Week Two, Part 4 - Ethics: Tips For Law School Success

Unlike most law schools, Notre Dame puts Legal Ethics front and center. It’s a required class for all 1L’s, and the professor is Dean David T. Link.

“Even though Ethics is only one-hour, it’s the most important course you’ll take,” he says. “The majority of practicing lawyers don’t understand ethics. At Notre Dame, it’s pretty clear we do.”

Nearing retirement, Link still has a booming voice, deep although a bit affected. His bachelor and law degrees are both from Notre Dame. After graduation, he worked five years at the U.S. Treasury Department, then four as a tax attorney at Winston & Strawn in Chicago. He’s been dean for 20 years. It’s the longest tenure in the country, he tells us, making him “dean of the law school deans.”

He gives an overview of first year. “We try to teach you some substantive law and procedure. We introduce you to the skills of legal research and writing. And we seek to sensitize you to questions of ethics.”

Link takes a step to the right and unbuttons his double-breasted suit coat. To my amazement, he swings his foot up on the table next to the podium. His leg is bent at an angle reserved for track runners trying to get loose.

“The most important thing we do, however, is introduce you to legal analysis. We’re teaching you to think like a lawyer and perform legal reasoning in a highly competent manner.”

Link pauses to pull his sock up to mid-calf. He’s flashing a bit of hairy leg, and I hear snickers behind me.

“Let me give you some tips for succeeding in law school,” he says. “Recently in New York, I met with an alumnus who’s head of the corporate division at a major firm. He said these insights were the whole key to his success.”

1. Plan to study 60 to 80 hours per week. This includes the 15 hours you spend in class. Frivolous activities... like eating... do not count. You can't do it in less than 60.
2. Get yourself an appointment book. Write down what you plan to do, then what you actually did. Calendar yourself and keep a time sheet. Most lawyers bill by the hour, and even those who don't must justify their time.
3. Brief your own cases. It’s how you learn to do legal analysis. The briefs in those ponies aren’t very good. Don’t use them as a substitute for your own work. Remember, it's not the product, but the process. And be sure to ask yourself “Is this decision just?”
4. Attend and participate in class. Even if you’re not called on, try to think of the answer. If you don’t understand something, then put an asterisk in your notes to follow up.
5. Stay ahead. If you brief after class, then you've lost the experience of legal analysis. And you've diminished the value of class.
6. Use study groups to review and discuss your work. Don’t misuse them by dividing up your classes.
7. Take one night to do a weekly review. Use it to bring your briefs and class notes together. At that review, do a summary listing. We called ‘em “dope sheets,” the list of one-liners you never forget.
8. Use the faculty wisely. If you don't understand a particular doctrine, then come talk to us. Like the IRS, we’re here to help.
9. Remember that preparation for final exams does not start that week. Pace yourself. Review everything every week. Use past exams to see what the teacher wants. Some professors demand every detail. You can tell by how they ask questions in class. Take the practice exams at mid-semester seriously.
10. Understand the logic of legal reasoning. Actually, it’s quite simple, a sort of propositional or if-then logic. If... if... if... if... if, then... this must be true. Peppering this logic is a little bit of intuition. “Yeah, if I follow that line of thought rigidly, I'd do ‘x.’ Instead I think I'll do ‘x-sub-1.’” Note that each case has limited meaning on its own. See it in logical relation to the ones before and after, what Dean O’Meara called “the never-ending tapestry of the law.”

As if to signify his lecture is done, Link slides his foot off the table. He tells us that next week we will watch To Kill A Mockingbird as a springboard to our discussion of moral philosophy.

“Keep in mind what we’ve just reviewed,” Link reminds us. “Law school is not like undergraduate where everything will suddenly brighten up for you.”

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