Interview with Duke Law School Dean Levi(5)

2008-05-15 19:10:41 [ Big Normal Small ]    　Comment

Levi: It is the tradition. In our country, lawyers have to advocate different positions, persuade people, understand our government and our constitution. Our political process draws upon the skills we teach in law school, such as how to express an idea, how to think, how to write, how to analyze a problem, how to draw upon ideas in policy and science. We also teach a certain amount of management and leadership skills.

Zong: The only President ever to graduate from Duke Law School is President Nixon. In China, people speak very highly of him because he opened the dialogue between U.S. and China. But in U.S. he has a mixed reputation. A famous historical event is that Duke rejected his proposal of locating Presidential library here. In hindsight, do you think Duke should regret their choice at that time?

Levi: I don’t know. I will tell you this: President Nixon is still a figure who can inspire passion, either for him or against him. After so many years, he is still very controversial. We have a portrait of President Nixon, which we will hang again at the Law School. When we do that, we will hang it up with the understanding that it is fair to debate his legacy and his presidency. Some people will honor him and recognize him. He was a good law student. He was very accomplished, and he was an excellent lawyer. One of the saddest things about his presidency is that he, a lawyer, violated the law.

Now we’ve come full circle. What keeps a lawyer, a judge, a president from violating the law? It has to be the internal sense of what is right and what is wrong. You have to make a choice, and President Nixon made the wrong choice. Perhaps our Law School could have done a better job in preparing him for leadership. We do a lot of training in legal ethics now. But when people are 25, that’s one thing; when they are 50 or 60, that’s another. You still hope to shape their lifelong values through education.

Zong: Dean Levi, on this very hopeful and positive note, thank you very much for sharing this fascinating intellectual odyssey with me.

Levi: It was a pleasure to talk to you.

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