We've tentatively defined lawyering as "making something change in society using words." I think about this a lot, both in and out of class. Obviously, there are many ways to make change in society using words; this is something not only good lawyers, but also good journalists and novelists do. For me, that raises the question: what can lawyers contribute to making social change that novelists and journalists can't? Does our usefulness lie in our knowledge of, and proximity to, structures of power?

I bring this up because the groundwork for many of the prominent social reforms of the last century seems to have been laid by other kinds of writers -- Rachel Carson and Upton Sinclair, for instance. In the realm of foreign policy, simply by showing people what was really going on, journalists helped turn American public opinion decisively against the Vietnam War. This seems to have impacted Vietnam policy, and foreign policy in general, far more effectively than lawyers ever could have.

Of course, these other kinds of writers write for a popular audience, while lawyers seem to write mainly for other lawyers, so it's understandable that their achievements are more visible to someone like me. Still, I wonder if this prominence corresponds with their greater real power to make change happen. In Arnold's terms, they seem to be able to challenge, or even alter, the popular "myths" that lawyers have to operate within. In any case, I want to know what we can accomplish that the novelists and journalists can't. What do you think?

-- MichaelHolloway - 10 Mar 2009