Given a second chance， I worked much harder， becoming fascinated by the law of evidence. In my second year the professor who taught the course passed away. I was asked to take over—inconceivable at a law school like Boulder. Evidence became a lifelong specialty， and for many years I taught classes on the subject for judges， law students and practicing lawyers throughout the country.
Meanwhile I worked days in the Denver City Attorney’s office as a clerk. It was anything but glamorous. But it led to a job as an assistant city attomey after graduation.
I would became a county judge at age 28， one of Denver’ s youngest. Later I was elected as a district judge， and then appointed by the President to the federal judiciary as a U. S. district judge. And， ultimately， I did return to Boulder—to receive the University of Colorado’s George Norlin Award， and an honorary doctorate of law.
Sooner or later everyone will fall short at something important to them—whether it be a job， a dream or a relationship. Flunking out of law school， I believe， made me a better judge， it certainly taught me about the frailties of the human condition， and about the need to give people second chances.
But failure also taught me that life is a road with unpredictable forks and unexpected tomorrows. To take advantage of them， you can’t let yourself be destroyed by a defeat， or let others set the limits on your ability to achieve.
由於我的分數太低了，科羅拉多大學法學院的院長決定，我從下個秋季開始就不能再回到學校上課了。他說，我永遠不可能成為一名律師。即使是今天，我也無法用語言來形容當時的煩亂心情，以前，我在重大的事情上還從來沒有真正失敗過。畢竟，波爾得的科羅拉多大學是一扇通往司法職業和名氣很高的律師事務所的大門，它就是一座泰姬陵。
然而，我決定再嚐試一下，於是就去找威斯敏斯特法學院的克利福德？米爾斯院長，這個法學院沒有終身教授和法學刊物，是一個窮人學校。在看了我的大學成績單之後，米爾斯決定接受我進入威斯敏斯特法學院，條件是我要認真地重讀一年級的所有課程。他說：“我會一直關注你的表現的。”