Law in Contemporary Society

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LissetteDuranFirstPaper 5 - 08 Jun 2012 - Main.LissetteDuran
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Contributing Member of Society

-- By LissetteDuran - 16 Feb 2012

I have lived in a one-bedroom apartment with four other people.

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<		And I have fallen asleep to the gentle sway of my classmate’s yacht.
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>		I have fallen asleep to the gentle sway of my classmate’s yacht.
 I have gone hungry.
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<		And I have had dinner with President Clinton at Madison Square Garden.
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>		I have had dinner with President Clinton at Madison Square Garden.
 I have had to share textbooks in a classroom of 40 students. And I have watched the stars, in astronomy class, through my personally assigned telescope.
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<		I have done a lot of things. But no one experience, event, or interest defines me. I believed that in law school I would acquire more interests and find more ways to get involved and learn. Yet the mythical dichotomy that exists here is daunting. Not only do they make you believe that you have to choose one—either public interest or corporate law—but you also have to choose quickly. It seems as though students’ minds are made up as soon as they pick up their CLS book bag from orientation.
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>		I have done a lot of things. But no one experience, event, or interest defines me. I believed that in law school I would acquire more interests and find more ways to get involved and learn. Yet the mythical dichotomy that exists here is daunting. Not only do they make you believe that you have to choose one—either public interest or corporate law—but you also have to choose quickly. It seems as though students’ minds have to be made up as soon as they pick up their CLS book bag from orientation.
 The question posed is always the same: Are you going to help the poor and be a contributing member of society, or are you going to help the rich get richer? But it has never been that simple. I refuse to look at the world in such a binary when I am walking proof that there is some gray.
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 And then I became a member of a more affluent one. I have classmates that are CEOs of companies. I have friends who take spontaneous vacations to Europe over the weekends. I watch Broadway shows from the orchestra level. And I have watched my mom use the $250 bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label in our closet to sweeten her morning coffee. I have learned a lot from this community too. For one, it helped me realize that the world was bigger than my backyard. I learned what you could do with extra and what it was like not to need.
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<		And I want to continue to be part of both. Before law school, I traversed these communities almost seamlessly. I would go from a trip to the Hamptons with my Andover classmates to running through open fire hydrants on the corner with my friends from the block. I could go from my suit and Movado watch to my Jordans and hoop earrings. My involvement in one never jeopardized my existence in another. I was able to bring what I learned from one community to enrich and inform the other.
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>		Law school makes it a problem for me to continue to be part of and contribute to both. Before law school, I traversed these communities almost seamlessly. I could tell my high school and college classmates about running through open fire hydrants on the corner and about the drug dealers on the corner. And my Washington Heights friends loved hearing about the roundtable discussions with famous people and the Hamptons trips (and that the affluent, too, had their share of problems). My involvement in one never jeopardized my existence in another. I was able to bring what I learned from one community to enrich and inform the other.
 Yet law school’s definition of contribution is so rigid. Apparently they are mutually exclusive—you can only contribute to one at a time. Thus, here I find myself hastily trying to choose between my communities. Should I strike with my father or should I sit there angrily as the other students do because they are interrupting? In a way I feel like I am splitting before I even take the job that has me on the wrong side at two in the morning.

Revision 5r5 - 08 Jun 2012 - 14:22:52 - LissetteDuran
Revision 4r4 - 06 May 2012 - 01:06:50 - LissetteDuran
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