David Ray Olivas of Flower Mound passed the bar exam in October but will not be able to attend the new lawyer induction ceremony at the Frank Erwin Center on Nov. 18, 2013. He is living in Mazar-e-Sharif, in the Balkh province of northern Afghanistan. Olivas has been stationed there a while, where he generally works 10 to 12 hours a day seven days a week. He knew he had to carve out time to study for the bar exam—and he did, although it wasn’t easy. He began with 20 to 30 questions a night, about two to three hours on top of his long shifts providing intelligence. He was determined to stick with his grueling schedule, though (allowing a night off here and there for video games and FB correspondence). And he finally felt ready. He used his R&R time to fly home, see his wife and seven-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, and take the exam.
Below is what he would like to say to his fellow inductees if he were at the special session:
Failure creates better success stories. We’ve heard the axioms like: “You got to lose to know how to win.” Disney makes a killing off of these stories. We will struggle in our new career; these struggles will define us as attorneys. Will we fold? Will we take the easy way out? Will we stand there and face the fire? Will we succeed? Those answers and more as our lives continue.
I am excited to join the ranks of Texas attorneys.