Advice for My Daughter

My twelve year old daughter recently came to me and said, “I’ve decided, I want to go to law

school. A shudder ran up my spine as I heard these words. I am in my final month of law school

at the Charlotte School of Law. I wrote these words to her. I share them with you now, in this

open letter, in order to convey some wisdom.

Dear Taylor,

I am very excited that you have chosen a path that is near and dear to my own heart. I am

very proud of you and have no doubt that you would be a tremendous advocate for the law. That

is why it is with a heavy heart that I pen this letter to you. My advice for you is to go and try to

be something else, anything else, before you walk into law school.

I have seen the unflattering effects of law school on young people. My friends who have

come to law school straight out of college have struggled mightily with drinking and their

relationships have fallen apart.

Law school is like a magnet for the universe which attracts calamity seemingly at every

turn. Deaths in the family, divorce, parental discord, and debt, cause fear, sadness, depression,

and a sense of failure for even a seasoned old goat like me. Even when you make a B on an

exam, there is always someone out there who did it just a little better. You can writethe same

exam for two different Professors, one will grade it an A, while the other gives it a C+.

Of the seventy-two students that I came to law school with, only fifty-four remain. Five

students that I know of are getting divorced. Several have serious drinking problems. Many have

sought counsel for depression. One person has had to sell his own blood to continue in law

school.

The practice of law is a high calling. There is no greater way to serve your fellow man

than to set their life up in such a way that they may have great success. There is no greater

satisfaction than having a jury confirm that a client is not guilty. If it is meant for you, it will be

there at the right time in your life. But my sincere and best advice for you and anyone else

seeking a career in law is to put it off for as long as you can.

Take time to get to know yourself. Get life experience. Find faith. Build within yourself a

flexible steel soul that can change and bend and stoop and empathize and judge and work.

Character is what you do when no one is watching. Build that character of independence that

relies on the wisdom of others. Then and only then will you have the fortitude and cunning to be

what is required by the legal profession.

My sincerest hope is that you find your life rewarding when you look back from its end.

Law can give you that feeling of accomplishment that few ever experience. But for your own

sake wait until you have lived a little before you step out on faith to find the passion of your soul.

With all the love in my heart,

Your Dad