“I want to make a difference in this world”
Perhaps more than any other profession, the legal world has been done a great disservice by television and movies and books. They like to portray a principled attorney representing the falsely accused or victims of injustice, or prosecuting a seemingly impossible case. All the odds are stacked against them, but after a dramatic courtroom scene ending with a stirring closing argument, the jury returns a verdict in their favor, while the client rejoices and the opposing party looks on in stunned disbelief. They cut to a shot of the victorious attorney, who has a look on his or her face of relieved confidence, happy that his or her unwavering belief in their cause prevailed in the end, and justice was served.
Unfortunately, the real legal world doesn’t work this way. Far too many bright-eyed, optimistic young men and women walk away with their undergraduate degree hand, and a vague notion in mind that they will become a lawyer and make a difference. I hate to sound so morose, but I’m here to tell you that if you think you can make a difference, you are setting yourself up for a big disappointment.
Let me say right now, there is nothing wrong with wanting to help people. It’s a noble pursuit, and speaks volumes about your character. But if you want to help people, you have to approach it with a realist’s point of view. Sometimes innocent people go to jail. Sometimes guilty people walk away free. Hours upon hours of time spent trying to get a poor woman custody of her kids will be wasted when she goes back to her abusive husband. And the little man doesn’t always get his day in court, because the big guys have teams of lawyers to keep that from happening. There is a whole set of rules in place to keep you from making a difference. It’s called “Civil Procedure”.
Far too many people who want to make a difference when they enter this profession end up getting disillusioned and either quit altogether, or even worse, go over to the dark side, where instead of helping poor people find fair housing, they help giant insurance companies not have to play claims for negligent acts. There’s a fine line between working for legal aid and appearing on the back of a phone book, but they are worlds apart. Many young attorneys start off in column A, only to end up in column B. If you don’t fully understand what you are getting yourself into by becoming a public interest lawyer, you are setting yourself up for a major disappointment. Public interest law doesn’t pay all that well, so your resolve had better be strong. And unless you don’t have any loans to pay off or are independently wealthy, at some point economics is going to catch up to you.
Life isn’t like a novel. If To Kill A Mockingbird was real, Atticus Finch never would have taken on the Boo Radley case. “I’d love to help that boy out, I really would,” he’d say. “But I have to worry about making ends meet and putting food on the table for my oddly-named children.”
EDIT: Yes, I know Atticus Finch represented Tom Robinson, not Boo Radley. I guess I underestimated the intelligence/anal retentiveness of our readers.
