There are two questions that I've come to dread, and inevitably one or both are asked whenever someone finds out that I'm going to law school. They're related but distinct questions. The first is "So what kind of law do you want to do?" The second is "Why law school?"
The easy answer to "what kind of law?" is that I know enough to know that I don't know enough to know for certain. By this I mean that I know where my interests lie, and I know what I geek out over, but I also know that I may discover that geeking out over something may not translate well into enjoying working in that field. I also know that I may discover that I hate something I currently think that I love or that I love something that I don't have much interest in or, for that matter, that I don't even know exists.
The real answer, though, is far more complex. On the one hand, my past experience and political leanings points towards a public interest, protecting-the-little-guy kind of career. Would I love to work for the ACLU or the Southern Poverty Law Center? Absolutely. On the other hand, there are other areas of law that get my geeky little brain excited beyond measure. I don't have a science background, so IP would be tough for me to break into, but I freaking love IP. For that matter, I like tax of all things. I also find criminal law fascinating, though I'm not sure that I'd want to make a career of it.
The real answer is more complicated than simply having interests in multiple areas, too. The real answer includes a confession that I've made to exactly one person in my life. The truth is, I don't know that I want to do public interest. I don't know that I want to devote my life to something that, more often than not, will end in heartbreak. The real answer is that I would secretly love the opportunity to work in big law. I doubt that I'll get that opportunity, mind. I chose a full scholarship at a tier two school over a tier one school with only a partial scholarship. Part of that decision meant resigning myself to the fact that only about ten percent of my graduating class will have a shot at big law, going by the most recent employment data.
Yes, I'd love to be in the top of my class. Yes, I think that I'm capable of doing well in law school. But I'm not banking on it. The curve is a bitch, and the odds are high that I <i>won't</I> be in the top of my class. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to work my ass off and believe that I can do well enough to place above the median, but there's a big difference between "better than the median" and "top ten percent." (My super!secret goal, the one I haven't told anyone, is to place in the top 1% and transfer to a top-five school. Again, not banking on it.)
So yes. "What kind of law do you want to do?" is a question that I dread. To answer honestly requires that I admit that I'm not as concerned with doing good for others as I am satisfying my own intellectual interests. It makes me feel selfish. It's something I need to get over.
As for "Why law school," I'll come back to that in a later post. I have to be up in three hours and I think my exhaustion might finally be winning the fight against my insomnia. I'm going to take advantage of it while I can.
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