Law in Contemporary Society
LawContempSoc » ArchivedMaterial » OldDiscussionMaterials » ThoughtsOnCommunity
I thought Michael D. made a series of great observations in his entry, "Selflessness is Overrated," under WinningTheLottery. In particular, I thought it might be useful to start a separate thread to further explore the concept of "community" that he introduced:

I think we should be asking ourselves, first, where is my community? Once we've figured that out, the second question is, how can I develop a legal practice which benefits my chosen community? Framing the question this way makes a couple things clear:
  1. The first question is the hard question.
  2. The first question is not actually a professional question at all; it's a personal one.
  3. The reason why we all end up going to big firms is not that we're evil, or even selfish, it's that we haven't answered the first question. We are all so busy getting A's on our homework and getting into the next big school that we never quite get around to the first question. And once there's no more school to go to, and somebody's willing to give us a safe paycheck and a safe answer to the first question, we take it.
  4. After devoting our whole lives to maximizing our own potentiality and keeping our options open, answering the first question requires that we stop asking ourselves what we can do to become more powerful and starting asking ourselves questions like: “what interests me? What kinds of people do I want to be around? What kinds of day-to-day activities do I want to do with those people?"
  5. Answering the first question should take us to a place where we feel excited to be, not guilty about not being
  6. The second question is probably pretty easy. Everyone needs a lawyer. Once we each figure out where we fit, it should not be hard to figure out how to make a living off of our trade.
-- MichaelDreibelbis - 08 Feb 2009

This discussion really resonates with me. One of the main reasons I have virtually no interest in Biglaw is because of my experience with a group of friends who work for a variety of non-profits and live in what amounts to an intentional community. Of all the different ways of living I've observed, the way they live and interact with one another most closely approximates how I'd like to structure my own life after law school.

Of course, mine is a literal reading of Michael D.'s use of the term "community." I'm not sure precisely what he meant by it; he seemed to have a broader conception in mind. What other kinds of social groupings could the term encompass as used above? Is there a "community" of Biglaw associates? Might it be useful to attempt a working definition for ourselves?

On a related note, introducing the idea of community into our discussion highlights what might be one of the most important ways our legal education system fails us as law students. We've already discussed in some depth how law school fosters a zero-sum, grade-obsessed, "me vs. the world" mentality among students that stifles communication. I think it stifles the formation of community as well. Communities are based on (among other things) mutual trust; how can we come to trust one another if we're focused on how our every word and action affect our relative advantage? If part of becoming a fulfilled and productive lawyer depends on answering the question, "where is my community?" -- and I think it might -- this is a serious problem, and we should be thinking about what we can do in our day-to-day interactions to change our learning atmosphere for the better.

-- MichaelHolloway - 09 Feb 2009

 

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r2 - 10 Feb 2009 - 01:16:30 - MichaelHolloway
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