Osler's Razor

Here at St. Thomas Law, we celebrated our 10th anniversary yesterday, and all of it made me very glad that I'm here. There was quite a bit of great musical theater, food, good wine, and it appears that the law school owns several confetti cannons. What a bash! It just proves that you can have a good time even without $16 muffins.

In all of it, I was reminded of why this is a good place for me.

When I interviewed at St. Thomas, I was asked to comment on the mission statement, which says simply:

The University of St. Thomas School of Law, as a Catholic law school, is dedicated to integrating faith and reason in the search for truth through a focus on morality and social justice.

It was easy for me to embrace that mission statement, because (other than "being a Catholic law school" part) it pretty much was my mission statement-- what I had imperfectly been aspiring to for years.

Today was typical and extraordinary, and some of my experiences reflect what is great about this place:

1) My clinical class was taught by colleagues in the program, and I was another student in the crowd, sitting next to my folks
from the commutation clinic, trying to get the answers right.

2) I met with one of my students who just returned from Texas, where she was helping a potential client-- she visited him in
prison, met with the DA, and got together with some of his family while working to evaluate the case.

3) I saw another student who is about to leave for Taiwan, to help some of my friends who will be speaking in several cities there.

4) I got a call from CNN about the Troy Davis case-- and had time to talk to them.

5) Before it all, I decided to walk down the Nicollet Mall in the cool morning air to get my coffee, surrounded by the din and whirl of a busy city, and all that comes with it.

This is a good place.