A (Poorly-Written) Reflection on Choosing a Practice

-- By FernandoGarcia - 24 Feb 2024

Choosing a practice—while superficially may appear to be an individual choice—does not preclude external considerations. At the end of the day, I must decide what I want to do with my life; my education; my career. In principle, the choice is an easy one: pick yourself; do what is best for you alone and pay no regard to anything else. Of course, it can never be that easy—at least not for me. Thinking only of myself feels selfish. I did not get here by myself, why should I be the exclusive benefactor?

In class, Eben repeatedly encourages us to break free from what law school “teaches” us. He points out that there is more to life than earning a quarter-million-dollar salary. While that may be true, nevertheless, that amount is, for many of us, impossible to ignore—it is more money than many of us have ever made, more than many of our families have ever made. Here lies the first hurdle I must overcome on the path to choosing myself and finding my practice. Having been raised in scarcity, turning down a salary that high feels ungrateful, almost immoral. Sucha salary brings with it a sense of financial security previously unbeknownst to me. A substantial motivation behind my educational journey was upward financial mobility. In a sense, a high salary—securing my financial future—is what this has all been about. Turning the high-paying job down is essentially throwing (financial) caution to the wind, and I have too much to lose to take that risk.

There are also cultural considerations which I feel are impossible to ignore. I am the oldest son in my family; I was raised to always be of service to my younger siblings and my parents. After having lived placing others’ well-being above mine, thinking only of myself feels unnatural. This is obviously a significant obstacle when choosing your practice is inherently selfish. Moreover, as an immigrant, I believe I can never make a truly self-interested choice—especially not one as consequential as this one. My parents gave up their lives in our homeland to emigrate to the United States because they believed they could secure a better future for their children. A substantial component of the future which my parents dreamed of involves financial stability for their children. Taking the high-paying job would see their goal unequivocally accomplished. Conversely, turning that amount of money down would put that all at risk. I cannot, in good conscience, throw away their sacrifice.

Similar to the future my parents envisioned for their children, I want to secure the best possible future for my family. The corporate salary, though not guaranteed, is much more likely to secure better opportunities for my children than a significantly lower one. The power of money in our society is impossible to ignore. Money grants access to better schools, better counselors and advisors, better networks, better jobs, better opportunities. Without even mentioning access to a healthier lifestyle or the countless other societal benefits money can bring, the consequence of financial security is undeniable. Surrendering my practice for a high salary seems like a fair trade to me.

Allowing myself the liberty to assume I could make that selfish choice, I would not know where or how to start building my practice. I came to law school with a broad, idealistic desire to effect change in the American carceral and immigration systems. I suppose that would be a good place to start building a practice. However, Eben’s discussion of how criminal defense attorneys earn their money has since turned me away from the profession. I imagine representing immigrants during removal proceedings is similar. Helping people during the most difficult time in their lives sounds like an ideal way to leverage my legal education, but taking their houses to collect payment feels immoral; that is not the kind of practice I want to build.

Deciding on my future can never be a truly personal decision. The myriad of external considerations weighs too heavily to ignore. Even assuming I could make a truly isolated, personal decision, the gap between the safety of the big-law salary and the uncertainty and significantly lower salary that almost undoubtedly comes from choosing my practice is too large to bet my future on.

• #Set ALLOWTOPICVIEW = TWikiAdminGroup, FernandoGarcia
• #Set DENYTOPICVIEW = TWikiGuest

Note: TWiki has strict formatting rules for preference declarations. Make sure you preserve the three spaces, asterisk, and extra space at the beginning of these lines. If you wish to give access to any other users simply add them to the comma separated ALLOWTOPICVIEW list.