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Defending the Theatre of Public Humiliation: Why I Would Still Go to the EIP
-- By JiMinShin - 30 Mar 2016
It is true that the EIP will probably not be the best moment of my law school experience. The word arouses inside me some kind of excitement, but at the same time tension and anxiety. It will not be my last chance to have a career after law school, but certainly an important chance. An early chance as the title of the program indicates, to be free from burden and insecurity. Yet to benefit from the program, I will have to meet over two dozens of strangers over three days, spend twenty minutes with each, with confident smile and loud voice show some “genuine interest” and “passion” for each firm, narrate my resume, and persuade them not to look at my grade but potential sleeping deep inside me when I know and they surely know that in fact I have no substantial knowledge or skill of law. As somebody said earlier, they will listen to me and skim my resume simply because I am a member of Columbia law. I will be like an abandoned property middle of nowhere waiting for some firm to claim first possession. And there is still good possibility that no firm will claim me. I felt ashamed when I went to law firm receptions which did not require resume or grade, so I cannot imagine how I will feel during the EIP. There will be great pressure, and I know I will face it.
Yet I will still go to the EIP. I will fly back from Korea as soon as I finish my summer internship solely to participate in this event. Because I believe it is still a rewarding opportunity. It is an opportunity to be compensated for my long run investment, and an opportunity to cultivate my lawyering ability.
Compensation
Money matters. I know many of my American peers have taken student loans to pay for their education. I have a loan too. My parents are paying for my education. We call this “Mother Father Loan.” The truth is, they have been paying for my education overseas since 2002. I am hoping that the EIP will ripen this long-time investment into some kind of tangible, monetary form this year. It is puzzling that a law school student gets to have a job straight after 1L when he or she essentially knows nothing, but I cannot be ungrateful to firms which come to hire us, and to Columbia Law. I am thankful that Columbia is preparing this event and letting me use their name as some kind of premium ticket. It is expensive and does not guarantee me a job, but it at least increases possibility immensely, so it seems to be a fair deal. In fact, the best deal I have had so far.
Lawyering
A big law firm might not be the best place to start, but it is certainly a good place to learn and experience much, cultivate one’s competence as a lawyer. As Robinson said, “a real lawyer knows how to take care of a legal problem.” At big law, one will see more than enough legal problems and will have to learn how to fiercely defend the interests of various clients. Admittedly, work is hard, and not necessarily moral. A positive side of that amorality is that it makes a big law a great place to learn how to be presence and absence. Another advantage of starting at a big law is the vast number of different practice areas it handles. It opens before would-be-lawyers so many different possibilities, and intentionally exposes them to different practices. I have heard from many visiting lawyers how confident they were in what they wanted to do before going to law firm to actually practice it. Some who started as litigators found they hated litigation and moved to corporate. Some who thought they were corporate people found it boring and moved to litigation. And many of them decided what they would do for career during their 2L summer internship after experiencing real work. This includes lawyers who are still working for big firms, in-house lawyers, and lawyers who eventually moved to public interest. In that sense a big law can be an easier environment to find what one is truly passionate about, what one will do for life. It could be ideal if one realizes what he or she is destined for as soon as possible, but for some, including myself, that moment of enlightenment and determination might come later. And as I already mentioned above, many lawyers seemed to have found it at big laws.
Conclusion
Certainly, I would want to do my own lawyering, not somebody else’s. Nor I want to become like Wylie, a successful and competent lawyer but who does not care what law is, who is not interested in what he does and what he has been doing for living. Yet competence first, choice next. A big law would be a fine place to hone one’s lawyering skill because it will demand competence, ruthlessly. So I am looking forward to the EIP, and hope that I will secure myself a position at a big law, because I first want to become a competent lawyer, before turning into anything else. No doubt I will face some humiliation, but there might be gold in that wreckage. It will be mine.
Reference: Two last sentences of the conclusion were derived from the lyrics of the song by Phoebe Ryan “Mine.” Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXLydu0Gzdo
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