Published: Aug. 18, 2015

Welcome, class of 2018.  I am Phil Weiser and I have the pleasure and privilege of being your Dean here at Colorado Law.  For starters, please feel free to call me Phil, or Dean Weiser, whichever is more comfortable.  If neither is, feel free to call me Coach.  

You are 205 strong and a great group of individuals, coming from varied backgrounds and life experiences.  Collectively, Colorado Law is a collaborative, diverse, and inclusive community of outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alums.  You are now part of this great tradition.

I am not going to spend much time talking about how amazing you are, but let me emphasize that each of you is amazing.  You wouldn't be here if you weren’t.  In my role as Dean, there’s nothing better than getting to know and support you as you develop your careers.  During our time together this week at Orientation, we are going to start a process that will continue throughout your time here at Colorado Law and, after graduation, when you are an alum.

During this week, we will introduce some wonderful guests into the conversation about what your law school experience will be like.  Over the weeks ahead, we will continue this conversation through our Career Perspectives series, which starts on Friday, September 4 and will continue for seven weeks every Friday at noon.  I will host many of these discussions, giving us a chance to get to know each other better.  I look forward to the chance to get to know you, whether through one of the optional one credit classes I will teach this spring, “Framing and Legal Narrative” and “Ethics, Professionalism, and Creative Problem Solving,” or at informal events.  You are all welcome to stop by during my regular office hours in the café.

You are going to have lots to think about this week.   As you reflect on what the Colorado Law experience is about, I encourage you to focus on three themes.  First, ours is a collaborative environment where we support one another.  Second, we teach in an intimate setting where we provide all students with many opportunities for personal, professional, and intellectual growth, making the concept of a “growth mindset” an important one.  Finally, our students take a purposeful and creative approach to charting their professional journeys.

Our Collaborative Environment

Colorado Law has a unique collaborative and supportive culture where people embrace a philosophy of “give before you get,” or, more simply, “give first.”  This cultural norm means that Coloradans genuinely focus on “how can I help you?” rather than “what’s in it for me?”  I find this norm very powerful, as my experience has underscored that none of us can succeed on our own and the more we help one another, the more that comes back to us.

One example from 50 years ago offers a wonderful snapshot of this mindset in action.  Consider the story of Pete Wall and Bill Blair, two classmates in the Class of 1963.  Bill Blair, who could concentrate on a lecture or take notes, but not do both, asked Pete if he could have his notes so that he could just listen to the lectures.  Rather than ask “What's in it for me?,” Pete gladly obliged, enabling Bill to pursue a style of learning that suited him better, allowing him to thrive in law school. 

Consider a more recent example:  last fall, our Law Alumni Board Chair, Laura Sturges, interviewed a second year law student. After the student did not get the job, Laura offered to coach him on his interviewing—simply because she saw that he needed help and she was in a position to help.  When Sarah Wallace, a 1999 grad of Colorado Law and a managing partner of the Denver Ballard Spahr office, asked for a top student to interview, the Career Development Office recommended the student who Laura coached.  That student then interviewed very well and got the job.

I could share with you scores of stories like these from Colorado Law’s history.  These sort of “give first” moments provide returns through reputations that engender trust, cooperation that yields innovation, and an atmosphere that allows lasting friendships to take root and grow.

A Growth Mindset

Many of you have now read Carol Dweck’s book Mindset.  Rather than repeat what she said about the value of a growth mindset, I want to talk about Tony Gwynn, who epitomizes that concept and how we, in our small community, take time to support you as you develop professionally.

For those who haven’t heard of Tony Gwynn, I guess you aren’t baseball fans.   But stay with me here, as his approach to baseball bears attention.  As Gwynn himself appreciated and related, his success was not assured.  Rather, after his first minor league practice swing (and miss), he said “‘Man, I am in trouble.’”  Many of you will feel this way in law school, but you are going to be fine and you will not be alone in thinking that this is hard work. 

Over his twenty years in professional baseball, Gwynn studied his craft, and “said proudly that he learned something new at the ballpark every day.”  You all will have that same learning opportunity in law school and throughout your career.  Being intellectually curious and enthusiastic about your craft pays lifelong dividends. 

More recently, while still in the depths of her despair over losing her husband, the entrepreneur and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg found the time and strength to share with her friends, family and strangers, the challenges and extraordinary pain that she faced.  Her open letter underscored not just her exceptional courage in discussing what she learned about dealing with the death of a loved one during this heart-wrenching time, but also, critically, her desire to help those around her grow by suggesting ways they might better relate to and properly comfort those who have lost loved ones.

Adopting the growth mindsets typified by Tony Gwynn and Sheryl Sandberg is a choice.  An alternative is a fixed, entitlement mindset, in which one thinks “I am good or talented” (while others might be bad or untalented) and that “I am entitled to be treated well.” I encourage you to follow Gwynn’s and Sandberg’s examples. 

One way to describe Gwynn’s approach is that you are not entitled to anything, you have to work hard for everything, and there are no short cuts or easy paths to success.  Sandberg urges us not to be afraid to ask for or to offer help, regardless of your station or circumstance.  In both cases, setbacks are viewed as opportunities to grow and calls for persistence and resilience in the face of challenges.  As Dweck explains, the corollary of this point is that, if you don’t confront setbacks, you are not pushing yourself hard enough and thereby not giving yourself a chance to grow.

In closing the discussion of a growth mindset, let me end on a personal note.  During my time as Dean, when I have talked to students about this concept, I have often reflected on my own growth.  When reading the classic book, Quiet, to my daughter, which talks about the power of introverts, I had the chance to share with her one of my challenges and areas for growth.  As an extrovert, I often get excited when talking with someone and, instead of listening carefully to their ideas, I am apt to interject comments that can take the conversation off track.  I have been fortunate to work with a colleague, who would catch me doing this and helpfully redirect the conversation back, gently reminding me both of the need to listen and the power of listening. 

 

When I asked my daughter if I ever did that with her, she replied, yes, you do that sometimes.  So I asked her to help me with my growth and point it out when I do that.  Similarly, I would invite you all to work with each other to help each other grow.  In another example of how I have invited feedback, I have asked all staff members at Colorado Law to catch me emailing on my iPhone in the halls rather than keeping my head up to greet people.  For any staff members who see me emailing on my phone in the Law School, I owe them a dollar.  I would welcome all students to help me manage my technology habits by joining this challenge as well—and being willing to collect if you catch me in this unfortunate habit. 

 

A Purposeful and Creative Approach To Life and Your Career

At Colorado Law, you can seek out a range of exciting opportunities.  Those opportunities go well beyond the classroom, including public service work you might do (including as part of the public service pledge), taking time to build relationships with community members, and making time to get to know one another. 

If you look at the list on our website of the jobs taken by members of the Class of 2014 within 10 months after graduation, you will see a very diverse list.  If you look further down the path of Colorado Law alums’ careers, the list gets even more interesting.  Behind each opportunity is a story of someone who developed relevant experiences, created a portfolio that included a range of writing samples, and built significant relationships with mentors and role models.

 Our philosophy towards career development is simple:  we want you all to take ownership and control of your professional development and career paths, and we want to partner with you in this journey.  There is, in short, no single path and each of you should work with your academic advisor, the Career Development Office, and other mentors to chart the journey that works for you. 

As you plan your course, I encourage you to take risks, chase experience, and be enterprising in finding opportunities.  Because of Colorado Law’s intimate learning environment, we are able to support you and guide you as you develop your professional journeys, choosing the right classes, finding growth opportunities, and building important relationships with prospective mentors.

As you look ahead at the opportunities for growth, I encourage you to think about the concept of the “four core competencies.”  This framework captures the four, core competencies you will develop—and continue to nurture—throughout your career.

First, you will learn to “think like a lawyer,” which means honing the critical thinking skills that come from studying legal theory, doctrine, and the relevant societal context.  Second, you will hone practical legal skills, which can include drafting a contract or taking a deposition.  Third, you will develop domain knowledge and expertise, for example accounting and finance or an understanding of hydrology if you are interested in water law.  Finally, you will nurture the professional skills crucial to success (including communication, project management, creative problem solving, and interpersonal skills). 

Finally, let me close with two pieces of personal advice.  First, while I encourage you to enjoy the Colorado Law journey, please don’t forget your friends, family, and priorities, and to make time for yourself.  Your studies, your professional relationships, and your internships will all be important over the next three years.  But your friends and family, both as a source of support to you and as your top priority, should not be ignored.

Second, I encourage you to be self-aware and courageous enough to ask for help whenever it might be valuable to do so –  and that’s almost all the time.  Whether it is myself, Dean Leary, Dean Rogers, your advisor, your legal writing professor, any other of the faculty or staff member at Colorado Law, or an alum with whom you may cross paths, I encourage you, whenever you are unsure or struggling on any front, to ask for help.  We are all in this together. 

Your law school experience will be challenging at times, but what makes Colorado Law special is that you are in an environment where people truly want to help you.  All you need to do is ask.  Please start practicing that skill as soon and often as you can.