I was a student of Prof. Myres S. McDougal in law school.  He taught jurisprudence.  To this day, I think of Professor McDougal often.  Even though he is no longer with us, I want to say thank you.

Prof. McDougal was emeritus at Yale Law School, slumming when he taught my class.  On day 1, he made a short speech that I will never forget.  He told the class not to worry about their grades (something law students tend to obsess over); not to bother taking notes.  Just listen.  You won’t understand what I’m talking about for a few years, but if you pay attention, someday you will.  Most of the students took this as an opportunity to nap.  I can’t explain why, but I listened.  Prof. McDougal was quite brilliant.

What I learned was a holistic approach to jurisprudence and the law.  That we, as attorneys, must view what we do in the broadest context, including every aspect and influence in our approach to lawyering.  It’s not just about the facts and the law, but the judge and what he ate for breakfast that morning, and the shoes our clients wear to the trial, and the t-shirt worn by juror number 4.  Our arguments may be derived from natural law, or normative law, according to how we understand the decision-maker to be influenced, and that we should never lose sight of that point.  We need to notice everything, think about everything, and factor it all into a world-view of what we do.

While any particular influence may not ultimately prove to play a role in our efforts, it similarly may and we will never be able to identify what factors proved critical, or even influential.  But we have no reason to ignore any factor and do so at our own risk.  The very practical ultimate goal, the persuasion of the decision-maker to decide in our favor, is the culmination of a philosophy and approach that incorporates every tool and weapon at our disposal.  If we go into battle unarmed, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

In a sense, Prof. McDougal’s words sound obvious, and yet rarely heeded by lawyers.  It can be an enormous effort to remain forever vigilant.  Prof. McDougal’s words ring in my ears all the time, and I take great pains to follow his advice.  He was right; I didn’t have an appreciation of what he was trying to tell us so many years ago.  But over time, I came to fully appreciate the importance of his message.  Thank you Prof. McDougal.