It requires desperate labor to do this and will shorten
your life; but such is the hard fate of the profession you choose, and
such is the condition of our absurd system of multiplying reports.
Do not be what is known as a "case lawyer"--an attorney who does not
know the law as a science, but merely looks up precedents and texts
concerning a particular case. You may prevail in your "lawsuit," but
you will not be a lawyer. Stick close to the elemental Blackstone. You
can never get along without Blackstone. Do not read a condensed
edition of that great commentator; it is like reading expurgated
Shakespeare.
I understand that one of the Justices of the Supreme Court still reads
Blackstone once each year. This may be a fable, but I hope it is not.
You cannot do a better thing. Thirty minutes each day will give you
Blackstone from cover to cover in less than a year, with many
holidays. Few modern "text-books" are of permanent value. Pomeroy's
"Equity Jurisprudence" is an exception.
But, of course, I cannot give here a list of those books which should
be your daily food; any really educated lawyer will mention them to
you. The great mass of text-books are nothing more than digests.
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