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IsBeingACorporateLawyerImmoral 24 - 22 May 2023 - Main.MichaelPari
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I think Professor Moglen once said that the concept of giving money to the poor while earning money as a corporate lawyer is all good, but it assumes that the work itself has a neutral moral value. Does that imply that being a corporate lawyer is (or could be) immoral? What is so different between being a corporate lawyer and being a blue collar worker? We respect people working in the Ford factory because they work hard to make an honest living. Aren’t they both trying to make a living to support themselves and their family? Is there more difference than their income? | | | There are many thought-provoking things discussed here but the "if not me, then someone else" rationale for going into big law struck me. This was the same rationale that I provided to Professor Moglen in office hours in a discussion about interning at the DA's office this summer. This sort of reasoning, though, is a justification for going into a certain career like corporate law and not the motivation behind it. Much like the conversations we had in class this year, we law students persistently sense the need to defend a decision to go into corporate law rather than proudly declare an affirmative motivation for going into it. I don't think this thread has arrived at a definitive answer as to whether being a corporate lawyer is immoral but, clearly, there seems to be something that bothers our conscience as law students (even across generations) about going into big law.
-- HoDongChyung - 21 May 2023 | |
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Great points Ho Dong! Another aspect of this discussion I find interesting in comparison to now is its temporal background. The original chain of responses were all written during the near end of the 2008 recession, which officially ended in June of 2009. Presumably, the students applying for the alluring biglaw jobs back then had seen the recruiting class before them search for work in one of biglaw's slowest hiring periods to date. In class, Eben even said that he hired more lawyers than Cravath that year, as he hired one and they hired none. While the broader economic circumstances during our time in law school are not nearly as bleak as those in early 2009, speculation regarding another recession exists today, but discussions regarding the moral implications of biglaw careers are still common both in and out of class. Also, it is worth noting that even if economic conditions worsen, it is unlikely that biglaw firms will stop hiring completely, as doing so in 2008 harmed them years down the road when they had no mid-level associates. I find it fascinating and uplifting that these discussions still take place regardless of our time as a student's economic/temporal background, overall hiring prospects, or even the (assumed) worries in the school after many students in 2008 were unable to find the work that attracted them to CLS in the first place.
-- MichaelPari - 22 May 2023 | | | |
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