Immaculate Spirit 55 :

"And that's the end of our tour. I hope you like it and you will pa.s.s an amazing years with us." A smart looking college soph.o.m.ore said to the group that she lead.

They were a group of around thirty people, twenty Freshman who will enter this years in Columbia and the rest were their parents or close relative. Some had come with their two parents and some came alone. Nathaniel on the other hand was with his mom Karine. Mary was working and needed to go on trip in Seattle to solve the problem there and could sadly not come.

Today was orientation day and they had pa.s.sed the last hour walking around campus, seeing the different teaching building and the fraternity home. Outside of what he knows from movie, that was the first time Nathaniel was confronted to the greek system. Honestly, it was not that interested in it. He fought in the frontline with his brothers. Backing theirs six, stopping their bullet wound with his bare hands, comforting them on their last breath. that was true brotherhood. What they were talking about seem an insult of that very concept.

But looking at the other students beside him, it looks like he was the only one who had these thoughts. They were all looking at these building with excited eyes, even the most geeky looking ones. The most puzzling thing that he see was his own mother, looking at theses buildings with a nostalgic expression on her face.

He was going to ask his mother about it when a person walk up to them.

"Nathaniel Lyndon?"

Hearing that name, every freshman on the orientation group turn to look at Nathaniel with a newfound interest. The newsletters presenting the LSAT test of Nathaniel as a textbook example had quickly turn in the educational forum and he had become quite famous. Even if his appearance was not well know yet, his name was.

Looking at the muscular man in front of him, Nathaniel quickly tag him as a musculation addict. The way that he work his muscle was not that of a fighter, With that much muscle ma.s.s he would hit hard but would be extremely slow and not agile at all. He could use that to pick up girls but in a fight he would be totally useless. Nathaniel pick that up in a fraction of a second and with only a quick look up.

"Yes, it is me. Who are you?"

"I'm Joshua Manning, i work for the administration."

"I recall, you are the one in charge of admission." Nathaniel remember the name at the bottom of his acceptance letter.

"Exactly, good memory." He compliment, he then look at Karine." Madam Lyndon i presume? It is always a pleasure to see former graduate here in Columbia."

"Thanks, it's good to come back here. I have a lot of good memory here in Columbia." Karine say.

"Glad to hear it. Sorry to disturb you but the dean would like to have a word with your son. You are welcome to come of course." He said gallantly.

"We will gladly meet the dean." Nathaniel answer with respect.

"Great, follow me." He said before he start to walk away.

Exchanging a look, Nathaniel and his mother quickly follow him. They didn't know what the dean wanted to say but they were both curious. Nathaniel had an a.s.sumption that he was because of the LSAT but he wasn't sure. Nonetheless, Joshua proved to be a good guide as he was showing thing to them that the earlier visit did not while they were walking. They did not take long to arrive to his office as the visit tour ended not far from it.

Joshua made them pa.s.s in front of the secretary, knock once and then open door without waiting the permission to enter. That show immediately how highly Joshua was trusted by the dean. Once inside the room, Nathaniel saw that although it was richly furnished, it was not over the top. The information was encouraging to say the least. the last thing that he wanted was to make an enemy of the dean before even his first cla.s.s.

Seeing them enter, the dean got to his feet and approached them. He look them over for a second before thrusting his hand and smiling a little.

"Mister Lyndon, Madam Lyndon, nice to meet you. I'm Richard Curtis, the dean of Columbia." The dean present himself.

Listening to his tone, Nathaniel felt relieved. His tone of voice was confident but not overbearing or arrogant. He could work with that.

"Glad to meet you too, sir. I wanted to say that i studied your case, Matterson against the state in 1998. Your use of the treaty of 1942 on free trade on specified material was really imaginative, i was impressed." Nathaniel compliment.

Hearing that, both the dean and Joshua froze. They remember that case well as they were working both on it. Matterson was the client of their firm at that time who was trying to export goods from Africa until they were stopped by the government for illegal importation. They had worked for sixteen hours straight until they had find that treaty issued on WW2 to help American industry increased their production of armament and was never amended. Using it, they managed to obtain a surprisingly win in court.

It was not the first time that a student was trying to impressed them or bootlicked them on previous affair. Over the years they managed to mark their way into corporate law, getting publish a couple of times in the process. Usually these students would pick theses cases up to flatter their ego in the hope to get them on their sides. It was a smart moves the first times but the twentieth times it start getting boring so they start rebuking these students.

The thing was that the case that Nathaniel was quoting do not belong to that list of cases who got published. It was one who never got any attention even if they feel it deserve it.

"Of course, it was lucky for you that the government lawyer was young and did not find the jurisprudence of 1836 who protected Africa against depleting their natural resources on coal and steel. It could have turned this case around completely. Although it was not specifically naming the silicium that your client was importing, i believe that could have made things interesting in court." Nathaniel add before they could answer.

When they heard him talk about that case, they were a little surprised but this time they were astonished. They mouth dropped open as they were looking at the child in front of them. If that jurisprudence really existed and they not doubt it at this instant, he was right. That could have turn this whole case around. Jurisprudence was taking extremely seriously in court and no judge would bypa.s.s them without a very good reason.

Looking at the men who had their mouth open in shock, Karine smile behind her hand. She thought in her mind with mirth. 'Welcome in my personal h.e.l.l.'

"But how? That case was not even know to the public!" Joshua said, closing his mouth.

"Internet. I was impressed by your imaginative way of using that old treaty so i wanted to know if the government lawyer could have found a counter to that and if there was one. It turn out there was one."

"But that lawsuit was at least three thousand pages thick!" Richard said indignantly.

"3128 pages if i recall correctly. If i was afraid of that, i would not be here sir." Nathaniel said politely.

This time, Richard let out a smile while Karine and Joshua laughed a little.

"Please take a sit, we need to talk."

The dean make a gesture, pointing to the two chairs in front of his desk. They accepted gladly, the dean taking place on his chair and Joshua take position by the door, still standing.

" First i would like to thank you to have chosen Columbia, i know that Harvard and Yale make you a lot or proposition. I appreciate that."

"It was nothing, i dream to be at Columbia since i'm little. Harvard or Yale never been an interest of mine."

"Can i ask why? They are objectively the best law school in the country, you would gain a lot to go there."

"I could tell you that i love this city and i would hate to leave it for a few years but it would not be 100% true. To be brutally honest, i would say there are too many a.s.sholes in those two schools ."

The dean who was in the process of drinking his coffee almost choked on it hearing the answer of Nathaniel while by the door someone sn.i.g.g.e.r uncontrollably.

"Nathaniel! Your language! Excuse yourself now!" Karine said, horrified. She did not want her son to talk like that in front of the dean of one of the best law school in the country.

"No it's okay, i can handle the brutal honesty." Richard said once he got his breathing under control.

"You know that we have a lot of student from prestigious background here too right?"

"I know sir but the quant.i.ty is much less than Harvard or Yale."

"This is true but let's go back on topic. I wanted you here to talk about something important." He said ominously.