R. Rex Parris wrote last night. If I do not believe I am a better lawyer as a result of TLC, I should call him and he will try to get me a refund. All else is mere noise, and I should stop my bitching.
The life the of the law is experience, not logic, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. taught. Hence, there is nothing that one can experience that won't make one a better lawyer, supposing one is capable of learning. Hell, getting sick with the flu gives me a better understanding of disability and emotional harm, and, empathically grasped, illness makes me a better lawyer.
So did TLC make me a better a lawyer? I had good outcomes before and after TLC, so I cannot say that it changed my effectiveness as a lawyer. I learned no law at the college, so I cannot say I left with a corpus of new legal knowledge.
But I did make new friends there, Rex among them. And I did try a few new techniques at the college. After leaving, I experimented with a few new things in courtrooms here and there. Sometimes I was effective; sometimes I wasn't. If I was a better lawyer after I left, it was in ways I do not see some ten years after walking away from it all.
I concede that the ranch was a powerful experience and experience teaches. I learned about charisma, group dynamics, the push and pull of conflicting desires and the lengths to which people will go to obtain and seek approval. These raw emotions animate the world. So I did learn things there, and those things, arguably, contributed to my general education. Much of what I see of TLC distresses me, some sickens me, but I have learned from it. On balance, then, I suppose it would be unfair to seek a refund.
But others may differ, and I make Rex's promise to seek refunds for those disappointed known to those of you who want to seek one.
I do not know if the offer of refund extends to those who have contributed money as gifts. Some contributors in a recent poll tendered gifts believing that the college owned the ranch. Among the noise the college chooses to ignore is information that the college merely leases the facility from another foundation, and that the lease is revocable on demand. What will happen if a contributor asks for a refund because they believe that they gave under false pretenses?
The college just wants justice and fairness for all. That's mere platitudinal pablum. Even prosecutors claim that, and they aren't invited to attend the college. When adversaries both say they want the same thing odds are they are saying nothing at all.
Those seeking a refund are encouraged to call Rex.