Sometimes a million monkeys randomly banging away on blog comment boxes do produce a little wisdom, no
Shakespeare, but still wisdom. I typically find blog comments to be the largest waste of time and bandwidth on the internet; for some reason this is particularly true of legal blog comments: sound and fury in abundance but completely devoid of significance--perhaps it is Shakespeare after all. Against my better judgement, today, I read the comments on an
ABA article. Along with the usual comment induced heightening of my blood pressure and thoughts that rhyme with "LaRouche Swag" and "Back Sass," came the unusual feeling that someone had struck on a moment of ever so slight enlightenment:
"Atticus Finch didn’t work in a law factory and probably made just enough to feed his family. If new attorneys are willing to accept that, they can all be Atticus Finches, too. Want to fight for justice in the courtroom? Become a prosecutor or a public defender or start your own solo practice." --quote some person called MAC in a blog comment
Delivery of legal services to the poor depends on countless hours performed by private attorneys in big firms, and many people augment the fulfillment they normally get from a larger firm job with pro bono work and community involvement. Often those larger firm attorneys are able to give larger contributions to pro bono work and the community because of the money and resources at their disposal. But there is more to the job of a large firm attorney than what they do in their unbilled time.
New lawyers can and do make profound contributions to justice while working at larger firms, but--pay attention, this is the important part--if your purpose and drive is to help the helpless, to protect the innocent or the innocent victims, or to save the world, you are likely to feel unfulfilled and unhappy if your work's main motivation and driving force is not the same. At the end of the day, the master of the large firm attorney is the paying client, not the pro bono client.
If you came to law school because you want to stand on the side of the Tom Robinsons of the world, if you believe Boo Radley deserves his dignity, then make sure your work's purpose is standing up for Tom Robinson or delivering dignity to Boo Radley. If you take a public service or public interest position,
debt be damned, your reward will follow, it may not be in the form of dollars, but trust that your reward will follow.
