford at Cornell Law School
Love you Spencer, I'm always here.
Can't wait until you join the legal profession.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Covid-19, Violent Offender Release

The News has reported that inmates in jails are being released due to covid-19.  Is this true? Yes. It has been reported and confirmed that inmates in Harris County, Dallas County, some Texas prisons and a juvenile detention center have the coronavirus.  This is a problem due to increased community spread in the jail environment; which outside of putting inmates' health in danger, endangers the lives of the jail and prison staff and adds more pressure to the hospital community. Are jails and prisons releasing inmates? Yes. This is not a blanket wide release of everyone in jail or prison. Each state, jurisdiction (federal or state), and county is making their own guidelines on release.  75% of all inmates in Texas county jails are not convicted. They are awaiting their case resolutions.   What about the release of violent offenders? Govenor Abbot issued executive order GA 13 which forbids the release of anyone who has been convicted of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Justice

"Profiteers" and "Privateers" close in semantics and in meaning. The former meaning a person in today's society who capitalizes on a profit making opportunity. The latter a term dubbed on pirates who sailed the seas in search of loot. I am currently reading a biography (in my Founding Father quest) on the father of the US Navy: John Paul Jones. His character was impeccable. His mariner skills keen. His spirit to fight injustice unparalleled. As a Scotch sailor, he quickly joined the American bandwagon for "equality for all" versus a society of the privileged based on monarchy. Everything he did (his raiding of the English coasts in retaliation for the British raiding & burning of American eastern seacoasts), his sea battles, his diplomatic overtures in France were made on principle: to secure democracy for everyone. Yet his detractors claimed he was a "Privateer", a pirate. He had many opportunities to profit as a privateer but did not....
1 comment
Read more

Is Blood Really The Gold Standard?

People think DWI blood tests are 100% accurate. Yet this is not true. People assume that a blood score is like DNA evidence- irrefutable. Once again, this is not true. People give up hope and resolve to plead guilty or no contest to their DWI thinking it is impossible to win. This is sadly not true. I was abhorred when a Houston blood expert (Ph.D in chemistry and former state lab forensic scientist) explained to me that if the lab tech accidentally pipettes one quarter of an extra drop into the test tube the score can be .07 too high! I was equally mortified when I learned that many results come from labs that do not properly validate their machines. A result is only as good as its measurements. These measurements must be properly tested (lower limit of detection, etc.) before one can rely on them.  In June of 2023 I will be spending a week in a university gas chromatography lab teaching other lawyers about the issues with testing. This will be my second time in this particular la...
Post a Comment
Read more