I didn’t go to law school, a fact for which the world is eternally grateful. I don’t like arguments and am nervous around people who use Glocks for a living. However, I have friends who indeed did go to law school, and almost to a person they describe the experience as somewhere between the Bataan Death March and a week-end with an angry mother-in-law.
Kevin Houchin, himself a successful attorney as well as a keen and insightful writer, decided that the poor souls who couldn’t be talked into a career as a beet processor and chose the law instead should have a guidebook as they trudged through three years of school before crossing the bar. His book, Fuel the Spark: 5 Guiding Values for Success in Law School & Beyond
(Made Easy Publishing 2009) is a commendable accomplishment.
The book is a point-by-point guide on what to expect when the young lawyer-to-be enters the hallowed halls of the law. While it would be presumptuous to say it will take all of the uncertainty and sweaty palms away, it will, if taken to heart, clearly make things more manageable. Easier is another question, but that remains in the hands of the professors and the students. Sorry, but that’s one place Kevin can’t help.
Kevin’s Five Values seem self-evident at first, the kind you’ll find in any good motivation book. But don’t be misled. Underneath Accept, Show Up, Pay 100% Attention, Many Irons In The Fire and Stewardship are solid facts and advice based on Kevin’s real-life experiences. Each one has a powerful message.
Each Value has worksheets where the reader is asked – no, compelled – to translate the hypothetical into the personal, and that is another one of the real strengths of the book. You don’t just read it; you participate in it.
Kevin has high hopes for his “students,” as well he should. If the diligent student reads carefully, participates fully, and thinks openly, success, while not guaranteed, will at least loom brighter on the horizon.
In his closing, Kevin makes a powerful point to the law student:
Most importantly, you’ll be far more likely to end up using your legal education in a way that fuels your personal spark of creativity and divinity, and make the world a better place for yourself and all of us sharing this planet with you.
I’ll take that any day of the week.
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