IIT Chicago Kent College of Law - Transcript Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Q But if the life of these midyear men was turbulent so far as the acquisition of legal knowledge was concerned, they certainly were not unduly occupied by their social activities. In fact not much in praise or otherwise can be recorded of the social life of the class, for not on one occasion did they unite and successfully give one affair during the course of their student days. Elections of course were held regularly and religiously, and the senior year found Glen VV. McGrew, President, Irving Block, Vice-Presidentg Esther P. Kotin, Secretary: Sidney Kaden, Treasnrerg and E. V. Taylor, Sargeant-at-Arms. The last week of the last semester was occupied with final examinations, and then all the waiting and working of three whole years was at an end. THE PROMISED LAND The members of the class of February, 1926 who have survived the three years of hard labor are on the threshold of the promised land. Only one more difficulty to overcome, only the bar examination needs to be passed, and they will be duly licensed attorneys at law, successful ones too, if youth's unfaltering determination and careful training are rewarded by success. And some no doubt will be prominent attorneys, and some perhaps may be instructors at their alma mater, and some few perhaps, perhaps, may turn out solemn judges- but all these graduates of the February class of 1926 will cherish a deep feeling of. gratitude to the faculty of the Chicago Kent College of Law for their un- failing efforts and sympathetic understanding. And with this spirit of grate- fulness the class of February, 1926 approaches the end of their student days and the commencement of a life devoted to the application of the principles learned in student days at Kent. ESTHER P. KOTIN Secretary of Class of Feb., 1926. Class Historian. 1 xl i 56 21926: y

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U Q t 1 Insliitumr - i 5 E History of the February Class of 1926 Genesis. T was in the month of February of 1923 that some ninety students enrolled in the Chicago Kent College of Law in the Lake View Building. And all these ninety burned with good resolutions and intense ambitions, some to be prominent and successful attorneys, some to be instructors at their alma mater, and some, yes, some few courageous ones, to be judges, judges those solemn creatures with black gowns and wrinkled foreheads, judges who hold the key to the interpretation of law-they were at the'top notch of human achievement in the minds of these idealistic young law students who had not as yet learned that between judges themselves there are serious conflicts on the interpretation of law. And with these ideals ever present in the margin of their consciousness, these ninety began life as the future graduates of the class of February, 1926. IN THE WILDERNESS Outdoors it was very cold in that February of 1923, but the beginning freshmen sitting in Judge Pickett's class-room, eyes glued on him, pondering at the ease with which some of the advanced freshmen answered the questions put to them, and shrinking from the Judge's I-lere's one'for you , felt un- comfortably warm. For the lot of these Midyear men was beset with difficulties. They were obliged to take second semester work without having any knowledge of what had gone before. So in their course of work they studied Contracts 2 without knowing anything about Contracts 1. Small wonder then that life was hard! Besides, they were placed with advanced freshmen, who by contrast with the beginners seemed to be fountains of legal knowledge. And the new- comers' awe of their more learned classmates was increased by the fact that the instructors knew them and called them by name. Do you remember, you who remain of the ninety, what joy it was to you as freshmen to have the prof call you by name and recognize you in the hall? Days seemed long, but months passed rapidly. The class was large, the method of teaching new, and the legal phraseology very difficult. Students were no longer implored to study as they had been in the schools previously attended. Here one studied and prepared his assignments or in the words of the illustrious Judge Pickett fell by the wayside . Legal-rules were many, and exceptions were far more numerous. The road was long, and the destination uncertain. And these young men were burdened not only with earning their livelihood, but with the tremendous task of acquiring some definite knowledge of that intricate mass of precepts incorporated in the term designated as law . With the completion of the first semester examinations, however, and the renewed courage that came from the successful passing of examinations, they became more serene. True their conception of the law had undergone a complete change. They no longer thought of a lawyer as one who talked fluently and gesticulated wildly. One could not pass his examinations just by being a good orator. Definite knowledge was required in each subject, and that could be had only by hard work. So these students learned early in their course that only as a result of hard study outside of class and intelligent attention to classroom instruction, would they understand the basic principles of law. 55 219i'E6f

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