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Ambivalent Scheduling and Career Imbroglio
Hi. Now seeking any and all advice about "planning a balanced curriculum" for years two and three of law school. GW offers so many options that sound good, I really don't know how to choose.
That's right, no more will all my classes be chosen for me and handed to me on a silver platter schedule (or shoved down my throat, depending on how things go any given day); instead, I must figure out some plan that will get me from here to "public interest lawyer" in two years or less. Depending on many variables (whether I make journal, how many clinic hours I take, whether I do any outside placement at any time, whether I do mock trial for credit next fall, and probably other variables I'm not thinking of at the moment), I probably have 15-20 classes left to take over the next two years. So far, the classes that seem indispensable include:
- CrimPro
- ConLawII
- Evidence
- Labor Law
- Federal Income Tax
- Professional Responsibility (required)
- Admin Law
- Corporations
- Federal Courts
- Secured Transactions (I was told by a trusted advisor I should take at least one course focused on the UCC)
- Environmental Law
- Negotiations and/or Mediation and/or Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Consumer Mediation Clinic
- Employment Law and/or International Labor Standards and the Global Economy
- Antitrust
- International Law
- Public Justice Advocacy Clinic
- Federal Criminal and Appellate Clinic
- White Collar Crime
- Race, Racism and the Law
- Literature and the Law
- Higher Education Law, Communications Law, Legislative Analysis and Drafting, Campaign Finance Law, Lobbying and the Law, Products Liability and/or Toxic Torts, Consumer Protection, Public Interest Lawyering, Legal Activism, and Housing and Community Development Law
- Public interest/non-profit work, possibly to include lobbying, for a group like MoveOn or Public Citizen. This would likely require a longer stay in D.C., at the prospect of which I'm not exactly thrilled. Also, a variation on this would be to work for a federal agency, such as the FCC or FEC, helping draft and enforce legislation.
- Becoming a public defender or legal aid lawyer in a small town somewhere (preferably or probably MI, MN, CA, or any of the "mountain" states).
- Becoming a general practitioner, either with a small *gasp* plaintiff's firm, or on my own, again in a small town in one of the above locations.
- Something completely different where my J.D. is only incidental, such as working as a legal journalist somehow. This is a pretty vague and unformed option, obviously. Getting away from direct practice of law, I could also see myself enjoying/being fairly good at career counseling for law students.
Posted March 22, 2004 06:23 AM | law school
Once upon a time, before I fell into the trap that is graduate school, I had considered going to law school for one reason and one reason alone: to get a J.D. so I could work with the Southern Poverty Law Center and fight the Klan and all the rest of the racist scum in this country (a never ending battle to be sure). You should definitely take the course on Race, Racism and the Law if only so I could (partially) vicariously live out my dream through you. Anyway, what could be better than fighting against groups like WAR or World Church of the Creator? Those mofo's represent real evil and, as long as any of them draws breath, a clear and present danger to civil society.
Posted by: Famous P at March 22, 2004 10:35 AM
I'll second the R,R, and L class. I'm a fan of such classes because they "cross boundaries" and that's just fun.
White collar crime sounds cool. You could go into business prosecuting that.
You can always dabble in your first three options then end up with the fourth. You'd have a peerless background of experience on which to draw :)
Posted by: m at March 22, 2004 03:08 PM
I think Literature and the Law sounds fabulous, myself.
I think that a mediation clinic would be great too, because you can use those skills elsewhere, including negotiating for your eventual job!
Personally I wouldn't worry too much about specializing early. You'll specialize soon enough in practice. That is my theory, at least.
Posted by: transmogriflaw at March 22, 2004 07:20 PM
you've basically written my exact post. i also worry about specialization too early, and also really want to be the next Nina Totenberg.
but working in public interest is certainly not limited to DC. only people that are already there assume that. organizations that work in statehouses can more quickly affect change, and states are surprisingly influential on federal legislation (just look at gay marriage for an example of where states acted first and are influencing federal policy).
and federal agencies employ people all over the country. DC does not have the monopoly on legislation drafting.
i'm at northeastern, which is a really big public interest school, and our assumption is that there are PI jobs all over the country and even the world. every agency could use a good lawyer.
but i also want to be in a small town. :)
Posted by: monica at March 22, 2004 07:33 PM
I would try to pick a diverse set of courses from your list, selecting among those options based on who the professors are more than anything else.
The key, I think, is that there's a surprisingly small correlation between the courses that people take in law school and what they end up doing later in life.
Posted by: karen, esq. at March 22, 2004 10:31 PM
