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IsabellaMoralesFirstEssay 2 - 20 Feb 2025 - Main.IsabellaMorales
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | |
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< | The Tensions of Public Interest Lawyering | >
> | Why the Law?: The Tensions of Public Interest Lawyering | | | -- By IsabellaMorales - 20 Feb 2025
Introduction | |
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< | I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer when I was in middle school. After watching my dad, a criminal defense attorney, do the job for my entire life, I was of the opinion that lawyering was the path I needed to take to advance the values of compassion, justice, and equality that had been instilled in me. Today, as I finally sit in law school classes and pursue that goal, I am much less certain about the role that lawyering is capable of playing in advancing those values. Nonetheless, perhaps due to naive optimism or perhaps because there is really something here, I have chosen to continue down this path, to deal with the tensions, and to try to make lawyering fit into my vision for the future. | >
> | I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer when I was in middle school. After watching my dad, a criminal defense attorney, do the job for my entire life, I was of the opinion that lawyering was the path I needed to take to advance the values of compassion, justice, and equality that had been instilled in me. Now, as I finally sit in law school classes and pursue that goal, I am much less certain about the role that lawyering is capable of playing in advancing those values. Nonetheless, perhaps due to naive optimism or perhaps because there is really something here, I have chosen to continue down this path, to deal with the tensions, and to try to make lawyering fit into my vision for the future. | | | | |
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< | The First Tension: The Contradictions of the Legal System | >
> | The Contradictions of the Legal System | | | | |
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< | The first tension that I have encountered between my values and lawyering is that the legal system is not one which is necessarily built to uphold my values. Despite being advertised as a system of “justice,” the law is not actually geared towards achieving that goal. Instead, it is geared towards preserving societal norms, some of which may be just, but many of which, especially in a nation built on white supremacy, are anything but. | >
> | The first tension that I have encountered between the law and what I hope to achieve through it is that the legal system is not one which is necessarily built to uphold my values. Despite being advertised as a system of “justice,” the law is not actually geared towards achieving that goal. Instead, it is geared towards preserving societal norms, some of which may be just, but many of which, especially in a nation built on white supremacy, are anything but. | | | | |
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< | Lawyers, though, by virtue of engaging with such law, must work within that system. How, then, will I reconcile my role in an unjust system in order to squeeze out a little bit of justice for my clients with my own personal moral values? | >
> | Lawyers, though, by virtue of engaging with such law, must work within that system. For instance, I am interested in working in public defense. However, I know that sometimes the best thing for my clients will not be the best thing for the system as a whole. Plea deals, for example, encourage defendants to accept their guilt to avoid rolling the dice with the harsh punitive consequences that might otherwise result. These are often the best option for clients. However, every time a plea deal is accepted, it reinforces that that is how the criminal legal system should work. How, then, should I reconcile my role in this unjust system with my own personal moral values? | | | | |
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< | I don't have a straightforward answer, but there are a few things that give me comfort. First, being a lawyer is only one piece of my life. I can choose to engage in other forms of resistance outside of my advocacy for my clients. This work can transcend the boundaries of the legal system. Second, there are ways to use the law which don't support the system as it currently exists. This isn't necessarily a firm boundary drawn around particular areas of legal practice, as even the most "public interest" oriented areas of law have their contradictions (which I will address below), but it is a starting point. | >
> | I don’t have a straightforward answer, but there are a few things that give me comfort. First, being a lawyer is only one piece of my life. I can choose to engage in other forms of activism and resistance outside of my advocacy for my clients. This work can transcend the boundaries of the legal system. At the same time, through my work in the legal field, I can do my best to help individuals escape particular injustices. This isn’t a perfectly satisfactory answer, for it is one in which I presume that the larger systems of injustice will remain standing. Nonetheless, I think that, for now at least, that presumption is necessary, and I should do what I can to minimize the negative impacts of such a system. | | | | |
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< | The Second Tension: Navigating Legal Education | >
> | Second, there are ways to use the law which don’t support the system as it currently exists. There are public defenders who take a holistic approach to criminal defense, seeking to address the problems that their clients face beyond the particular instance that brought them into contact with the legal system. There are lawyers who support social movements through “movement lawyering” to ensure that the people who are trying to make lasting change have the legal support that they need to do so. I’m sure the list goes on, though I’ve yet to discover all the forms creative lawyering can take. The point is, I must remind myself that I don’t have to be confined to the boundaries of lawyering set out by the legal system. | | | | |
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< | The Third Tension: Choosing a Particular Path Within the Law | >
> | Navigating Legal Education
It is precisely those boundaries that bring me to the second tension I have encountered, which is that the interests of legal education, particularly at an institution like Columbia, do not support the aforementioned outcomes. This leads me to believe that the legal profession itself is a constraining force to achieving the just future I wish to live in.
Although there are many micro-problems within legal education that contribute to my coming to this conclusion, I am particularly interested in the big picture problem. This is the fact that lawyering is often advertised to young people as the appropriate forum to funnel our energies towards creating change. As such, a decent number of people who are interested in making change come to law school. Unfortunately, once they arrive, those micro-problems (i.e. competitive grades, the financial drain of law school coupled with Big Law’s promise of financial prosperity, the lack of intellectual exploration, etc.) stop any such change in its tracks. Thus, people who would have been very valuable to any movement for change, are disarmed and sometimes, mobilized against such change.
There isn’t an easy solution, especially not as a singular law student. I can try to maintain community and conversation with my classmates, so that we each understand that we are not alone in carving a different path out of law school for ourselves. Additionally, perhaps, once I am a lawyer, I can use my position to educate potential and current law students. And, of course, I can remain steadfast in my personal path that does not accept these constraints. Nonetheless, this nature of the legal profession leaves me weary of my place in it as a whole. | | | Closing Thoughts | |
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> | In sum, I am not the optimistic 12-year old I once was who declared she wanted to be a lawyer. I think, though, that I am better equipped to do this job the more I understand the complexities it raises. I hope that I can continue to uncover solutions, even those that are not fully satisfactory, during my time in this class, throughout law school, and throughout my career. | | |
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. |
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IsabellaMoralesFirstEssay 1 - 20 Feb 2025 - Main.IsabellaMorales
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
The Tensions of Public Interest Lawyering
-- By IsabellaMorales - 20 Feb 2025
Introduction
I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer when I was in middle school. After watching my dad, a criminal defense attorney, do the job for my entire life, I was of the opinion that lawyering was the path I needed to take to advance the values of compassion, justice, and equality that had been instilled in me. Today, as I finally sit in law school classes and pursue that goal, I am much less certain about the role that lawyering is capable of playing in advancing those values. Nonetheless, perhaps due to naive optimism or perhaps because there is really something here, I have chosen to continue down this path, to deal with the tensions, and to try to make lawyering fit into my vision for the future.
The First Tension: The Contradictions of the Legal System
The first tension that I have encountered between my values and lawyering is that the legal system is not one which is necessarily built to uphold my values. Despite being advertised as a system of “justice,” the law is not actually geared towards achieving that goal. Instead, it is geared towards preserving societal norms, some of which may be just, but many of which, especially in a nation built on white supremacy, are anything but.
Lawyers, though, by virtue of engaging with such law, must work within that system. How, then, will I reconcile my role in an unjust system in order to squeeze out a little bit of justice for my clients with my own personal moral values?
I don't have a straightforward answer, but there are a few things that give me comfort. First, being a lawyer is only one piece of my life. I can choose to engage in other forms of resistance outside of my advocacy for my clients. This work can transcend the boundaries of the legal system. Second, there are ways to use the law which don't support the system as it currently exists. This isn't necessarily a firm boundary drawn around particular areas of legal practice, as even the most "public interest" oriented areas of law have their contradictions (which I will address below), but it is a starting point.
The Second Tension: Navigating Legal Education
The Third Tension: Choosing a Particular Path Within the Law
Closing Thoughts
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