3/11/2021 ADVICE TO A YOUNG PERSON INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN THE LAW | The Better Chancery Practice Blog

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J L P ' B P M ' C C .

ADVICE TO A YOUNG PERSON INTERESTED IN A

CAREER IN THE LAW

July 20, 2010 § 1 Comment

IN MAY 1954, M. PAUL CLAUSSEN, JR., A 12-YEAR-OLD BOY LIVING IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, SENT A LETTER TO MR.
Justice Felix Frankfurter in which he wrote that he was interested in “going into the law as a career” and
requested advice as to “some ways to start preparing myself while still in junior high school.” This is
the reply he received:

My Dear Paul:

No one can be a truly competent lawyer unless he is a cultivated man. If I were you I would forget about any
technical preparation for the law. The best way to prepare for the law is to be a well-read person. Thus alone
can one acquire the capacity to use the English language on paper and in speech and with the habits of clear
thinking which only a truly liberal education can give. No less important for a lawyer is the cultivation of the
imaginative faculties by reading poetry, seeing great paintings, in the original or in easily available
reproductions, and listening to great music. Stock your mind with the deposit of much good reading, and
widen and deepen your feelings by experiencing vicariously as much as possible the wonderful mysteries of the
universe, and forget about your future career.

With good wishes,

Sincerely yours,

[signed] Felix Frankfurter

From THE LAW AS LITERATURE, ed. by Ephraim London, Simon and Schuster, 1960.

Tagged: Career advice, Felix Frankfurther

§ One Response to ADVICE TO A YOUNG PERSON INTERESTED

IN A CAREER IN THE LAW

Rhona Noronha says:

August 13, 2013 at 12:51 pm (h ps://be erchancery.com/2010/07/20/advice-to-a-young-person-
interested-in-a-career-in-the-law/#comment-5549)
Very down to earth advice to our youth, our future leaders.

Reply (h ps://be erchancery.com/2010/07/20/advice-to-a-young-person-interested-in-a-career-in-the-

law/?replytocom=5549#respond)

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