Committing to not embarrassing yourself

This morning I attended the commitment to integrity ceremony that, for the last several years, has been an important part of our orientation activities. The speaker was 1971 graduate Judge David McKeague of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He said, as one might expect from a federal judge, many worthwhile things about integrity in a lawyer’s professional and personal life, but one small point he made really struck me: the importance of avoiding the temptation to toss around the “I’m a law student” card with reckless abandon.

After you’ve been a lawyer for some period, I think you tend, if anything, to avoid talking about being a lawyer lest people start asking you for advice and later name you as a witness in a lawsuit claiming that they were acting on your legal advice when they said something really stupid to their employer, thus forcing you to attend a deposition to explain that you in fact were just listening to that person blab on about their work problems and did not intend to be giving any advice, legal or otherwise. (How did I come up with that random example? Yes, that actually happened to me.) At a minimum, the novelty fades. But I am sorry to say I well remember the impulse that can accompany the sense law school imparts: that you are being initiated into a cadre of powerful problem-solvers. I have, happily, blocked out any particular memory of ever uttering the words, but Judge McKeague’s words mortifyingly recalled for me that I definitely had a bit of that mindset. The charitable characterization of the “I’m a law student” assertion is that the speaker thinks it will actually help resolve some unpleasant situation more quickly—that it will lend a little credibility, and a resolution will as a result flow naturally. The uncharitable characterization is that the speaker is a horse’s ass. And the reality is that no one in the world, except the most exceptionally credulous and inexperienced (who therefore ought not to be imposed on), is going to be impressed in the slightest by the “I’m a law student” claim.

Of course, this puffing-up phenomenon is not limited to law students and lawyers. Would-be lawyers experience it too. Now that our new admissions season has been in full swing for three days, I know it won’t be long before we get our first e-mail or letter of the year from an applicant using a signature block or letterhead from his or her impressive place of employment. The hoped-for implicit message is, “Look how impressive I am!” But because we are well aware that the politician or Fortune 100 corporation by whom the applicant is employed is not actually authorizing the writing of that letter, the flaunting of the affiliation makes the reader in fact think, “Hmm. That’s poor judgment.”

Listen, I’m realistic: I think it’s impossible to wipe the phenomenon from the face of the earth. And I’m sympathetic; I’m sure that I must have committed this crime myself. But nonetheless I’m hopeful that all the Michigan Law students listening to Judge McKeague this morning at least will now hear an uncomfortable warning bell go off as those words begin to leave their mouth.

-Dean Z.
Assistant Dean for Admissions
and Special Counsel for Professional Strategies