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Show 'IVhy I came to law school': students reflect on decision very relevant something concerned con-cerned with the real problems of the world. I didn't want my life to be narrowed." Exclusion unfair Mrs. Taggart has been discovering discov-ering the attitudes of her fellow law students toward women in law through conversations dealing deal-ing with the exclusion of women in the national legal fraternities. Mrs. Taggart and her female classmates feel such exclusion is unfair. "The faculty," she pointed out, "are totaUy committed to the equality of women and men in the field, but the male students just dont 'take us seriously. They think we are coming into law as a hobby." On her reaction to law school, she said, "I find the classes exciting ex-citing and the faculty excellent. There is, however, an all pervasive per-vasive feeling of pressure to come out on top in the finals. The competition com-petition I don't enjoy this at all. I think it's destructive." "Don't worry about competing with the men," is her advice td girls considering law school. "Of course, you'll be competing but don't be obvious about it. You'll get along better if you aren't militant. mili-tant. A girl can help to establish a feeling of cooperation rather than competition." According to junior law student Craig Cook, joining a monastery and going to law school have their similarities, for as Dean Samuel Thurman is quick to point out to incoming law students, "The law is a jealous mistress.' Cook admitted that he'd wanted to come to law school ever since he was 14. And the law student, who was an English major undergraduate, recommends to anyone planning to enter law school is to take as many writing classes as possible. possi-ble. "The great majority of tests are essay." He concluded, "If you can't write, you can't succeed." BY CYNTHIA WOOTTON Staff Writer How do I know law school is for me? Hundreds of students on campus cam-pus in varying fields ask themselves them-selves this question sometime during dur-ing their university years. While many University graduates enter en-ter law school in order to pursue a career in law, few have a clear concept of what a legal education educa-tion involves. This conclusion has been born out by interviews with students currently enrolled in the University's College of Law. Rulon Huntsman, freshman law student, graduated from the College Col-lege of Southern Utah in psychology. psychol-ogy. Prior to coming to law school he had attended graduate school at Utah State in sociology. He had also worked for the Employment Security Department of the State of Nevada as a manpower economist. econo-mist. It wasn't until he became well acquainted with a young practicing attorney that Huntsman Hunts-man seriously considered entering enter-ing law school. Lawyers are doers As Huntsman explained his decision, de-cision, "I had been working in the poverty program and I could see for the first time what lawyers law-yers were able to do in this area they could bring about changes. Lawyers are doers, not only thinkers. think-ers. When I found this out, that was the deciding factor." Huntsman noted particular differences dif-ferences between law school and his other graduate study experiences. experi-ences. "When you get out of graduate school," he said, "you feel like you don't even know your own name. You feel the more you've learned, the less you actually ac-tually know. Whereas, the typical typi-cal law student develops, if he does not already possess, a self-confidence. self-confidence. Self-knowledge is very important import-ant in being able to make a successful suc-cessful decision about law school, said Huntsman. "If you don't know what you really want and you go to law school thinking you'll find out there, you'll wash right out. It takes a single-mindedness from the very beginning." Ask Questions Huntsman would suggest that, in order to know himself well, the pre-law student should ask himself questions like the following: follow-ing: 1) Do I enjoy studying? "If you don't even enjoy studying your favorite subject, forget law school." 2) Do I enjoy meeting new situations? situ-ations? The lawyer's life is one of new situations, not to mention the freshman grilling, the Moot Court presentations, and the senior sen-ior year clinical program in law school. 3) Do I like to solve puzzles? 4) Do I give up easily or do I have a bull-dog determination? 5) Can I express myself orally and in writing? "If you don't learn to communicate before you come to law school, it's too late." 6) Can I set a schedule and stick to it? "Without discipline even the most brilliant law student stu-dent is doomed to failure." 7) Do I have a curiosity about social problems, politics, economics, econ-omics, history, philisophy, literature? liter-ature? "The lawyer lives in everyone's ev-eryone's world." The number of girls entering law school is proportionately very small, and Pam Taggart, one of the five girls in the freshman class of approximately 110 students, thinks this is unfortunate. Mrs. Taggart, a graduate in music from the University and a past member of the Utah Symphony, was introduced to the possibilities law school offered by her late husband who was working on his Ph.D. in sociology. They were both very much concerned about social problems, and he had encouraged en-couraged her to enroll in law school. Explained Mrs. Taggart, "I had tried teaching in high school, and I didn't enjoy it that much. I wanted to do something that was Evidently Cook's writing has proven competent for he, along with 15 others in his class, was chosen as a candidate for the Utah Law Review staff. He is now a member of the staff and has been appointed managing editor edi-tor of the Review, a commentary on law, for the coming year. Competition fierce Cook compared his undergraduate undergradu-ate experiences by expressing his views on the competition. "The competition has to be fiercer here than in any other department on campus. In other departments a standard is set and you can stay in school by meeting the standard. stand-ard. Here, you've not only got to reach the standard, but you've got to be on top." Continuing his reminiscence about undergraduate days, Cook said, "There is more a feeling of belonging in law school than in undergraduate work. You get to know all the people in your class, because everyone is taking the same subjects, many of which are only offered once a year. Everyone Ev-eryone struggles together." As far as advice to pre-law students stu-dents was concerned, Cook felt that there was one attitude NOT (Continued on Page 7) nniijiiiium.nJWin (Continued from Page 5) to enter law school with. "If you've been the prima donna of the undergraduate scene, you'd better not expect that position in law school. C grades are the rule not the exception, . and there's plenty of fellows on scholarships who don't make it past the first semester. You have to work there's no getting around that." Mike Mazaran, senior law student, stu-dent, and president of the law school's Student Bar Association, Students discuss law school confirmed most of the views and advice given by the other inter-' viewees. "Law school" he remarked, "is much more rigorous in its demands de-mands for discipline. Legal training train-ing more strictly requires the development de-velopment of the analytic process. Simply, you are taught to think like a lawyer." Hard knocks When asked how he felt about the competition, Mazaran shrugged and said, "Well, that's the name of the game. Law school is the pre-ground for activity in life. The competition is comparable compar-able to the hard knocks life deals out." With three years of law school almost behind him, Mazaran plans to join a Salt Lake law firm upon graduation. His advice to prospective pros-pective law students was pointed. "You must come to law school with a commitment if you are going go-ing to succeed," he insisted. "If you are not sure about entering en-tering law school," he suggested, "come and talk to the students and faculty members. Come and sit in on classes (notifying the office first) and watch the Socrat-ic Socrat-ic method of instruction in practice. prac-tice. Be thorough in your decision, deci-sion, and when you come, come committed." |