Some people have found great success in business with a law degree. Others say they have found great success in spite of one.

Few would deny the utility of legal training in the business world, yet how and to what extent a JD is useful depends largely upon the individual.

In launching its Entrepreneurial Lunch Series this year, the Tulane Business Law Society invited to campus four prominent business executives with Tulane law degreesýDarryl Berger (L ý72), Claiborne P. Deming (A&S ý76, L ý79), John E. Koerner III (A&S ý65, L ý69, B ý70) and Joseph L. Parkinson (L ý71). Each executive talked to students about his career and how he used his legal training. Significantly, none of them seriously expected to practice law as a career.

Of the four, only one actively practiced after graduation. Each consideredýor at least initially consideredýlaw to be a foundation for a career in business.

Thatýs part of a growing trend, says law school professor Tom Andre (L ý66). "I think people view the law degree as a vehicle by which they can do a variety of different things, including business. Weýre seeing students using law degrees for everything from management to writing novels and screenplays."

A swinging door of sorts has always existed between the legal and business arenas. Andre says thatýs only natural. "People face legal problems every day," he explains. "With legal training, one knows the right questions to ask and isnýt intimidated by lawyers. It gives you a leg up. Itýs just one more piece of the puzzle to a successful career in business.

"And the law trains your mind," he adds. "It helps you to solve problems, the same kinds of problems you face on a daily basis in the business world."

"Lawyers are accustomed to analyzing failures and cleaning them up, not being out there creating them." -Claiborne Deming president and CEO of Murphy Oil Corp.

Indeed, it has often been suggested that legal training educates students to think logically, a skill that bene-fits everyone from attorney to gopher. Claiborne Deming, president and CEO of Murphy Oil Corp., recalls a story that for him sums up the legal mind.

Once upon a time, a king approached two condemned men and made a proposition: If either man could convince the king why he should live, he would be spared the guillotine. The first man looked the king in the eye and said, "Your majesty, I have the ability to teach your favorite horse to speak, but it will take one year to do so." The flabbergasted king granted him a year to live. The second condemned man, shocked by his cellmateýs promise, could think of nothing. After the king left their cell, the second man cried, "You canýt teach a horse to talk! And when the king discovers that, heýs going to make your execution the most excruciating possible. How could you say such a thing?"

The first prisoner smiled. "A lot can happen in a year," he said. "I might die of natural causes, or the king might die, or the horse might die, or I might even teach the horse to talk."

"A lawyer likes those options so he draws things out," Deming says, explaining the story. "For a lawyer, problems often go away over time if you donýt deal with them, but in the business world, that doesnýt happen. They typically get worse."

Donýt get the oil-and-gas executive wrong. He feels strongly about the value of legal training in business, but equally strongly about the need for lawyers to restrain their analytical tendencies in order to be effective managers.

Deming himself had no great aspirations to law or business when he entered Tulane Law School in the fall of 1976. The history major just liked the subject. "Toward my junior and senior year, I thought that studying law would be intriguing and interesting, so I migrated to law school. I had more interest in it and I thought that that environment would be an interesting place to work."

A native of Alexandria, La., Deming had two things going for him when he graduated from law school in 1979: oil and blood. The oil-and-gas business was hot, and Demingýs uncle, Charles Murphy, was at the time the chair and CEO of Murphy Oil. "There was a natural link," Deming says. "And it was a happening time for the oil-and-gas business. It just seemed natural to move in that direction, and I did."

Deming started out in Murphyýs legal department. After two years, he moved to the companyýs land department, the department responsible for acquiring concessions and leases. From there, Deming worked for Murphyýs downstream units until, in 1988, he was appointed to his first management position, running the companyýs oil-and-gas business. In 1992, he was promoted to chief operating officer, and in 1994 he became CEO.

Deming feels that lawyers can have an advantage in the business world because of the type of work experience they receive. "Lawyers do a lot of negotiations in the business world. They do a lot of transactions. They are put in adversarial situations in some circumstances and they get their hands dirty instead of being aloft in an office building. So I think they have a good sense of business and where the pieces fit."

But that doesnýt mean attorneys are automatically management material. According to Deming, they have to abandon a tendency toward analysis over action. "Lawyers want to think of angles, understand the situation, know their adversaries, know how they think and get inside their mind," Deming explains. "Thatýs obviously beneficial.

"But you know what? That takes time, and if youýre out there managing actively, many times you donýt have time." As an example, Deming points to Murphy Oil, where 160,000 barrels of crude oil are bought every day for the companyýs refinery and 70,000 barrels of production are sold each day.

"There simply isnýt time to overanalyze," he says, "but at the same time you are expected to be creating value for our company by buying cheap and selling dear.

"Lawyers are accustomed to analyzing failures and cleaning them up," he says, "not to being out there creating them."

Nonetheless, says Deming, the training in law school many times leads to the best business decision. "It helps you to keep cool under pressure and act decisively."