Law in Contemporary Society

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BigLawCriticism 5 - 05 Jun 2012 - Main.MeiqiangCui
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 I found this article that discusses a lot of the issues with big law private practice that Eben has been discussing. I know that Eben doesn't like people posting links without their own thoughts and comments so I'll try to add some later this weekend when I'm done with moot court stuff. However, most of it isn't stuff that people don't know - it's more stuff that people have trouble really believing and internalizing until it's too late. I think it's very well written, doesn't beat around the bush, and is really worth reading, no matter what kind of law you're interested in at the moment. Anyway, enjoy:
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 I agree with Lizzie's comment that "rather than helping ease our insecurities as aspiring lawyers...law school heightens them to a level that makes us doubt our talents." I think that the proliferation of incomprehensible transcendental nonsense that we're expected to read and (pretend to) understand every day, combined with the constant lack of constructive feedback and lack of collaboration (as Skylar highlighted), leaves many of us feeling lost and defeated on a regular basis.

-- MichelleLuo - 11 Feb 2012

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I agree that the 1L experience is unnecessarily competitive, but I also find it helpful from many perspectives. For example, I become more confident, as I can clearly see my progress and have a better understanding about my potential. When I'm put under pressure, it is easier to calm down and seriously think about the problems I once tried to avoid. The pressure helped me to figure out that I still want to be a lawyer, but meanwhile I’m also a daughter to my parents and a friend for my friends. Without their support, I’m nothing. This by no means suggests that I like the 1L style life, but we should probably wait until a later stage-e.g. when we have the opportunity to cooperate in upper level courses-to fairly evaluate our 1L time.

As to the partner who is so committed to work, I can understand his passion. When I worked in the firm, I always got excited when there were interesting issues to debate, and experienced enormous satisfaction when fishing difficult assignments. What I don’t understand is his confidence about the positive influence upon his son. After leaving home, I have always regretted that I spent too much time working in the firm instead of accompanying my parents and friends. The author made a good point about big law firms: their culture seeps in despite of your best intention. Sometimes associates just get confused about why they have to work so hard. It can be due to their passion for legal practice, their desire to outshine other associates, the inescapable insecure feeling, and also the habit of working long hours dating back to law school.

-- MeiqiangCui - 4 June 2012


Revision 5r5 - 05 Jun 2012 - 00:28:12 - MeiqiangCui
Revision 4r4 - 11 Feb 2012 - 20:04:07 - MichelleLuo
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