October 31st, 2012 – 11:19 am

For those of you considering law school that like linear things, black/white, yes/no, up/down, get it all out of your head now. In your 1L year you will learn that the answer to everything is “it depends,” in practice this is also true.

As I spoke to a 1L the other day she was not pleased with this new thinking. In math, 2 plus 2 always equals 4 but in law nothing is ever that easy. It is the whole premise of our system; a system of advocacy–often times there are very valid points on either side.

One of the goals of law school is to transform the students’ thinking. We all come in with this notion of “the law,” that it is some tangible thing and it can only be one thing. In reality, it all depends. When you figure out what it depends on, you have taken a step in the right direction.

Learning the “law” is important but learning to see things from both sides is even more important. The notion that answer to almost everything is “it depends,” sounds like a crazy law professor trying to mess with your head but in reality this is thinking that is needed for practice.

As new lawyers, we won’t be able to choose all of our cases; they may not be slam dunks. But after leaving TU we will be more than prepared to know what our case depends on and be able to advocate for our client.