Winter Break

First semester was fascinating.

Thanks to reverse selection, the people at Loyola Law School are some of the most genuine, genius human beings. The teachers are quirky and interested in social justice. The events are educational and usually provide free beer. I can’t speak for every law school (because of my small sample size) but my experience in law school has been amazing.

The reading was fascinating.

I like books with a new author for every chapter, because they diversify facts and opinions. They provide holistic frameworks for thinking about a subject. They increase my odds of reading good ideas, and insure against my risk of reading bad writers, since the articles must be brief.

That’s why I like reading case law. The judges write from all over the 20th century, and all across the United States.[1] The statutes are their tools. The lawyers are their guides. And the caselaw is their map. Every case contemplates different issues, rules, facts and conclusions, often going where no case has gone before.[2]

The teaching was fascinating.

Law professors doesn’t just teach the laws. They teach the history, psychology and philosophy of law. They teach the cause of laws, and their effects. They teach us to critique current laws, and imagine new ones. We read both good and bad law. And after a while, the types of law begin to over-lap.

The legal system is fascinating.

Entering law school, I didn’t want to be a lawyer. But now I have faith in the system. Judges are constantly enforcing justice and liberty. They stand comfortably on the foundation that precedent has established. Remember that the law reflects the morality and character of its authors, and I’m proud of American jurisprudence.

There are caveats, however. At best, our judges carefully apply the law; but at worst, the Supreme Court acts as a legislature of nine. At best, our legal and moral arguments are the same ones; but at worst, lawyers must argue that apples are oranges. At best, law is organized justice; but at worst, law is corrupt.[3]

Of course, as first year law students, we are still sheltered from real-world legal realities. But it’s nice in here.

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^[1] Most cases are from the 1900’s, but I’ve read cases from 1350 to 2015.

^[2] The cases are usually high quality, once again because of reverse selection.

^[3] Bastiat, Frédéric.The Law. (1850).