Grading the Papers

When I was a practicing lawyer, sometimes I went to court with a strong expectation that the court was going to have to grant my motion because the law was so strongly in my favor.  Sometimes I left the courtroom an hour later surprised that the judge didn’t see things as clearly as I did.  Once I came became a judge, I learned quickly that sometimes lawyers see things differently than do judges.  What may look like a brilliant argument to a lawyer with scant experience will look like an invitation to disaster to an older, more experienced judge.

Similarly, having completed grading the term papers that I required of my students, I can appreciate the efforts that my professors put into both teaching my courses and in grading my examination papers.

If memory serves me correctly, when I started at Duke Law in 1971, they were using an odd grading system employing grades called “High Pass,” “Pass,” “Low Pass” and “Failing.”  Of course,  when you were one of the seventy per cent of the students in a class that received a grade of “Pass,” that grade failed to give you much feedback into how well of poorly you had done in the course relative to all of the other students in the class.

If memory serves me right, Duke changed the system to a standard 4.0 grading system, which allowed for a bit more variation in grading. It also gave the student a bit more feedback. The professors were spared having to decide whether a certain paper was a very high “Pass” paper or a low “High Pass” paper.

Now that I have gone through the process, I can appreciate that the difference between a paper that earns one grade and another paper that receives a higher grade sometimes can be very narrow.

From a personal standpoint, I was very, very pleased to see that each one of the papers that I received was very well written. I hope that a number of my students consider using their answers as the basis for law review articles.

I asked questions involving issues of Guardianship Law that have not been fully resolved, so no one lost any points for disagreeing with my current thinking on the subject.  While the students did not always agree to with my thinking, their analysis of the facts and the relevant law were all excellent. Good job! Y’all made me proud.

I can honestly say that each and everyone of my students demonstrated an excellent grasp of the subject matter, a good legal writing style and a serious approach to the subject. They all, each and every one of them, has the makings of a fine, first class lawyer.

It was an honor to have taught the students in my class. I look forward to working with them once they have passed the bar.