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> | Make a Choice
-- By WalkerNewell - 17 Apr 2009
Introduction
A law student, Ruth, is at the start of her 3L year, trying to decide whether to accept an offer from the firm where she inevitably summered. She does not want to begin a career as a glorified plumber; rather, she entered law school hoping to eventually be able to somehow transform the world around her. Immaterial to her decision are any subjective moral arguments creating distinctions between corporate or public interest work. Important to her decision is her unique and continually evolving understanding of society and, within said framework, the change she hopes to create.
Of course, Ruth’s initial decisions will not be irrevocable; regardless of what her first job is, her career will likely change course more than once. But this is not to say that the choice is insignificant. Her ability to exert influence in her preferred substance and form will be affected by the decision. Further, her framework of understanding the world will be altered, depending on the job she takes. She cannot retain “unitary”, personal valuations wholly uninfluenced by the character of the enterprise to which she will be devoting most of her waking hours.
It would be presumptuous to assert that our subject can engage in complicated cost-benefit calculations and ultimately succeed in identifying the optimal initial step in her career. But even given the assumptions that will pervade her thought process, she should think about the implications that different choices will have on her ability to create change. Her initial question is, “Should I take the offer from Reputable, LLP?” With consideration, Ruth should be able to identify the character of her prospective job and some effects the decision may have on her overall goals.
"You have time to read?"
The value of taking a diverse methodological approach to lawyering is stressed by Arthur Leff and discussed further here. The character of Ruth’s job at Reputable will make it difficult for her to learn or apply such an approach. To accept the proposition that associates, and partners, at large firms work very hard, she does not need to believe that Joseph’s characters are accurate models. This guide illustrates just how much time is expected of young associates to even achieve the “low” mark of 1800 billable hours. The labor-intensive, pressure-filled lifestyle often compels young associates to leave; in 2007, the NALP found that almost 80% of associates no longer worked at their original firm five years later. Such a lifestyle will leave Ruth with little time to develop skills unrelated to her specialized practice or to gain knowledge relevant to her initial conceptions of change.
"I would prefer not to (be changed by my job)..."
Ruth’s conceptual framework, however, will not simply remain stagnant during the five years between law school graduation and law firm attrition. The culture of the firm and the paradigms of the partner-leaders will inevitably influence Ruth’s ever-changing norms. Depending on her baseline philosophies at the outset of her work, she may experience self-loathing, cognitive dissonance, or peaceful acquiescence. She cannot, however, say: “I would prefer not to be changed by my lifestyle and the content of my work, although I spend 10 hours of each day here.” If Ruth is bothered by the effects the firm has had on her, she may consider finding a new job. Her options, however, may be limited by another characteristic of her lifestyle.
Conspicuous Consumption
“It is notoriously just as difficult to recede from a "high" standard of living as it is to lower a standard which is already relatively low; although in the former case the difficulty is a moral one…” As a first-year associate, Ruth will immediately have a “high” standard of living by any measure. Therefore, if we are to believe Veblen, it will be quite difficult for Ruth to discard the consumptive habits she will form after a few years of firm work. This difficulty, of course, will not affirmatively preclude her from making a drastic lifestyle change by, for example, taking a government job. But even if she finds that her work does not prepare her to achieve her personal vision of change, there will be strong impulses compelling her to remain in a lucrative practice at the expense of forgoing her initial goals.
Make a Choice
As statistics show, Ruth will consider the cautionary tale outlined above, but she will eventually accept her offer from Reputable. This choice, though, is not a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom, especially if her model of influencing the world conforms to the firm’s mission. This is perhaps the most critical aspect of the choice. Ruth, as someone committed to her personalized vision of change, should attempt to work for an organization whose philosophies are closely aligned with her own. No one organization will have an institutional paradigm exactly conforming to Ruth’s values. However, minimizing the importance of prestige and salary in the calculation could lead her to a job that does not necessitate a sea change in her basic worldview.
Ruth could easily encounter the same problems if she chooses a job outside the firm arena. Potentially, the issues surrounding a future change in consumptive habits and the volume of work would be mitigated by such an alternative choice. But her “autonomous” model of change must necessarily be altered by whatever work she does. Any novice lawyer, with few skills and no experience, will have to take a great deal of direction from on high. Therefore, Ruth’s goal of creating change in her preferred substance and form will be best served if she finds an organization that, while sharing her central ideals, also permits her to have some stake in decision-making, a reasonable amount of time outside of work to read and think, and the ability to cultivate a broad range of skills. With these relative freedoms, Ruth can prepare for the likely contingency of changing jobs, building on her multifaceted understanding of the world and experiencing a minimum level of interference with her most fundamental principles.
ORIGINAL PAPER BELOW
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