1Z6I3 
 1957 
 
 EDUCATION FOR A CAREER IN LAW 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS • URBANA 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 BULLETIN 
 
 Volume 55 
 
 Number 22 
 
 November, 1957 
 
 Published 
 
 seven times 
 
 each month 
 
 by the University 
 
 of Illinois. 
 
 Entered as 
 
 second-class 
 
 matter December 
 
 11, 1912, at 
 
 the post office 
 
 of Urbana, 
 
 Illinois, 
 
 under the 
 
 Act of 
 
 August 24, 1912. 
 
 Office of 
 
 Publication, 
 
 207 Administration 
 
 Building, 
 
 Urbana, 
 
 Illinois. 
 
EDUCATION FOR A CAREER IN LAW 
 
 PREPARED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE 
 
 COLLEGE 
 
 OF 
 
 LAW 
 
EDUCATION FOR A CAREER IN LAW 
 
 This pamphlet is intended primarily to answer your questions concerning 
 a course of study preparatory to your entry into law school and secondar- 
 ily to give you some idea of the nature of law-school training itself. Our 
 suggestions and recommendations for prelegal education, however, will 
 have greater meaning to you if you first understand the nature of the 
 lawyer's duty to his client and to the public and what is involved in the 
 practice of law. 
 
 THE LAW AS A PROFESSION 
 
 The lawyer is more than a technician, a craftsman, or businessman — he 
 is a professional man, and, as a professional man, he shoulders responsi- 
 bilities and duties to his profession, his community, and his nation. "A 
 profession," said Roscoe Pound, judge, law-school dean, and outstanding 
 scholar, "involves three ideas: organization, learning, and a spirit of 
 public service. These are essential. The remaining idea, that of gaining 
 a livelihood, is incidental." 
 
 There is a great tradition of solidarity among the lawyers of this country. 
 Many of the members of the bar, aware of their professional responsi- 
 bilities, have organized into local, state, and national bar associations. 
 One of the functions of the organized bar is to maintain and improve the 
 standards of the profession and the legal system. In the efforts of the 
 organized bar to streamline legal procedure, to revise unwieldy or out- 
 moded branches of the law, to improve the administration of justice 
 through wise selection of judges, and to extend the availability of legal 
 services to persons of limited means, the profession continually seeks 
 to discharge its responsibility to the public. An example of one of the 
 many activities of the bar associations is the establishment of legal aid 
 clinics and lawyer reference bureaus which secure legal assistance for 
 those unable to pay the customary fees. 
 
 There are few aspects of a person's activity, whether of a business, char- 
 itable, political, or social nature, that do not involve the law. Our way 
 of life could not exist without law, which marks the paths along which 
 one may proceed without harming one's neighbor. Any traffic jam with- 
 
 University of Illinois Law Building 
 
out benefit of "stop and go" lights or police vividly illustrates the de- 
 pendence of society upon rules regulating its activity. This tremendous 
 body of regulations, called law, can be viewed as the lubricant which 
 keeps the social, business, and political engines of society operating 
 smoothly. The law, however, must be kept responsive to the needs of 
 society. The legal profession, through the practicing lawyer, the organ- 
 ized bar, and the departments of government, has a major responsibility 
 in keeping this machinery in order and functioning with the greatest 
 possible good for all the public. 
 
 The lawyer who has the true professional spirit participates in the activi- 
 ties of the organized bar with no expectation of financial gain, finding 
 his reward instead in the opportunity of joining with others to meet 
 and discharge his responsibility to society. The lawyer who has a true 
 sense of social responsibility never forgets that it is the public that places 
 confidence in him by granting him the privilege to practice law. It is the 
 peculiar task of the lawyer by virtue of the position he holds in the com- 
 munity, the state, and the nation, to champion the cause of human wel- 
 fare and social progress. The lawyer who is trained to seek justice on 
 behalf of his client must also exercise his talents and abilities to seek 
 justice on behalf of society. The lawyer is largely responsible for molding 
 the law and its administration; it is essential that he have a comprehen- 
 sive insight into social and economic problems, business relations, the 
 causes and social consequences of crime, and an understanding of all 
 problems bearing on human relations. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE LAWYER 
 
 Since the work of the lawyer is concerned basically with human activities 
 and relations, there is no limit to the variety of problems that may con- 
 front him during his professional career. Traditionally, the lawyer has 
 been charged with the responsibility of enforcing a client's rights with 
 respect to all kinds of property which in one way or another become the 
 subject of dispute, of preventing injury to a client's person or property, 
 and of securing redress for wrongs to the person or property of his client. 
 Matters pertaining to domestic relations and the family often require the 
 services of the lawyer. The lawyer must be prepared to handle the legal 
 aspects of such transactions as buying and selling land, goods, stocks, 
 bonds, and services. The manufacturing, processing, and transportation 
 of goods create problems which must be dealt with by the lawyer. The 
 
lawyer is intimately concerned with the processes of creating, expanding, 
 and financing the different forms of organizations, such as corporations, 
 partnerships, and trusts, by which business and commerce are carried on. 
 In planning for the disposition of property upon death by gifts, trusts, 
 and wills, the lawyer's advice and counsel is indispensable. 
 
 In addition, the lawyer's work may pertain to transactions between the 
 government and individuals on such matters as taxation; issuance of 
 securities; regulation of labor relations, wages, and hours; unemploy- 
 ment compensation; old age insurance; contracts to furnish goods and 
 services to the government; regulation of agencies of transportation, com- 
 munication, and power; regulation of trade and competition; and the 
 prosecution and defense of persons accused of violating the criminal law. 
 
 GENERAL AND SPECIALIZED LAW PRACTICE 
 
 In connection with the following sketch of the practice of law, it should 
 be pointed out that practice in a specialized field usually results from 
 chance rather than from any special skill initially possessed by the lawyer. 
 For that reason, the great majority of law schools prepare their students 
 for the general practice of law. In the small communities, and to a lesser 
 extent in large communities, most lawyers engage in the general practice 
 of law alone or with a partner. In the large metropolitan centers the 
 lawyer who practices alone usually restricts his practice to one or two 
 fields. A field for specialization is not usually predetermined by the 
 lawyer, but comes as a result of his developing a facility for disposing of 
 the type of business that happens to come into his office most frequently. 
 The specialist may or may not be involved in court work, depending upon 
 the nature of his specialty. Thus, the lawyer specializing in personal 
 injury law suits spends a considerable amount of his time in court, while 
 the man specializing in passing on the validity of municipal bond ordi- 
 nances may never see a courtroom. 
 
 WORK IN A LARGE LAW FIRM 
 
 The large metropolitan law firms, consisting of from ten to forty partners 
 and as many salaried associates, represent mainly business and commercial 
 interests. The work for the most part consists of consultation, negotiation, 
 advising, preparing a variety of documents, writing opinions, appearing 
 before government boards and agencies, and making policy determina- 
 tions with respect to the conduct of the clients' enterprises. This work 
 
rarely takes the office lawyer into court. The trial of cases is usually 
 handled by the trial department in the large firms, the trial lawyer 
 spending most of his time in court or preparing trial or appellate briefs 
 in connection with his court work. 
 
 PRACTICE IN A SMALL COMMUNITY 
 
 The lawyer in the smaller community, on the other hand, engages in a 
 practice which involves not only the problems of the business world, but 
 a variety of personal transactions. In addition to the day-to-day negotia- 
 tion, counseling, and legal drafting, the individual practitioner usually 
 engages in some trial work. He must therefore possess a competence as 
 a trial lawyer in order to represent his clients in court, and must also 
 be well qualified to perform the variety of tasks of the office lawyer. 
 
 LAWYERS EMPLOYED BY CORPORATIONS 
 
 Many large corporations, particularly in the railroad, oil and gas, utility, 
 insurance, and banking and trust fields, maintain legal departments. The 
 work of a lawyer on a corporate legal staff tends to be somewhat similar 
 to the type of work done by the lawyer in the large law firm. With the 
 exception of some railroad, insurance, and bank staffs, the lawyer in a 
 corporation's legal department engages in very little trial work. 
 
 LAWYERS EMPLOYED BY LABOR UNIONS 
 
 In recent years, many labor unions have established their own legal staffs. 
 The lawyer employed by a labor union is concerned with problems relat- 
 ing to the labor laws of the community, state, and nation, the collective 
 bargaining process, the negotiation of agreements between management 
 and labor, and the enforcement and observance of such agreements. 
 
 THE LAWYER IN GOVERNMENT 
 
 In the field of government, lawyers take an active part at all levels. In 
 the Department of Justice in the federal government, and in the offices 
 of the attorney general and state's attorneys in state government, are 
 lawyers who engage in an extensive amount of court work. Government 
 commissions, administrative bodies, and agencies, both at the federal and 
 state level (including counties and cities), employ lawyers who provide 
 
advisory services for the government organizations. In addition, the 
 administrative officials themselves are often lawyers, having been ap- 
 pointed either through the political process or because of experience 
 acquired while serving on a government legal staff. 
 
 TEACHING, JUDICIAL, AND POLITICAL CAREERS 
 
 There are career opportunities for lawyers not only in the private prac- 
 tice of law and in the field of government but also as teachers and judges. 
 Legal training also provides a background for a political career. The 
 lawyer who has training in meeting the needs of the people on an in- 
 dividual basis finds that it is natural to attempt to meet the needs of the 
 people on a group basis. Many governors, mayors, state legislators, con- 
 gressmen, and local government officials are members of the bar. If you 
 are interested in a political career, there is no better entree than the law. 
 There are additional opportunities for lawyers in the field of legal edi- 
 torial work and as librarians in law school and appellate court libraries. 
 
 PRELEGAL EDUCATION 
 
 ALL LEARNING IS A PART OF LEGAL EDUCATION 
 
 Your studies in college are as much a part of your preparation for a 
 legal career as your studies in law school. We feel that there are certain 
 college studies which are better suited for the attainment of your goal 
 than others. In advising you with respect to college education prior to 
 your entrance into law school, we want to make it clear that our advice 
 is in the nature of a recommendation only. Our suggestions are not to be 
 construed as setting up a rigid prelegal program required of all students 
 intending law study. They are set forth for your guidance in choosing 
 subjects for study during the college phase of your education for a 
 career in law. 
 
 OBJECTIVES OF PRELEGAL EDUCATION 
 
 Your success in law school and eventual success as a lawyer are dependent 
 to a large extent upon your acquiring or developing certain abilities. 
 Some of these abilities are essential to your becoming a competent lawyer. 
 Others are required for your competence in the discharge of your re- 
 
The Law Library 
 
 sponsibilities as a member of a profession and as a citizen. The prepara- 
 tion which is designed to make you a technically competent craftsman 
 must be supplemented with a course of study designed to fit you for the 
 performance of your professional obligations. Of all professional people, 
 the lawyer must have the widest range of knowledge. As Earl Warren, 
 Chief Justice of the United States, said on the occasion of the dedication 
 of the new law building at the University of Illinois, "What our country 
 now requires above all else is leaders of broad outlook and comprehensive 
 points of view — men who are capable of making use of fragments of 
 knowledge possessed by the specialists and who can coordinate these 
 fragments and weld them into a working whole. One might envisage 
 that assignment for the lawyers of the future, but it is not a task for a 
 mediocre and complacent bar. The profession, if it is to merit this assign- 
 ment, must be well selected and highly trained." 
 
 Our discussion, therefore, consists of two parts : ( 1 ) a survey of the 
 abilities which you will need in order to become a competent technician 
 and the manner in which such abilities can be best acquired or developed; 
 and (2) an estimate of what, in our judgment, is a suitable course of 
 study to provide you with a desirable background for a career as a pro- 
 fessional man and citizen. 
 
BASIC ABILITIES 
 
 The abilities which you are urged to acquire are as fundamental as the 
 three R's of an earlier time. To state them simply, they are: expression, 
 comprehension, and thinking. These may appear to be rather pedestrian 
 values — ones which you may feel do not deserve to be mentioned in con- 
 nection with so dramatic and dynamic a profession as the law. On closer 
 analysis, however, you will find that they are highly significant in de- 
 termining your capacity for success in the law. 
 
 Expression and Comprehension 
 
 The ability of expression includes speaking and writing. By speaking 
 more is meant than the capacity to carry on a conversation or to express 
 your desires; more is meant than oratory, a pleasant voice, or the 
 incitement of an emotional response in your listener. You must develop 
 the ability to communicate — to convey the ideas and thoughts contained 
 in your mind to the mind of another. You must be able to sketch as 
 nearly as possible in the mind of your reader or listener the exact pic- 
 tures which your mind sees. It is immaterial whether your listener or 
 reader is a client, jury, judge, adversary, revenue agent, witness, or 
 instructor. You must have the ability to express yourself so that your 
 audience receives a clear impression of your meaning. In order to ac- 
 complish this result, you need to be skillful in the use of words and 
 intimately acquainted with their meanings and changes in meaning when 
 used in varying settings and contexts. 
 
 The lawyer is required to do a great deal of writing. A brief, a will, a 
 contract, a trust agreement, an opinion — all are among the everyday 
 activities of the lawyer. In writing, as well as in speaking, the lawyer 
 must possess the ability to use words that carry to others the meaning 
 that he wishes to convey. An example of a document in which accuracy 
 is essential is a will. A will has no legal effect until its maker dies. When 
 the maker of a will dies, it carries his final expression of the disposition 
 of his property. The maker is not then available to clarify or explain 
 ambiguous or inaccurate expressions. Others, including the courts, may 
 be required to interpret the language of the will to determine how the 
 maker's property should be distributed. The lawyer who wrote the will 
 can not then say to the court, "I should have said it this way." The 
 court reads only the language of the will for the authoritative expression 
 of the maker's desire with respect to the distribution of his property. 
 
It should be obvious to you that "language is the lawyer's working tool," 
 and a person who wishes to be a lawyer must be well trained in the 
 ability of expression. This requires an adequate vocabulary, proficiency 
 in modern English usage, grammatical correctness, conciseness and clarity 
 of statement, and skill in organized presentation. 
 
 The ability to comprehend is a skill which includes the capacity to 
 understand what is read and heard. It is not enough that the printed 
 page be read; the author's meaning must be perceived; written and 
 spoken words must be understood. But skill in reading involves more 
 than understanding, for the reader must be able to detect verbal formulas 
 and catch phrases; he must not accept naively those verbalisms which 
 are superficially convincing but in fact false. In a sense, comprehension 
 includes a skill in the science of detection: the ferreting out and dis- 
 tinguishing of facts, opinions, emotions, and conclusions. 
 
 You must be able to comprehend written or spoken expression even when 
 it is inaccurate. If you are to grasp the meaning a person intends to 
 convey, you must be familiar with the different meanings of words even 
 though the speaker or writer is not. Through your knowledge of the 
 usages of words you will be able to detect a person's meaning from the 
 context of what he has said, even though he may have used certain words 
 inaccurately. 
 
 College Courses. The abilities of expression and comprehension prob- 
 ably can not be fully acquired or developed during the brief period of 
 prelegal education. You can at least lay the foundation and erect the 
 framework on which to build. We recommend the following college 
 courses: English grammar and composition or rhetoric, public speaking, 
 and literature. We can not overemphasize the desirability of continued, 
 unremitting, and zealous study of these subjects. Wherever possible they 
 should be formally pursued during your entire period of prelegal educa- 
 tion. When all the formal courses offered by the college of your choice 
 have been exhausted, you should nevertheless continue to practice and 
 enlarge upon the basic skills acquired. Even when a sufficient number of 
 formal courses are offered, you should not confine your preparation for 
 law school to these, but should continually increase your capacity for 
 expression and understanding by reading literary masterpieces and 
 participating in extracurricular activities involving writing, speaking, and 
 debating. 
 
 10 
 
Many colleges recommend or require the taking of courses in foreign 
 languages. The study of a foreign language is not a prerequisite to the 
 study of law. but it has disciplinary and cultural values. 
 
 Thinking 
 
 Underlying the abilities already discussed is the really basic one: think- 
 ing. Precise expression is of no consequence if you have no ideas or 
 conclusions to express. The capacity to detect and comprehend facts is 
 of no moment if you are unable to reach an accurate conclusion. In 
 order to formulate an idea or reach a conclusion you are required to 
 think. By thinking we do not mean daydreaming or permitting idle, un- 
 related thoughts to flow through the mind. Thinking includes an 
 approach to and consideration of the known facts from all possible 
 points of view; it includes a testing of the conclusion in the light of 
 established concepts. 
 
 The study and practice of law involves more than knowing what the 
 law is. It would not be too difficult to take a student newly out of high 
 school and teach him a set of legal rules. Legal proficiency, however, 
 requires something much more profound than the mechanical memoriz- 
 ing of law. The competent technician needs the intellectual ability to 
 apply the law to particular facts. This procedure requires skill in think- 
 ing. The study of law is a study of method. Much of this study is 
 designed to train one to recognize and comprehend the significance of 
 facts, to organize them, to examine them in the spotlight of established 
 legal principles, and to make predictions with respect to them in order 
 to advise a client how to conduct himself with a maximum of freedom 
 from legal difficulty. In order to make a prediction, the lawyer must 
 have the ability to approach the facts and the applicable rules of law 
 with a thoughtful and critical attitude. 
 
 College Courses. In your college catalog you are not likely to find a 
 course in thinking. You will, however, find courses in logic where you 
 will be introduced to methods of systematic reasoning. In courses in 
 philosophy you will have the opportunity to observe the thinking methods 
 of the world's great philosophers. Mathematics will offer you excellent 
 training in reasoning with abstractions, although the expression of such 
 abstractions will be made in precise mathematical formulas. Law in- 
 volves reasoning in abstractions not expressed in precise terms. It is 
 essential, therefore, that your ability of expression and comprehension be 
 
 11 
 
developed to the extent necessary to enable you to reason and think about 
 abstract concepts not always capable of precise statement. The study of 
 a laboratory science will provide you with experience in the operation 
 of the scientific method of reasoning from particular demonstrable facts to 
 general conclusions. In the law you will be required to reason in a similar 
 fashion from particular decided cases to general rules and principles. 
 
 It is not reasonable to assume that a capacity for thinking can be fully 
 developed within the framework of the few college hours each week 
 which you will spend in consideration of the subjects indicated in the 
 preceding paragraph. In order to develop proficiency, countless hours of 
 practice are necessary. You must have, however, some subject matter 
 which you can analyze and criticize and about which you can think, 
 reason, and reflect. Such subject matter can be found in many of the 
 courses offered by your college. Rather than choose subjects in hit-or- 
 miss fashion, you should select those subjects which to some extent will 
 provide background knowledge needed by a lawyer as a professional man. 
 
 COURSES WHICH PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND 
 
 We have already indicated what you need to do in order to acquire or 
 develop the background requisite for your career as a competent tech- 
 nician. Taken literally, this is an oversimplification of the task before 
 you. You must possess other skills if you are to discharge your responsi- 
 bility as a professional man. In selecting college courses which include a 
 subject matter offering opportunities for the practice of thinking, it will 
 be wise to restrict your selections to those courses generally recognized 
 as fundamental for a profession. For example, while you are studying 
 philosophy to learn something of the methods of leading thinkers, you 
 can at the same time practice thinking by reflecting on the content of 
 their discourse. While practicing thinking in this manner you will 
 simultaneously be acquiring a knowledge of various philosophical and 
 ethical concepts such as justice and morality. Since you are preparing 
 for the profession which is the medium through which justice is done, it 
 is apparent that a knowledge of justice is necessary in your background. 
 
 Neither the law nor the lawyer works in a vacuum. The lawyer who 
 knows the nature and purpose of the society in which law operates has 
 a better professional background than the lawyer who does not. The 
 lawyer is constantly dealing with other individuals, and he is ever in- 
 volved in a network of human relations. He must understand the subtle 
 
 12 
 
motivations of human action, reaction, and interaction which constitute 
 the intricate pattern of our society. In order to achieve this understand- 
 ing, the lawyer should have some knowledge of the nature of man and 
 the physical world in which he lives, the economic systems prevailing in 
 the world, the political and social structures of societies, the democratic 
 processes in Western nations, and the cultural heritage of the Western 
 civilization. 
 
 In addition to philosophy and ethics, such college courses as history 
 (particularly American and English constitutional history), literature, 
 political science, economics, anthropology, sociology, and psychology are 
 helpful in reaching an understanding of the forces which affect the 
 operation of the law. These courses closely parallel those suggested by 
 the lawyers of Illinois in a recent survey by the state bar association. In 
 such courses you will find a vast structure of materials requiring your 
 careful analysis and thought. Not only will the content of these courses 
 prove highly desirable in providing you with a background for a pro- 
 fessional career, but they will contain a great number of ideas which 
 are the subject matter of thinking. 
 
 TECHNICAL STUDIES AS PREPARATION FOR A LEGAL CAREER 
 
 Some of you may intend to follow a program of technical studies while 
 in college. The foregoing suggestions have not been made to discourage 
 such students from planning a career in the legal profession. A back- 
 ground of knowledge or a college program in a technical field does not 
 preclude entry into law school or into the profession. In fact, a back- 
 ground in engineering, physics, or chemistry often opens the way to a 
 satisfying career in the practice of patent law. A program combining 
 courses in the fields of commerce and law, or agriculture and law, may 
 also provide an entree into specialized fields of practice. 
 
 Of all the technical courses, the one that is of nearly universal usefulness 
 in the practice of law is accounting. In a sense, this course involves the 
 abilities of expression and comprehension in connection with interpreta- 
 tion and understanding of facts expressed in the language of financial 
 statements. Many lawyers and law teachers recommend that the intend- 
 ing law student acquire a background in accounting. 
 
 If you are bent upon the study of a technical field in college, you are 
 urgently advised to elect as many as possible of the courses recommended 
 
 13 
 
in the previous discussion. You are also advised to fulfill all the college 
 requirements for a bachelor's degree if you plan a career in the fields of 
 accounting, engineering, physics, or chemistry combined with law. In 
 order to acquire a usable technical background in any of these fields, a 
 full four years of college study is usually necessary. Some familiarity with 
 accounting, however, is recommended for all students even though they 
 do not contemplate practicing in a field which requires an intimate 
 knowledge of its principles. 
 
 LAW COURSES BEFORE LAW SCHOOL 
 
 Since you have only a limited amount of time for your prelegal college 
 study, you are advised not to take such courses as agricultural law, 
 business law, industrial law, constitutional law, or others, which are 
 taught in many colleges. These fields are covered much more intensively 
 in law school. The duplication of such study is not desirable. We recom- 
 mend that while in college you acquire as broad an educational back- 
 ground as possible and we believe that your time will be more profitably 
 spent if your preparation for law school is confined to the courses sug- 
 gested in this pamphlet. 
 
 SELECTION OF COURSES AND INSTRUCTORS 
 
 In selecting your prelegal courses, you must be careful not to be misled 
 by course descriptions found in the college catalog. To some extent you 
 will have to rely upon your adviser and fellow students to help you find 
 courses with stimulating and provocative content. In this connection, you 
 should avoid easy or "snap" courses. Prelegal education is required by 
 the law schools for the reason that a minimum amount of intellectual 
 training is a prerequisite for the successful pursuit of a law school cur- 
 riculum. A mind that is allowed to pursue the route of the "snap" 
 courses in college simply does not receive the rigorous practice in think- 
 ing and intellectual training that is necessary for law school. You are 
 cautioned to be particularly selective in choosing instructors for your 
 courses. If you have a choice of instructors, you should be diligent to 
 discover which one teaches the most inspiring course, and, having found 
 him, you should study under him even though his class meets at eight 
 in the morning or on Saturdays. It is most essential that you find teachers 
 who can stimulate you to outstanding efforts. Also, you should endeavor 
 to enroll in courses that provide for class discussion, since your participa- 
 tion in discussions is an integral part of the educational process. 
 
 14 
 
LAW SCHOOL TRAINING 
 
 Albert J. Harno, Dean Emeritus of the University of Illinois College of 
 Law, has properly observed that "The education of a lawyer is a life- 
 time undertaking." The three years of intensive study that you will 
 spend in law school constitute only one stage in the education of a 
 lawyer, but in view of the effect it will have in shaping your future in 
 the law it may be the most important phase. You can not learn "all the 
 law" in three years of law school. There are more judicial decisions and 
 legislative acts in existence than any one person could learn in thirty 
 years. Even mastery of this vast body of law would not of itself equip 
 you to practice law, for no problem presented by your clients will be 
 exactly the same as any prior case decided by the courts. Furthermore, 
 each decade will bring with it new and unforeseen issues clamoring for 
 solution by the legal profession. The objective of a law school education, 
 therefore, is not merely to convey information about what has gone be- 
 fore; but also it is to implant in the student a method of analyzing and 
 solving the varied problems of our ever-changing society. 
 
 The student of law must learn to discern which facts in the situation 
 brought to him by his client are legally significant and to apply the 
 appropriate rules of law to these facts. He must be able to predict how 
 a court would decide the controversy in order that he may chart the 
 client's future course of action. Even beyond developing a capacity for 
 analysis of fact situations and the ability to plan effectively to minimize 
 legal hazards in the conduct of others, the lawyer must attain proficiency 
 in the techniques of drafting legal documents and skill in the intricate 
 procedures involved in taking a case through trial. 
 
 THE CASE METHOD 
 
 Confronted with the awesome task of equipping the student to meet and 
 deal effectively with the constantly varying problems of the administra- 
 tion of justice, how does the law school carry out its assignment? A 
 century ago few lawyers were exposed to the formal training of a law 
 school; apprenticeship in the law offices of senior practitioners, supple- 
 mented by reading the works of the legal giants of the age ■ — Blackstone, 
 Kent, Story — made up their legal education. Those enrolling in law 
 schools were subjected to a series of lectures in which the more prom- 
 inent legal principles of the day were recited for the student to learn by 
 rote. Since the latter part of the nineteenth century, legal education in 
 
 15 
 
the United States has been revolutionized by almost nation-wide adoption 
 of what is called the case method of instruction. In contrast to the text- 
 book method prevailing in undergraduate colleges in which the student 
 studies the observations and conclusions of the author of the book con- 
 cerning the phenomena he is describing, the case method leads the 
 student directly to the primary sources from which he must draw his 
 own inferences. In law the primary sources are legislative acts and the 
 reported decisions of the courts wherein the judge sets out the facts of 
 the case before him, states his decision, and gives his reasons for the 
 result reached. The principal classroom tool of the case method is the 
 casebook in which cases relating to a particular field of law are collected 
 and arranged in an orderly progression. 
 
 Law classes are characterized by a high degree of student participation. 
 You will be called upon periodically to state the facts and decisions of 
 cases. You will be questioned regarding the court's reasoning and asked 
 to apply the rules of law involved to variations of the facts of the case 
 under examination. You will be urged to present your ideas for evalua- 
 tion by other members of the class and the instructor. 
 
 NEW TRENDS IN LEGAL EDUCATION 
 
 Although the case method has persisted as the basic approach to legal 
 education, there has been a growing tendency to supplement it with other 
 types of instruction. Illustrative of this trend is the growing number of 
 non-case method courses available at the leading law schools of the 
 country. The University of Illinois College of Law is in the forefront of 
 this movement. At Illinois in the first year you will learn the fundamentals 
 of legal research and expression in a legal writing course which culmi- 
 nates in the preparation of an appellate brief. For advanced students, the 
 practice court course affords training in trial procedure and advocacy. 
 Original research papers are prepared in third-year seminars. Classes in 
 the drafting of such legal documents as wills, contracts, trust agreements, 
 deeds, and leases, as well as legislative bills, are also available to advanced 
 students. Moreover, an approach which emphasizes the solution of a 
 series of hypothetical problems is being employed in several courses. 
 
 CURRICULUM 
 
 The subject matter encompassed in the law school curriculum of today 
 has almost burst the confines of the three-year course of study. The 
 
 16 
 
Lounge and Hall in Classroom Win" 
 
 traditional curriculum of forty years ago expended the three-year period 
 largely on the private aspects of legal relations in such courses as con- 
 tracts, torts, and property. The rapid growth in recent years of govern- 
 mental intervention in the everyday affairs of the citizen has required 
 the addition of courses concerning the public nature of law: taxation, 
 administrative law, labor law, and trade regulation. Even now Illinois 
 and several other law schools are adding courses on atomic energy law 
 to their already overcrowded curricula. When you as a law student are 
 beset by the inevitable question as to what you are "specializing in," you 
 will probably find yourself echoing the lament of the modern law student 
 in replying that you are hard enough pressed to find time to acquaint 
 yourself with the fundamental areas of law before graduation, let alone 
 to develop special proficiency in one of them. 
 
 EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES 
 
 In the modern law school the academic program of the classroom is 
 intentionally supplemented by a carefully planned series of extracurricular 
 activities. These activities are more closely allied to the academic life of 
 
 17 
 
the student than is true in the undergraduate branches of the university. 
 You are entering a professional career that will make not only strenuous 
 intellectual demands but will also require a heavy expenditure of time 
 and energy; the law, as Mr. Justice Holmes so succinctly stated, is a 
 jealous mistress! During your three years of law study, you must "eat, 
 drink, and sleep" law so that you will absorb the feeling and drama of 
 your chosen profession at the same time you are learning its basic prin- 
 ciples and theories. These non-classroom activities are designed to help 
 you become a lawyer in the finest sense of that word. 
 
 It may well be that a student learns more outside the classroom, in easy 
 discussion with his fellows, than he can hope to absorb in the formal 
 confines of the ivy halls. Law teaching in general, and the case method 
 in particular, is designed to make you think, to raise issues, many of which 
 the instructor will leave unresolved, and to stimulate further discussion 
 and inquiry. To raise an argumentative gleam in a student's eye is the 
 fondest hope of many a law teacher. Since time is limited, not all of these 
 discussions can be finished in the class period or even in the furious give 
 and take of the between-classes break. Here the broad halls, outdoor 
 courtyards, and student lounges form a natural continuation of the 
 classroom. The supreme court may have held John Doe liable for 
 malicious assault but many a John Doe has been freed by post-classroom 
 rhetoric. This is not organized extracurricular activity but it is effective 
 ail the same and the newer law buildings have been designed to give 
 full rein to this aspect of legal education. 
 
 Of course the extracurricular program has other and more formal facets. 
 Without attempting to be exhaustive, let us look at the activities which 
 are available to further your legal education. 
 
 The Law Review 
 
 The law review is unique in American education. Run by the students 
 themselves (this is universally true of the student section although some 
 of the reviews have a faculty-edited symposium or series of leading 
 articles), it gives unparalleled opportunity for individual research, analy- 
 sis, and writing. The magazine which is read by practicing lawyers, 
 judges, and teachers can have a vital influence on the growth of the law, 
 but above all it gives the student a valuable experience in the fine art of 
 legal communication. Typically, membership on the editorial board is 
 open to those students who have attained a designated grade average 
 during the first year of law study and they must successfully complete a 
 
 18 
 

 Moot-Court Argument Before Illinois Supreme Court 
 
 period of probationary writing before they can be elected to full mem- 
 bership. At the University of Illinois the review is called the Law Forum 
 and each issue (published quarterly) contains a complete symposium on 
 some current aspect of the law in addition to the student notes, comments, 
 and recent decisions. 
 
 Moot-Court Competition 
 
 "Practice court," designed to teach the technique of handling a case in 
 the trial court, is usually a regular course in the curriculum. "Moot 
 court" deals with the preparation of a brief and the oral argument before 
 an appellate tribunal. This activity tends to be extracurricular and to 
 be handled by student clubs or through the organized student government. 
 The students work as teams and gain valuable training in both written 
 and oral exposition. Usually there are several rounds and a winner is 
 eventually chosen and is honored in some appropriate way. At Illinois, 
 the final arguments are heard by the seven members of the Illinois 
 Supreme Court who then hand down a written opinion and rank the 
 final contestants. There are also inter-school competitions with the 
 regional winners arguing before a moot court in New York City. 
 
 Student Government 
 
 Student government usually takes the form of a junior bar association 
 organized along the lines of a state bar association. It is the voice of the 
 student body and through its officers and committees runs a full array of 
 
 19 
 
student activities and services. It is open to all students and entitles 
 members to some of the privileges of the state bar, e.g., students may 
 receive the magazine published by the bar association. Its purpose is to 
 bring students into closer contact with the active bar of the state and to 
 promote a consciousness of professional responsibility. All of the activities 
 of the association, including regular programs, social meetings, moot 
 court competitions, round-table discussions of current problems, and 
 student-faculty coffee hours, are under the direction of student officers. 
 
 The Honor System 
 
 Most law schools offer a separate course in "The Legal Profession," 
 which embodies a study of the canons of professional and judicial ethics 
 and which emphasizes the history, traditions, and responsibilities of the 
 profession. Although such a course is important as a method of inculcating 
 a respect for and understanding of broad ethical concepts, standing alone 
 it is not enough. An honor system that places the primary responsibility 
 for ethical conduct on the individual student is a valuable adjunct to 
 course study. The honor system usually includes unproctored examina- 
 tions in which no instructor is present in the classroom during the period 
 of the test. Students are free to leave the room and return to it; there is 
 no check on their conduct while they are absent. Other features may 
 include student supervision of library rules, student responsibility for the 
 preparation of individual reports outside of the final examination, and the 
 like. Such a system allows the student to participate in the practical side 
 of professional responsibility; it represents ethics in action. Usually the sys- 
 tem is a part of student government but it deserves this special mention 
 because of its vital role in the functioning of a law school. At Illinois, the 
 Junior Bar Ethics Council is in charge of administering the system. 
 
 Professional Fraternities 
 
 Most law schools have chapters of the various national law fraternities. 
 Usually they do not maintain houses but they do carry on an organized 
 program for their members, including luncheons, dinners, talks by leading 
 members of the bar, discussion groups, and, on the lighter side, dances 
 and picnics. Faculty members belong also and this furnishes another 
 avenue for student-faculty friendships. 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 The above list is not intended to be all-inclusive. Indeed that would not 
 be possible since student ingenuity is given wide latitude and new activi- 
 
 20 
 
tics spring up to meet current demands and then fade away as situations 
 change. Thus, the post-war crop of student wives has given rise to 
 women's auxiliaries for the law fraternities, and they too have programs 
 dealing with law from the wife's viewpoint. Law student newspapers, 
 published for students, faculty, and alumni, also flourish, as do annual 
 law school dinners, book exchanges, class organizations, and the like. 
 Taken together these extracurricular activities form a vital part of your 
 legal education. 
 
 POST-LAW SCHOOL EDUCATION 
 
 It may seem odd, before you have even started to law school, to speak 
 of post-law school or continuing legal education. It is mentioned solely to 
 point up the great truth that education for a career in law is indeed a 
 lifetime undertaking. The great lawyer is characterized by an unquench- 
 able thirst for knowledge. He must spend his professional lifetime search- 
 ing for the legal truth revealed by past decisions and statutes while at the 
 same time keeping abreast of the contemporary progress of the law. In 
 order to do this he must read the law reviews and the new literature in 
 his field of specialization, take an active part in the work of the organized 
 bar, and return from time to time to the law school to attend special 
 courses for practicing lawyers. While still in law school you will have the 
 opportunity to sit in on short courses of this latter type and you can see 
 the eagerness with which seasoned attorneys return for further doses of 
 legal education. 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 Unless you are willing to engage in the long hours of unremitting effort 
 necessary to achieve skill in expression, comprehension, and thinking, 
 unless you desire to be of service to your fellow-man without emphasis on 
 reward, unless the lifelong study necessary for mastery of the law appeals 
 to you, you would be wise, and perhaps happier, if you selected some 
 other career than the law. If, on the other hand, all this has an appeal 
 for you, if you wish to cast your lot with a profession rich in tradition but 
 eternally changing, if your ambition is to acquire a training that will 
 enable you to render great service to your fellowman, if you are intrigued 
 by the challenge of the law, you will find that it offers an exciting, stimu- 
 lating, and satisfying career. 
 
 21 
 
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS 
 
 Hedrich-Blessing: pages 2, 8, 17. 
 
 Perry Gliessman: cover. 
 
 University Photography Laboratory: page 19. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 3 
 
 12 110339915