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5. (continued) Thus, you need to have words at your fingertips. Lots of them. You need to know the distinctions among words and the precise signification of them. Let me recommend two resources which can help you. First, have someone buy you an unabridged dictionary. The Webster's Third New International Dictionary is the standard unabridged used by courts today. Someone should be delighted to get you this as a present. Indeed, if you were to ask someone for this as a graduation present, it would probably shock and delight them at the same time. Don't ask for a plasma TV. Don't ask for "Friends II" or "Sex in the City III" or whatever cool show is on. The second source is Merriam Webster's Synonyms Dictionary. I do not think there is a more helpful, practical guide to improving your command of the language than this dictionary. Where else could you patiently learn the distinctions among embarrass, discomfit, abash, disconcert, rattle and faze? Or, maybe more to the point, nonsense, twaddle, drivel, bunk, balderdash, poppycock, gobbledygook, trash, rot and bull? A synonym dictionary differs from a thesaurus in that the former gives long definitions of each of the words with an emphasis on precise distinctions between them. Also, know what the Latin phrases mean--not because you want to use them, but because someone, probably a client, will ask you what they mean someday.

4. Speak clearly, with enough volume. This is the most underrated rule of success in life. The ancient rhetoricians had a practice that encouraged clear speaking. They would require their students to practice giving their speech with their mouths full of pebbles. Then, when the student cleaned out his mouth, he would give it again. The words would flow effortlessly. Take care to pronounce words correctly. If you get it wrong, do it again, until you get the flow of the word or phrase and can use it with ease. I don't know if you realize who had the most difficult word to pronounce in this class this term? It was Craig, and the word was "renitrogenization." Say "renitrogenization," figuring out where to put the accent, over and over until you can say it like you can say the seven-syllable law word--"unconscionability." You are the person to whom people will go in order to gain a voice. You need a good one in order to speak for people.

3. Be a good lawyer, but be a better person. Do your work and know all the angles of the problem you are working on, but never forget that people are touched primarily through their hearts and not their heads. Don't discount the importance of people's minds, of course, but realize that people often want a kind gesture and an understanding ear more than a warrior who will mow down the opposition. And, when you relate with people, play straight with them. Subtlety has its uses of course, both in love and war, but don't try to mislead people or to wiggle around with your words when you can speak clearly to people. Don't try to trick people with your words or make them feel like fools. Play straight with courts, with clients, with colleagues and with opponents. The downside of playing straight is that you may at times be placed at a disadvantage to those who have more serpentine ways. In the mid and long run, however, you win.

I'd like to tell you the story very briefly of a person who didn't play straight. He is the first person from my small section in law school who has been suspended from the practice of law (90 days) by the Oregon Supreme Court.....[I will tell the story briefly in class, but not here].

2. This is more of a wish than a piece of advice, but here it is: I hope you find love in your life. Some of you have found it already; some will find it soon; some will lose what you think you once had; and some may never find it at all. Whether you find love or not, however, you can benefit others. An apocryphal story of Socrates, which is too good to lose, is apt here. When teaching his (male) students, he urged them to be married. "For," he said, "if she loves you, you and your friends and family will benefit and it will be a wonderful thing." "But," he continued, "if she ends up not loving you, you will be sad, but then you will become a philosopher and the world will benefit, and that too is a wonderful thing." Thus, I hope you do find love in your life but even if you don't, life may still be a wonderful thing.

1. Be proud that you are a lawyer. We live in a society which loves to make lawyers the butt of jokes or other forms of ridicule. We are greedy or self-centered, we speak incessantly, we have no heart, we are brutal. The stories go on and on. But most of the negative reaction people have comes from envy or fear. After all, lawyers have some powerful knowledge that others do not have. To use Holly's example from this class but changing the professions, what 24 year-old dental student, what 24 year-old business school student could make Home Depot refund money or replace equipment when a generator didn't work? And now you know that every manufacturer and seller of goods in our society must comply with Article 2--and that is the Article that you have studied closely this term. Thus, when you hear lawyers ridiculed, you can laugh at the jokes, but don't be afraid or ashamed to stand up for the profession. It is an honorable profession. It actually does solve problems. The practice of law in our society is the greatest bulwark against tyranny that I know. Be proud of the fact that you will be a lawyer.

I wish you well in your near and long-term future. Some of your lives will flow smoothly, but the majority of you will have challenges that you cannot even anticipate now. I hope that you remember some of these points as your life unfolds. In any case, do well for yourself and others. We will be proud of you.