I woke up this morning to sweltering heat and an email telling me that my bi-weekly work study paycheck has been deposited. Super. Now I just need to figure out whether to borrow the remainder of my rent money from my boyfriend or my parents.
Anyway, it got me thinking about my summer job (which, incidentally, is not a bad place to work) and I realized that there is another group of people to be pitied. So much of my frustration and disappointment has stemmed from the fact that, even leaving aside the financial ruin I have set up for myself, I just don’t like studying law. It just doesn’t interest me. Okay, maybe in some abstract way some of the legal history we study is interesting. But not one of my law school classes has really captured my interest the way I was promised one would. No practice area has made me say to myself: “Now THAT is what I want to do with my life!”
In some way, I have resigned myself to the huge mistake I made. The ones I feel sorry for today are the ones who love it, the ones who did find the class or classes that captured their passion. The ones who go into their summer job every day and really like what they do. Because they are just as screwed as I am, job wise, but with the added disadvantage of actually caring whether or not the position they some day obtain is a legal position. At this point, I just want a job when I graduate, in some city along the eastern seaboard. (I know even that is a tall order these days.) It is infuriating that after all of the time and money I invested in this degree I have to think that way, but it is what it is. At least I know that if I end up not practicing law, I won’t be missing out from a career satisfaction standpoint. For the others, this summer of slave labor is a cruel tease.
The study of law is incredibly dull. I haven't come across anyone who is legitimately passionate about "the law." The best I've heard is a judge who said, "I never really figured out anything better to do with my life, and I've been doing this for decades and it seems to work pretty well for me."
ReplyDeleteLaw school loses its luster very quickly. In the past, when it was easier to find decent financial rewards in the law, I guess people tolerated the dull and dry nature of their work. Now that no one is getting hired and the legal economy has imploded, the entire exercise is pretty unbearable.
Law school is painstakingly boring. Many older attorneys and JDs sometimes remind me that they never had to go to class in the 1970s. Now, the ABA apparently requires that law schools take attendance. Ostensibly, this was done to make sure lawyers are better prepared to practice when they graduate. I guess, the ABA didn't take into account the fact that LEGIONS of JDs and attorneys will NEVER have a chance to practice law!! (Yeah, they aren't too big into specifics - which might help explain why the ABA continues to approve any building with a toilet, running water, a few printers and bookshelves as a law school.)
ReplyDeleteThe reality is that law school "professors" feel that they are so important, and do not want to teach 8 students in a class of 50. Also, it is just another way for the ABA and the law schools to lord their position over you, the student. It is a control mechanism. I guess, law students are to be treated like high school pupils.
When I went to law school in the early '90s, I attended classes for my first semester. That was my worst mistake. My first semester GPA was 2.8. After that semester, I stopped going to class. I averaged a 3.6 GPA from second semester until I received my degree. I found the most challenging part of going to class was staying awake. Between the gunners engaging the professor with drivel and the professors speaking as if they were gods, I quickly grew tired of going to class. Instead, I used class time to go to they gym, hang out with my girlfriend and stay up late after partying. Apparently many of my classmates complained to the dean about me and a few other students that "cut" class and voila, starting the following year I graduated a mandatory attendance policy was instituted. To be fair though, I could tolerate being in class today if I was allowed a laptop with a wifi connection. I could pay my bills, make posts on these blogs and watch internet porn while I drone out the prosaic voice of my washed up professors. Still, being in class against my will made me feel like a POW. Passion about the law? Thanks for the laugh.
ReplyDeleteYes, in my toilet law school, they had such a thing as "participation points" for good attendance. I'm very wary about that.
ReplyDeleteLaw school is a hazing ritual, especially 1L.
ReplyDeleteAs the saying goes:
"First year, they scare you to death, second year, they work you to death, and third year, they bore you to death."
Killself starts looking pretty good around the end of 2L.....
I have met a couple of people who were genuinely passionate about the "the law." Unfortunately, these same people had serious personality problems and were also complete assholes. I talked to a legal recruiter yesterday about getting some doc review and I told her I'm getting out. She said it's great I "know I want out," because she sees so many people that hate the practice of law but are just trying to do it (when/if they can find jobs, I guess) because they made the "three year commitment." I hate this shitty "profession," the assholes who practice in it and the school (upper 1st tier, by the way) that deceived me into getting into it.
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