Law School at Thrity-Three

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Law School at Thirty-Three
By Hal Haralson

My friend looked at me and asked, "What would you do if you could do anything you wanted to do. . . money is no object?" I was thirty-three years old, married with children ages 1, 5, and 10. "I`d go to law school." "How much would you and Judy need a month?" This was August, 1968. We could probably get by on $750.00 per month." "How about a thousand?" "Okay . . . let`s make it a thousand." Within two hours we had worked out a contract whereby he and his partner bought my interest in the business, paying me $1,000.00 per month for thirty-six months.

Monday morning (the third week of August) I was looking at the sign on the door of Dean T. J. Gibson at the University of Texas School of Law. "Do not knock . . . come in."

I introduced myself to the man who was always there for students. He looked like he had slept in the clothes he wore. He always looked that way.

I introduced myself and told him I wanted to go to law school.

"When do you want to start?"

"When does school start?"

"Two weeks. When did you file your application?"

"I haven`t filed an application. I only found out two days ago I was going."

"What did you make on the LSAT?," Dean Gibson asked.

"What`s the LSAT?," `I replied.

The Dean looked at me and shook his head from side to side.

"Look Dean, I`m thirty-three years old and married with three children. I`ve been out of college over ten years. I had a 3.6 grade point average while holding down three jobs. I`ve got enough money to do this over the next thirty six months. If I`m going to do it, it`s got to be now."

"Okay, I`ll tell you what I want. You write me a letter. Put what you have told me in that letter. I`ll present it to the admissions committee on Thursday. I`ll call you on Friday."

The call came. "You`re admitted. You have to pass the LSAT in November."

I was on the admissions committee during my third year of law school. I found that between 1960 and 1970 there were three times as many applicants as there were openings at U.T. Law School . . . except the Fall of 1968. The Viet Nam War had taken so many under-graduates that there were still openings when school began.

There are times when the presence of God is felt in events that cannot be explained as coincidence.

This was one of those times.