To be honest, I sometimes feel uncomfortable when Professor Moglen mentions that his former students were fired from law firms. Today, I was once again intimidated by the number he wrote on the board, but at the same time, I thought that just because people are losing their jobs, doesn’t necessarily mean that they made a wrong choice. After all, lawyers aren't the only people who are losing their jobs these days. It’s the economy that cut the number of jobs the employers can provide. Public interest organizations are laying off lawyers too. So what should we do? Today in the class, Professor Moglen gave us an answer: establish your own organization and find people who are willing to invest for the work you want to do to help people. But didn’t he also emphasize the importance of training and mentorship that most law firms apparently don’t provide? Even if we could find the right professors and role models while we are at a law school, I don’t think training at school will be sufficient for us to set up our own business right after graduation and survive in the real world. I also don’t think people who are willing to offer money for a cause would trust any inexperienced graduates. Are we all supposed to turn ourselves into entrepreneurs and sell our ideas?

-- SoeJungKim - 01 Apr 2009

To be fair, I don't think Prof. Moglen (should I say Eben? I want to observe the class norms, but I also want to observe the traditional proprieties where it's warranted) meant to say that establishing our own organization is the only desirable way out of the bind we're in. What I'm taking from the course is that spending our time developing an individualized area of expertise, both through the resources available here and through our summer employment, is a very good start. Having done so, striking out on our own might be an option, depending on how far along we are at graduation, but we'll also be in demand with existing organizations whose missions we can assist, and who can provide us with additional training, perhaps leading to future opportunities.