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1 Law Student 1 (1923-1924)

handle is hein.journals/lwstud1 and id is 1 raw text is: Specimen Bar Examination Questions on Pages 4 and 5 THE LAW STUDENT VOL. I, NO. 1 BROOKLYN, NEW YORK CITY OCTOBER, 1923 YOU, OURSELVES AND THE BAR EXAMINATION The purpose of this little sheet is to aid, instruct, and amuse the boys of the classes of '24 and '25, and of other classes to follow. Its columns will carry mat- ter and information of special interest to law students who expect to complete the course of legal study prescribed by their school, graduate, pass their state bar examination, and engage in the practice of the law. Among other features, a column will be devoted to printing and answering ques- tions relating to the require- ments for admission to the bar in the various states, when the regular examinations are held, and the subjects upon which the applicant will be required to stand an exam- inition, whether it is neces- sary to serve a clerkship, af- ter passing the bar, as is re- quired in some states, et cet- era. Many students knowing the requirements in their own state may not have this in- formation regarding a state in which they may expect to practice. Any questions re- garding these matters will be printed and answered in suc- ceeding issues. Requirements for admission to the bar in the different states are constantly chang- ing. It will be one of the missions of fhis paper to bring these changes to. the attention of the law student body, and to give law school news items of general inter- est. The great central purpose, however, of The Law Student, will be not only to stress the importance and necessity of doing the best possible work in law school, but also to supplement courses in legal research, and, more than any- thing else, to help prepare the student to pass his bar ex- amination. Many excellent students who pass their final examin- ations in law' school, and are graduated, fail dismally when they take their bar, much to their own chagrin and dis- appointment and to the re- gret and disappointment of their family, their friends, and the school that graduated them. The percentage of those who fail is so great that the bar examination has become the nightmare and nemesis of a law student a life. In the last examination for admission to the bar held in a large Eastern city, 62% of the applicants failed to pass, thereby entailing no end of inconvenience, hardship, hu- miliation, and regret to those who failed.* It is a common thing for 25 to 50% of the men pre- senting themselves for a bar examination to fail to pass. Here is a pertinent ques- tion, the correct answer to which may be both illuminat- ing and invaluable to the law student. Why do so many good stu- dents, who complete a course of legal study in a first-class law school, passing all exam- inations and finally graduat- ing, fail to pass the bar ex- aminations? If a student passes his fi- nal examinations in law school, and is Qraduated, it is be- cause the faculty of his school consider him suffici- ently learned in the law to assume the grave re- sponsibility of representing and safe-guarding the inter- ests of clients in the courts. He then presents -himself for his bar examination and fails. Why? Is not this the reason? From his work on each subject in law school, he is apprised of the general char- acter of the questions that (Continued page 9, first col.) NEWS OF THE SCHOOLS The editor of The Law Student will be pleased . to receive news items of interest to the faculties and to law students generally, and to publish those received by him in time for the next issues. (Continued page 7, first col.) LIVES OF GREAT MEN THAT REMIND US Master of human destinies am 1, and passing by, Hovel and mart and palace,-soon or late, .1 knock unbidden once at every gate These familiar lines from. the poem Opportunity, by John J. Ingalls, lawyer, publicist, farmer, sometime Senator of the United States, are a reminder that op- portunity is the birthright of every American. To be an American is to be eligible for the highest places in the land. That the study of law is also a prep- aration for their attainment, is evident from the fact that our leaders, in almost every walk of life that calls for trained minds, are oftenest drawn from the ranks of the legal profession. In the flower of your youth, you must direct your- self to your own destiny. The road lies open before you. The lives and achievements of other lawyers point the wqy. We are told that Woodrow Wilson early in life de- termined to direct himself for the Presidency. How he succeeded is history. Chiefly home educated until he entered an academy at Atlanta, he worked his way up to the chief chair of jurisprudence and politics at Princeton University'; in 1902 he-.became its president; then he was called to be governor of the State of New Jersey; and finally to be President of the United States. We are reminded of another great man in the public eye at this time, a captain of industry, sometime a lawyer-Judge Elbert H. Gary, head of the United States Steel Corporation. His title is a survival of his 25 years of law practice in Chicago and two terms as Judge in Du Page County, Illinois. It is indeed significant that a lawyer, a trained judge, should be selected to administer the affairs of the great- est industrial organization of our country. Another lawyer whose legal training was a stepping stone to greatness, is Judge Robert Scott Lovett, born in Houston, Texas, in 1860, and admitted to the Bar in 1882. He is now chairman and president of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads, and a director of many others. The list could be extended almost ad infinitum. The prizes to which a great lawyer may aspire in this land of promise and opportunity are the high places -the seats of the mighty. Direct yourself for them! W. A. MAGILL. There Are Two Kinds of Legal Knowledge, Knowledge of Legal Principles and Law Finding Knowledge The major portion of the student's time in law school must necessarily be de- voted to a mastery of the general or fundamental principles of the law and if this is well done and the law student gains finding skill in addition thereto'which comes from practice in looking up the law, he will be well prepared to commence his legal career. The general or fundamental principles constitute only about five percent of the whole body of the law. The applications of the general principles connstitute probably more than ninety-five percent of the law and access thereto and knowledge thereof must be gained as needed through reference to compilations of law and to cases. Finding skill is an applied art. It is obvious that the ability to walk up to bookshelves and immediately select the book and title giving the desired answer to his question will be a priceless asset to the student when he starts the practice of law. HOW WOULD YOU ADVISE YOUR FIRST CLIENT? Some day, let us hope very shortly after you hang out your shingle, your first cli- ent will walk into your office. He may say any one of a great many things-specify any one of a great number of varying states of fact. But suppose he actually does say that he was driving a young and nervous horse along a country road; that the horse shied at a pile of rocks which had been allowed to remain in the highways upon one side of the traveled way; and that a wheel of the vehicle was thereby caused.to fall in- to a hole, throwing your cli- ent out and injuring him. Suppose you discover that the pile of rocks and the hole in the highway had been in existence for at least six months prior to the accident; that until a week previous to the accident the municipality had had funds with which to remove the rocks and repair the highway, but that at the time of the accident it was without funds. Suppose also that the accident would not have happened had the horse remained under control., How would you advise this man, your first client? You are not receiving clients yet, but you shortly will be, and a little practice in analyzing states of fact, to extract there- from all of the questions of law involved, will be of use to you. This time we are going to do part of the work for you and show you some of the many questions of law w1vhich may be involved in a very simple state of facts. Question 1 May the hole in the high- way be regarded as the prox- imate cause of the plaintiff's injury? (29 C. J. Highways, §456) Question 2 Was plaintiff negligent per se in driving the young and nervous horse? (29 C. J., Highways, §467) Question 3 What allegation as to the character of the defect in the( highway should be made by plaintiff in his complaint? (29 C. J., Highways, 4Z6) Question 4 Is the municipality ex- cused from liability by reason (Continued page 7, fifth col.)

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