Member of Continental Congress; Virginia Governor;
handled more than eleven hundred cases in 3 years.
John Jay
Admitted to the bar in 1768, he became our first Chief Justice of the U.S. (Supreme Court)
John Marshall
Another excellent Supreme Court Justice;
passed his bar exams in 1780.
William Wirt - Began practicing law in Virginia at age 20,
eventually becoming United States Attorney General.
Roger Taney
Began practice in 1799, working his way up. He served as U.S. Treasury Secretary,
then Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
Daniel Webster
Earned notoriety for superlative courtroom oratory and victories;
subsequently appointed US Secretary of State in 1841
Salmon Chase - US Senator, Chief Justice of US Supreme court
earned his reputation as a young lawyer defending runaway slaves.
Abe Lincoln - 1
6th President of the US,
an occupation greatly enhanced by his prominent experience as a lawyer.
Stephen Douglas - Admitted to bar in 1834, later became US Representative,
then US Senator. He debated Lincoln, & later served in his cabinet.
Clarence Darrow -
Attorney of world renown, argued many trials,
including the famous Scopes-Monkey trial; merited a high record of wins.
Robert Storey Quite the mover and shaker, he was twice elected President of the American Bar Association.
Strom Thurmond - Admitted to the bar in 1930, he later became Governor of South Carolina,
then US Senator (still serving in that capacity at the age of 99!!)
Patrick Henry
John Jay
John Marshall
William Wirt
Roger Taney
Daniel Webster
Salmon Chase
Abe Lincoln
Stephen Douglas
Clarence Darrow
Robert Storey
Strom Thurmond
Twelve outstanding attorneys of singular and significant renown.
Which one...
and only one...
did not have a law degree?
If you need the answer CLICK HERE
Clarence Darrow.
Yep,
the one name that historians most powerfully associate with the superior practice of law, attended law school for one unexceptional year, and ended up studying law on his own!
Oh, by the way, did I mention that the other eleven... those eleven MOST distinguished American lawyers... could
NOT have dropped out of law school...
Excellence doesn’t occur accidentally; you’ve got people wasting their degrees, and you’ve got folks who develop excellence without a degree at all. Hmm.While grateful to Paul Aurandt for publishing this incredible list, I’m more grateful that I am now, at this minute, living in the richest era in the richest country in the history of humankind, where I have the opportunity to approach the next 60 minutes, with nothing but excellence in mind; where you personally have a choice in the next 60 seconds
about reaching out for a dream, be it bigger or smaller than the dream of 16-yr old Billy Blythe, who shook hands with JFK, smiling with benign teenage arrogance in his certainty that he too would be top dog. It took him 30 years from the time he changed his last name... for William Jefferson Clinton to reach his
dream of becoming President of the United States in 1992, & again in 1996, presiding over the greatest expansion of any economic growth in any human society.
Whatever 93% of us are doing, it's a fraction of the untapped potential we need to tap NOW.
Businessman, bum, publisher, housewife: Would you personally like for the world to consider you to be wise? Conducting yourself with mediocrity or excellence in the next 60 seconds & the next 60 minutes, the next 60 days.
..the attitude you approach these next minutes with... will tell the whole world, & yourself, very clearly, whether you’re smart or stupid. It’s not what you know, it’s what you do with what you know, & I just happen to be addressing YOU PERSONALLY.
At this minute, are you "in the mood" to do whatever you’re doing with excellence, or do you just let out a "Yeah, yeah," and perform today with no boost over yesterday while deluding yourself that you’re really 'all that'? Your mood is a choice. What reason do you personally have for treating the next hour of your life as if it’s not important? This is not the SuperBowl; there are no time-outs. The game ends when you die, and a measure is taken of your life.
Why not take the most instant and accurate intelligence test ever devised for humans, graded by how much you USE of what you know
..... and how much you don't.
I realize you think this is great stuff, and applies to most people, but not you, right?
What you do speaks so loudly we can’t hear a word you’re saying.
You’re now entering the most powerful minute of your life.
What are you doing with it?
No need to say; actions speak loudest, yes?
In the next hour, you and your actions will tell, and show, every one of us, just who and what you are, and where you're almost certain to be in a hundred days...... and in a thousand days.
Each of these people did fantastic and excellent things with their lives...... by choice...... one minute at a time, ... and now it's your turn to get up to the plate. Oops, you're already there. The question is, are you standing there like a moron, or do we see you swinging at the ball with all your might and all your soul; all your mind and all your focus?