Evan wrote a post this morning considering what lawyers like best about being lawyers, and what law students expect they will like. Check it out, he nearly always ends up with a great discussion in the comments. I left a brief comment, but it's extremely simplified, and I figured I'd go ahead and lay out a more complete answer, because the question is extremely important. If one doesn't know what benefits one expects to get from law school, perhaps it's not a good choice.
I did not plan on going to law school when I graduated college. I majored in psychology, and I liked the idea of going into clinical work. For those not in the know, clinical Ph.D. programs in psych are based on the 'Scientist-Practitioner' model. This means that one practices through treating patients and performs research in a more traditional manner. This combination of helping people and furthering scientific knowledge was quite attractive to me.
As I worked at the local Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault program, my desire to help people coalesced somewhat, and I even performed some counselor-like duties, such as individual support and running a support group.
But there was a problem.
You see, as valuable as shelter and crisis programs are, they're what kicks in after the traumatic event. If you're partner is abusive, there's a shelter program. If your boyfriend thinks he's entitled to your body, there's someone to talk to, but what's there to stop these people from doing these things in the first place? Some of my prevention work was relevant to this question and producing cultural change, but there's only a certain amount of good that small sessions, convincing people individually, can do.
Part of my job was also to help people get protection orders. We naturally didn't give legal advice, but we could assist clients with protective orders by explaining the forms and how to go about filing. We also often went to court with our clients to support them, though we weren't able to say anything unless directly addressed by the judge, which happened only rarely.
The judge in this court gave me a chance to see other ways that change could be accomplished, this time within the system. First, by enthusiastically following the laws set by the legislature regarding protection orders and putting a human face on the inhuman visage of the 'System.' I had the opportunity to see how he handled other cases as well, misdemeanor criminal violations, and it struck me how important it was to have good people making up the system if the system was to work properly and live up to its potential.
This gave me my initial inspiration to go to law school (along with a couple of occasions of watching lawyers in action and thinking to myself, "I could do a lot better than that,") but there's more.
A couple years ago I went to a conference in San Diego. There I had a chance to see what they had done as a community response to Domestic Violence, and I heard their city attorney, Casey Gwinn, speak. I'm not sure how he did in other areas, but it was quite clear (from others, not just him) that he had been instrumental in the city's efforts and in prompting the development of the Family Justice Center. I won't get into what it is because you can follow the link, but I was floored. In the 11 months prior to this conference, San Diego, a city with 1.2 or 1.3 million people, had exactly one homicide attributable to Domestic Violence. For those in the know, that's astounding.
There were and are, of course, other people instrumental in this effort, but I was quite impressed with the efforts that Casey made in this effort. Plus I had occasion to be frustrated in my own community with the fact that Casey didn't work in Laramie, Wyoming, but that's another story.
So that's the long story of why I want to be a lawyer, and what I expect to enjoy most about practice. I'm fully aware that it's not easy and that things don't flow like butter in the right direction all the time, but the bottom line is that the system needs to be filled up with good people, people who are aware of what can happen in the community when people come together and is willing to be part of that effort. People who are willing to take a few risks and, when they work out, cause an astounding amount of positive change in their community.
UP LATER TODAY: Thoughts on Singles Awareness Day
