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| A legal "case" is or was a problem between
people that someone has asked a lawyer to help resolve. |
| When you are a lawyer, you will be required
to analyze, understand and develop many aspects of a case: the law, the
facts, professional ethics, justice and the impact on people's lives. |
| The interest and enthusiasm you have right
now will be important to you as a lawyer; while you may become bogged down
in the next couple of years with technical legal analysis, don't abandon
your interest and enthusiasm or your common sense. |
| During your first year of law school, you
will focus primarily on one aspect of lawyering: legal analysis of technical
legal issues. This may feel like nobody cares about other aspects: that
the only issues in the Baby Richard case are whether the legal standard
is consent or best interests, or whether testimony about the baby's attachment
to his adoptive parents should be admitted or denied. |
| This emphasis on technical legal issues may
be frustrating. If you have concerns about facts, ethics, justice or impact
on people's lives, there are some things you can do:
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- Write down your thoughts in a notebook or
journal; keep this; it will remind you that you still care about the "big
picture".
- Focus your studies on technical legal analysis,
but take some time to discuss some of the other issues with your fellow
law students, or your family, or one of your professors.
- Remind yourself that learning to separate
technical legal analysis from the "big picture" will not make you inhuman
nor does it mean you don't care about the other
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As you are mastering technical legal concepts
you should always think about what makes sense, what is just, what is good
or bad policy in the law. Most professors bring in issues of justice, impact
on people's lives, etc. in first year courses. However, don't neglect to
learn technical legal concepts that you don't agree with; you can't change
the law unless you understand it!
There are many second and third year courses
that directly address the skills you will need to learn how to develop
facts, evaluate impact on people's lives, understand the rules of professional
ethics and question how to improve the legal system.
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