Law in Contemporary Society

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WhenTheEmptinessSwallowsYouWhole 3 - 18 Feb 2010 - Main.JessicaCohen
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 *So I found this article "When the Emptiness Swallows You" on abovethelaw.com today. It was written by a former big firm lawyer who went to NYU law school and now is a psychotherapist. I think it's relevant to what we've been talking about in class. Just wanted to post for people's reading pleasure/displeasure.

I've cut and pasted the text of the article here because I don't know if it will remain the top part of the blog's homepage so this just makes it easier for access. I bolded quotes I found interesting.

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 Unfortunately, this scenario happens all too often (including an attorney I worked for while a paralegal), and it begs the question which none of us can answer (yet) except Eben- what is it that makes working at a big law firm so depressing? Is it just the hours? The work you're doing, or who you're doing it for? The knowledge that you could be doing so much more but aren't? Plenty of people work crappy jobs that they hate, but it seems corporate lawyers are disproportionately affected. I know none of us (except maybe any LLMs out there) can answer the question, and perhaps it's different for everyone, but I do wonder what it is about BigLaw that makes it so much worse than most other jobs.

-- RorySkaggs - 17 Feb 2010

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Maybe this is essentialist or reductionist (etc) but I think it has something to do with what Eben discussed a few weeks ago -- we're for the most part creative, free-thinking, generally liberal, and seeking justice when we enter law chool. I think that what's so depressing about "BigLaw" is the awareness (on the part of the attorneys) that the spirit and promise and ideals they used to have - or have somewhere buried very very deeply - are completely irrelevant and even undesired. That's what I'm most afraid of, at least.

-- JessicaCohen - 18 Feb 2010

 
 
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Revision 3r3 - 18 Feb 2010 - 01:57:51 - JessicaCohen
Revision 2r2 - 17 Feb 2010 - 21:54:34 - RorySkaggs
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