My Journey Towards the Law

-- By JessicaEgbebike - 22 Feb 2021

The Prelude

My First-Generation Experience: Duty to Visit

Growing up, my parents would constantly tell me and my three siblings that they wanted to raise successful professionals. By "successful professionals," it was clear that they meant financially successful doctors, lawyers, or engineers. My parents were born and raised in Nigeria. They spent years applying for visas, in the hopes of obtaining the American Dream, a dream that failed to materialize time and time again. My parents were finally able to emigrate from Nigeria to the United Sates, where they eventually settled in Miami, however it was clear their hearts were still back in Nigeria where their family and friends remained. Ever since I was eight years old, my parents saved all of their disposable income to take my three siblings and me on trips to Nigeria. Despite being raised in the same house my entire life, I have always had one foot in my parents' ancestral home in Aguluzigbo.

Is This What Extreme Guilt Feels Like?

While I have always been incredibly grateful for the perspective my parents have given me, it was hard not to feel torn between the two cultures. One of the biggest differences that struck me from a young age was how much more noticeable poverty is in Nigeria compared to America. Every time I returned to Nigeria, I saw crowds of young children selling newspapers to provide for their entire family—something my father did growing up. It made me feel like I was both helpless in their plight for basic human rights and guilty because I had been taking so many things in my life for granted.

What Can I Do?

The extreme poverty that I saw on my visits back motivated me to volunteer at the Motherless Babies Orphanage in Enugu.

The Orphanage: Part 1

At the orphanage, after the children returned from primary school, I assisted them with their homework, they made fun of my accent, and we would all play a game of soccer. It was astounding to see that even though these children had difficult lives, they were still able to see a silver lining.

The Orphanage: Part 2

I remember one girl, Chinyere, who always had a quick, witty comment to say. Her humor stood out to me and I naturally gravitated towards her. I spent as much time as I could with her, reading, laughing, and—after she told me about her past—crying. I was amazed by her positive perspective on the world even though her mother died in a tragic car accident and her father abused her until abandoning her. Because of her, I returned to the orphanage the next year.

What About Law..

In an effort to do more in America, in college, I volunteered at Southern Legal Counsel (SLC), a local legal aid group. At SLC, the attorneys spoke about their legal experiences, including their fight against the criminalization of homelessness by challenging unconstitutional regulations. When I had a chance at a formal internship with SLC, I jumped at the opportunity.

Is This What Change Looks Like?

When there was a raid on Stranahan Park that restricted community feedings and displaced dozens of vulnerable homeless residents, I investigated and gathered the facts of the case: listening to city council meetings, watching the heartbreaking interviews of those evicted, and conveying information to the attorneys. For weeks, I was knee-deep in Supreme Court cases—researching the validity of city ordinances and briefing the attorneys at SLC on the legality of the disparate impact the city's action had on underrepresented communities in Fort Lauderdale. I was incredibly proud when the 11th Circuit recognized food sharing as protected by the First Amendment, based in part on my research.

In a different case, I was responsible for researching the legality of Florida's anti-panhandling statutes. Motivated by the idea of my father spending days on end panhandling in the streets of Nigeria, I was eager to begin my research. In this role, I brought a unique perspective for protecting people in circumstances my parents had grown out of. After presenting my memorandum about how the ordinances would violate the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments, SLC decided to file a lawsuit to challenge the statutes. After the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida found the statute to violate the First Amendment, I saw firsthand the significant change that could happen through legal efforts. At SLC, both of my aspirations—helping my community and honoring the path my parents want for me—converged and formed my love of the law.

What's Next?

As I continue to discover the impact I could have through the law, my view of practicing the law has broadened, increasing my flexibility in exploring different practice groups. As a first-generation Nigerian-American, I struggle with what I want personally and financially in my career. I only hope that one day, doing what I love will not compromise my chance at being financially secure enough to provide for my family.

This first draft served the essential purpose: it got you to the question. Both as autobiography and as analysis, it refined the issue it only can raise in its last sentence: how do I build a practice in which I can do work that I want and meet my material needs? The brush has now been cleared: you have shown us both why you can frame such a practice, because you know how to combine love of justice with the work ethic that will not only deliver for clients but for yourself. So what remains are the real issues, which lie not in the past but in the future: how to make such a practice and how to use law school to prepare yourself for that building process. That resolves into another layer of fundamental questions:

What do you want to practice about? That includes not only the work in specialties where practicing profitably is hard, and other specialties, where you also enjoy working, that can finance the practice as a whole. Where do you want to work, in real geographic and social space? How do you need to use law school to fit you to get the results you will deliver to clients from your practice, and Who does law school have to help you add to your network who will assist you to deliver those results and to find and be retained by the clients to whom you will deliver them? Finally, How Much does this practice have to produce in order to make it self-sustaining, and to afford you the level of income that will satisfy the need for yourself, for family, etc.? These are the basic objectives on which a strategy to build your practice, from its beginnings in law school to the other end, can be based. The next draft of this essay can't be The Plan, or even the plan to have The Plan, because it's too early. But you can begin to train your imagination, which is all that you need at this stage.

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