The Legal Pursuit-Evidence, Rules, Argument, Judgment

It is rare that an aspiring law student or lawyer has not heard of the movie, “The Paper Chase.” For it is instructive to both law school and life. In one scene with the study group one member, neurotic and fumbling, has a massive outline, multi hundreds of pages, that ultimately blows apart as it falls out the dormitory window and into the wind. None of the other members of the study group were impressed with the massive outline despite the braggart author’s obsessive pride in his “accomplishment.” Another member of the group, confident and precise, advises his colleagues, that his outline is succinct, twenty pages, and useful to its purpose, passing the class.

It is true that human society is engulfed in “Laws.” For the lawyer it is important to occasionally step back and collate a concise summary. As Shakespeare instructed, “brevity is the soul of wit.” As I see it, all the volumes of law are contained in four words, “Evidence”, “Rules”, “Argument”, and “Judgment.”