University of Nebraska College of Law - Yearbook (Lincoln, NE)

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64 THE DIGEST exploration is ever widening before you. The lawyer's life can never be a life of rest. In this, above all other professions, we find no uiiowery beds of easef' Of all the learned professions, you have selected the most laborious and most exacting. The clergyman may discourse eloquently f1'om the sacred desk, but if his logic or his theories do not suit his hearers they are simply cast aside with perhaps but a passing remark. There is no one to stand beside him and combat his assertions. The physician may stand beside his patient until the last hope of life is gone, and possibly until life itself has departed, but there is no one to stand before him and say, 'tThis is your mistaken Not so with the lawyer. His very profession itself calls for-demands-am tagonism. Every position he assumes, every argument he ad- vances, every point he presents is met, resisted, and combatted, and all his mistakes and errors laid bare to the world, particularly to his client. He is assailed upon every side. His positions, if advisedly taken, are ridiculed, his arguments are denounced as sophistries, and his Nauthoritiesv are declared to ,be 'fnot in point. 7' The midnight oil, shedding its light upon his books, is his only refuge, and he is forcibly reminded of the old proverb, that c'There is no excellence without great labor? But you can succeed. You will succeed, if you but heed the admonition of the many thousands of our profession who have preceded you. Work, labor, toil, trouble and application is the lawyerls life. If you would succeed you must be lawyers. Not the case lawyer, who fritters away his time waiting for clients to bring him cases to be U looked up Mafter taking, but the close, hard, persistent stuclemf of Zegcal privzcqalas, the application of which he may be able and ready to make as soon as the case is presentedj This is what is required of the individual who would be recognized by the members of the profession as a lawyer. Let me impress upon your minds the fact that if you take the positionin life which you should take, you have no time to lose. Some of you may be compelled by adverse circumstances to re- sort, temporarily, to some other calling until debts are paid or money accumulated with which to purchase the first books in your library. If this be true you will be required to submit to it, but in so doing you should not neglect your legal studies.

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CI more to the IDise', BY JUDGE M. B. REESE, DEAN To you who are about to take your leave of the College of Law, carrying with you your certihcates of graduation, a parting word might not seem to be out of place. l The two years of our association together have been years of pleasure to me and, I hope, not otherwise to you. You have labored faithfully and patiently, and your advancement has been a source of great pleasure, not only to mc, but to all whose prov- ince it has been to assist you in your efforts. WVere it not that we feel that you now enter upon lines of usefulness, and that by your upright conduct in your professional lines you will shed honor and luster upon your chosen profession, this would be a melancholy occasion. But I have faith in you, and believe that I will hear nothing but favorable reports from you. This is a consolation, and, notwithstanding the time to say 'LGrood-byel' has come, We part with buoyant hopes and bright prospects for the future. Before taking leave of you I desire to say that, while it is true that your progress has been rapid and your advancement all that could have been expected, yet with all your toil and application you cannot suppose that you have attained anything like pe1'fec- tion in your calling. Perfection in law is never attained. The oldest and most successful practitioners and judges in our pro- fession are but students. Although you have succeeded well in your studies, and your prospects for future success are flattering indeed, yet you must not forget that you are still, and ever will be, students. You have attended the law school in order that you might learn how to study. As you advance in knowledge you will more clearly see that a great field for investigation and

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HA WORD ro THE Wrsnl' 65 There is no such thing as remaining stationary. You must ad- vance or you will retrograde. Get hold of some law book. Read and study. Get another. Study and read. If you cannot procure the more desirable books, become the more familiar with those you have. Be sure that when you do enter upon your pro- fessional life you will know more than you now know. WVhen you shall have entered upon that career, remember that you must make that your business. lVhether you have clients or not, you will have no time for dissipation or loafing. Adopt for your motto the proverb of Dr. Franklin: Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee. W Remember that a hundred lawyers rust out, to one who kills himself by hard labor. Start in life with the fixed purpose and intention of never under any possible circumstances deviating from the path of inflexible, unbending and unyielding integrity. If you are Worthy of the confidence of others, in any degree, you will have-you 7?'2!L6S?f have in your keeping the money, property, rights, secrets, liberty, and lives of your clients. These, all, you must preserve, protect, maintain, and defend as you would your very existence. Never go into court with a case without the most careful and painstaking study of that particular case from every possible point of view. Know the facts on both sides. Study the law to be applied from the standpoint of your adversary as much as f1'om your own. You have a chart--study it. As you value yourself, your standing in your neighborhood, town, and county, keep out of local politics. The ward heeler, the politcal shyster, the manipulator of the primaries, and the standing local delegate who has a law oflice is about as contemptiQ ble a piece of humanity as is permitted. to pollute the face of the earth. Never be found on the sidewalk or in any other public place ccarguing politicsf' Entertain opinions upon all popular subjects, but form these from your own investigation of those subjects. Express them in moderation, but never take an intel- lectual scuffle and wallow on the streets. Do the greater portion of your talking in your neat, orderly and well kept office.