De Minimis Curat Lex Secrets to Success for 1st Year Law Students

• Author: John H. Scheid
• Pages: 631-657

DE MINIMIS CURAT LEX

SECRETS TO SUCCESS FOR 1ST YEAR LAW STUDENTS

PROFESSOR JOHN H. SCHEID*

I. INTRODUCTION

Over one hundred years ago, Justice William Story op ined that “[the

Law] is a jealous mistress.”1 Not on ly is this a quintessential example of

political incorrectness, but also I sub mit that Justice Story had it basically

wrong. A mistress expects her l over’s attention intermittently and, as it

were, in staccato bursts. A mistress is basic ally a diversion fro m a

constructive life, i.e., from Story’s very own reality. The law, on th e other

hand, is more like one’s bet rothed, always first, al ways in your mind,

always commanding, although not demanding, your undivided attention.

The study of law, which is a lifelong vocation, is an enduri ng endeavor.

The studen t of law remains j ust that and, in a way, never really completes

the education process. But as countl ess lawyers will attest, the study of

law is a fas cinating journey, occasionally dul l, never ending, but

fundamentally al l engrossing.2

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* I wish to acknowledge the unstinting effor ts, in so m any ways, of my research

assistant Amy E. Keller in the preparation of this a rticle. She helped me whenever I began

to stray from my original inten t: that is, to write an article th at would be most beneficial to

the entering law student. She helped me to maintain the perspective of the struggling

student, rather than the didactic p erspective of the professor on the far side of the podium.

In short, her assistance w as invaluable.

1 THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN LEGAL QUOTATIONS 240 (1993).

2 Boris Blai, Jr. has noted th at

[t]he w ay in which students study strongly influences how much they

learn. And in this learning proc ess, teachers can often help stu dents

develop better study habi ts. Ongoing research has very cl early

identified several study skills used by good students that can also be

taught to oth er students. Average s tudents can readily le arn how to use

these skills. Low-ability studen ts may need to be taught when, as well

as how, to use them.

Boris Blai, Jr., A Study Guid e for Students, 67 CLEARING HOUSE 98, 98 (1993).

632 CAPITAL UNIV ERSITY LAW REVIEW [37:631

When a stu dent enters law school and begin s the req uired course of

studies,3 she usually comes with a great de al of enthu siasm. As the early

semesters wear on, so metimes enthusiasm wanes as unforeseeable

obstacles arise.4 The study of la w, she quickly learns, differs radically

from any course of studies in undergradu ate s chool.5 There is a v irtually

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3 Most law sch ools in the United States have a core of required cours es including, but

not limited to, cont racts, torts, criminal law, property, procedure, constitutional law and

lawyering skills which, in turn, includes different ty pes of legal wr iting and oral adv ocacy.

LAW SCHOOL ADMISSION COUNCIL, THINK ABOUT LAW SCHOOL 2 (2008), available at

http://www.lsac.org/pdfs/20 08-2009/ThinkAboutLawSchool2008.pdf. These courses a re

usually looked upon as th e “basic primary colors” of one’s entire leg al education. See id.

4 One of the known o bstacles is the undergraduate debt th at looms over the head of the

entering 1L student. About two-thirds of four-year undergraduate students gradua te with

some debt, and statistics for 1999–2000 indicate that the average amount borrowed by

undergrads was $19,300. NAT’L CTR. FOR EDUC. STATISTICS, U.S. DEP’T OF EDUC., THE

CONDITION OF EDUCATION NCES 2004, at 177 (2004) available at

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs20 04/2004077.pdf. For the years 2006 through 2007, students

obtaining bachelor’ s degrees averaged about $22,700 in debt. COLLEGE BOARD, TRENDS IN

STUDENT AID (2008 ), available at ht tp://www.collegeboard.com/html/costs/ aid/. The

student can defer this debt while sh e finishes law school, but, of course, mus t start paying

it—along with any law school d ebt incurred—within six months of graduation from law

school. See ABA COMM’N ON LOAN REPAYMENT AND FORGIVENES S, LIFTING THE BURDEN:

LAW ST UDENT DEBT AS A BARRIER TO PUBLIC SERVICE 20, 34 (2003), available at

http://www.abanet.org/lega lservices/downloads/lrap/lrapfinalreport.p df [hereinafter LIFTING

THE BURDEN]. The latest da ta available indicate that private law school graduates incur an

average of $78 ,000 in law school debt, and public law school graduates incur an average of

$51,000 in debt. Craig Linder, Student D ebt Crisis: Lawma kers Take Action, 36 STUDENT

LAW. 18, 21 (2007). These loans are generally throug h federal subsidized and unsub sidized

loan programs. LIFTING THE BURDEN, supra, at 3 3. Such debt militates against a law

graduate taking jobs in th e “comparatively lo w-paying public service legal positions . . . in

federal, state and local governmen t agencies .” Id. at 14. The median publi c law s chool

tuition for residents rose from $1,792 in 1985 to $9,252 in 2002; and the median private law

school tuition rose from $7 ,385 in 1985 to $24,920 in 2002. Id. at 17.

5 There is no pre -law major, as such, in undergraduate school. Pre-L aw Comm. of the

ABA Sec. Legal Educ. and Adm issions to the Bar, Preparing for Law Sch ool,

http://www.abanet.org/lega led/prelaw/prep.html (last visited Feb. 5, 2009). Un dergrads

seem to follow their own individual interests, which, in the author’s opinion, is as it should

be. However, the mor e writing in un dergraduate school the better, especially expository

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