Postgraduate Information

“I had learnt the true practice of law.  I had learnt to find out the better side of human nature and to enter men’s hearts.  I realized that the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties riven asunder.”

Before disclosing the author of this reflection committing, with the heart and mind of an attorney, to serve the best interests of both sides of an argument, some context and thoughts of my own:

The speaker of the words above earned his law degree in London in 1891.  Upon “graduation” and returning to his native nation with the intention of undertaking the successful practice of law, he was deeply frustrated to find that nothing he had learned in fact applied to the legal situations he was asked to serve in.  His colleagues called him the “briefless barrister.”  After two failed years of attempts to force himself into successful practice, he accepted the chance to start again in a new atmosphere, and went to a new country, South Africa, with hopes that a changed mindset and atmosphere could yield a better outcome for the application of his mind and efforts.  This did in fact work, but the financial and professional success came only after the realization above, which came along with rejecting a legal model in which the author felt the only interests served were the financial interests of the lawyers. 

The recent law school graduation hooding ceremony, replete with inspiring messages from the Dean, Bud Selig, and others, in conjunction with my coming across the passage above, got me thinking about the large numbers of unemployed lawyers, both old and new, and the sense our recent grads must have of being cast adrift, even amidst the glamour of hoods and cords and high heels, of smiles and laughter and congratulation.  At the ceremony, I saw a lot of hope and strength in those faces, but I saw doubt as well.  Some of this can surely be attributed to fears of falling on stage, or becoming wrapped up in the strange and unnatural creation of the dreaded hood before being allowed to return to the safety of one’s seat, but some, I think, was due to sobering reality seeping in around the edges of celebration.  Enough of the job statistics and economic news is already well covered elsewhere, and I will not repeat such things here.

Graduation is meant for inspiring forward momentum.  The future IS bright for our graduates — to believe otherwise is to look away from the proof of our own collective past as MULS attorneys and professionals, but more importantly as people of service to others.  Failure to reflect on history — personally, institutionally, or culturally — deprives us of our right to the legacy of our past strengths and achievements.  Perseverance in faith right now is something that is asked of those who agree to have their mettle tested, perhaps?  Perseverance is an individual choice, and in the choosing, our graduates should consider themselves selected by history to become a truly great generation of lawyers who have survived and become more than what they might have in a gentler time.

The author of the quotation at the beginning of this post floundered for two years.  Others, surely, throughout history have struggled far longer, waiting for purpose, skill, and service to intersect in the form of employment that resembles mission more than just a job.

While in law school one receives many gifts.  The least appreciated sometimes, but most prevalent perhaps is a great deal of plain old information.  To graduate is, at some point, whether right away or years later, to recognize that you carry like a bundle on your back all of this information and step forward to undertake the real work.  You are truly “in formation,” and you don’t know what you will become.  This is true of all of us, at all times.  Such is the nature of the human being — always in the process of being and becoming. 

The author of the quote above came to the point of accepting that What He Did as a “lawyer” was secondary to Who He Was as a human, and to the exercise of his great gift of human understanding and compassion.  It resulted in a synergy of human spirit and purpose that propelled him forward in his own formation.  In the process, he changed in name as well, from Mohandis to Mahatma. 

The “briefless barrister”?  Mahatma Gandhi.

It’s my reunion year, so clearly I am a post-graduate in formation myself, and I am grateful for all of my past information and experiences at MULS and in practice, and grateful, too, for the freedom to choose perseverance; as for the future, I am truly optimistic about that as well — there are some good examples to inspire me. 

Quote and biographical information source (withheld to the end for literary suspense reasons over legal ones): Eknath Easwaran, Gandhi, the Man; The Story of His Transformation (Nilgiri Press, 1997).

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.