I've mentioned the PC program on this
blog before, when I discussed the joys of memos. This blog post will
tackle PC from a different angle.
Two things about the Baylor Line article warrant comment. First: the myths, legends, and fear.
The article and the accompanying page
of quotes from current students (first and second years who have yet
to enter PC) cover the usual PC myths and legends. From the article:
Practice Court students circulate a list of advice to help
incoming students avoid excessive classroom questioning. “Do not
wear loud colors or patterns of attire. This attracts their
attention,” they warn. Students are also advised to “Sit low
in your chair,” and “Do not make eye contact.”
Really? Students and alumni are still
telling pre-PC students that BS? You've got to be kidding me.
There is no statistically significant relationship between the color of your clothing and the number of times you are called on in class. Ditto making eye contact. Ditto on slumping down in your seat and trying to hide. There is also no connection between the number of memos Prof. Powell will hand out in a given day and which suit he is wearing (An upper level student told me that if Powell wore the pinstripe suit with the vest, it was time to run for the hills. For the first month, until I learned better, I believed).
I'm not saying this
lightly. I observed the class action closely, and watched for trends.
When I say there is no statistically significant relationship, I'm
telling you that as a stats nerd with an undergrad business degree and
a graduate business degree (in process while I was also pursuing my
law degree), I did the analysis, and there was no connection. Myths
and legends. Not reality.
If the prof wants to call on you, he will. There is no way to avoid the inevitable. And frankly, you should worry more if you're not called on. If the professor doesn't call you out the most you can hope to learn is the class material, and that's not enough. You can't learn to be a good attorney if you're always sitting down.
What if instead of perpetuating myths
and legends, we told the truth. What if we told the pre-PC students
something like this: “Forget about avoiding questions. You
shouldn't be afraid that you'll be called on. Be afraid that when you
are called on, you won't be sufficiently prepared. Be afraid that the
professor calls on you to teach you a lesson, and you miss the point.
Be afraid of making all your mistakes so quietly and so privately, of
hiding your weaknesses so well, that the professor fails to see you
need instruction. Don't fear the PC system. Fear your
own demons...then see them for what they are, and crush them.”
But that doesn't happen. Why? Long-time
reader D. Weaver put it best, in a message she sent me this
afternoon: People make up crap to appear wise and important.
The myths and legends that build false fear are
carried on to satisfy egos. Yeesh.
The second point I'd like to make about
the article, and it's minor: whether or not the Titanic case can be won.
For all you non-Baylor lawyers out
there, the Titanic case is one of many cases used for the capstone
trial at the end of the PC program. It's widely regarded as the most
challenging of all cases that a student can be assigned.
A student in the article is quoted as
saying that the defense cannot win the Titanic case. Wrong. It can be
done. I know this first-hand, because I was sitting in the jury box
when it happened.
You should never, ever, assume your side of a case
in unwinnable. No matter what the fact pattern, your client has a
chance. You, the attorney, are that chance.
To be fair, the student may not have
gone into court assuming his client's case was unwinnable. He may
simply have concluded the case was unwinnable because he lost. If
that's true then the student is a victim of a lack of information. Someone
didn't teach him PC history.
But don't all PC students suffer from a
lack of history? Again, imagine what would happen if the community of
alumni and students came together to speak the truth.
Myths, legends, and fear.
Like law school wasn't hard enough
already.
