Boot camp conjures the notion, at least for me, of certain high-ranking officials constantly telling you that what you are trying to do cannot be done. Many enlisted men and women who attempt physical feats of strength are forced to endure the additional pain of being discouraged and criticized while doing it. They are begged to quit, go home and follow the path of every other civilian; being a soldier is not the faint of heart. Boot camp is not only to make sure that one can endure the possible pain on the battlefield, but also to test one’s determination and resilience in the face of defeat. Many fall by the wayside; only the strongest persevere.
In many ways, the first year of law school has been like boot camp for social justice lawyers. 1L year has not only tested many law students’ academic prowess in completing the required work, but also has forced many to wonder whether the legal profession is everything that they thought it would be when first started. 3Ls can be overheard boasting about their $150,000+ post-graduation salary; professors talk about getting the prime judicial clerkship or firm job that rocketed them to their position today, as opposed to working at a public interest firm doing human rights work or otherwise. Making the big bucks and working at the big firms is reinforced as what defines a successful lawyer. Any student coming into law school with notions of changing the world is a fish trying to swim upstream, bound to be swept downriver by the cachet and glamour of the private sector.
I began law school as one of those students, wanting to change the world by unifying people and cultures and working towards Martin Luther King and Gandhi’s dreams of a brotherhood among men. My law school application’s personal statement even reads:
By creating laws that represent different points of view on a level playing field, by weighing the balances of justice, the various legal systems around the world can facilitate, motivate and obligate people to respect one another or in other words, to abide by the golden rule. The law continues to provide the framework and positive driving force compelling the recognition of the greater good that connects us all. Thus, I have decided to dedicate my life to the pursuit of justice because the law offers the greatest capacity to realize a unified global community: a world where my children and grandchildren can transcend the concept of national, cultural and racial limitations and live in one united world where high moral conduct, collaboration and reverence for all life abound.
That personal statement certainly exudes the characteristic idealism of a future social justice and human rights lawyer. But has the law school broken me down like yet another enlisted man in boot camp?
While I am proud to say that I do maintain the same idealism I have always had, I must admit that my perception of the legal system has evolved as a result of my internship and through the law school experience. I had always fervently believed that justice was always served in the courts, that lawyers were representatives of the principles of equality, freedom and respect that the United States was founded on. Working at Catholic Charities has shown me however, that much of law-making can be very arbitrary and capricious: one unaccompanied alien minor might be deported simply because the judge, who enjoys a great deal of discretion, might simply be having a bad day; a man who almost certainly will be killed if he is returned to his home country will be prevented from gaining asylum because he filed his application after the one-year deadline. Injustice persists even in this country.
In immigration, for example, I have observed that representation and assistance of counsel to immigrants is a serious flaw in the system in need of reform. In New York City in 2009, 60 percent of detained immigrants did not have counsel; neither did 27 percent of non-detained immigrants who appeared in immigration court, according to government statistics. Because judges are given an enormous amount of discretion in these courts and immigration judges have incredibly full dockets (sometimes exceeding 2,000 cases), immigrants without legal assistance are left to fend for themselves, usually without a firm grasp even of the English. As a result, as one can easily imagine, immigrants representing themselves are facing a steep uphill battle.
But sometimes even people with an earnest desire to help become overwhelmed with the flaws of the system. One such helper, a priest named Father Bob, with no legal training or expertise had seen the lack of assistance for immigrants and had decided to assist them in their cases. However, as Father Bob continued to work and saw the gaping hole in representation for immigrants, he began to take case after case, refusing to decline anyone. As a result, as of June 2010, he had amassed 761 working cases. With so many clients, even with his compassion and desire to help, his work began to slip and he began to fail his clients by not advising them of deadlines. As a result, he has recently been barred from representing immigrants at all. For more information about Father Bob, check out the following website:
While of course I would never condone people who fail to adequately represent their clients, Father Bob’s situation underscores the work of public interest lawyers who struggle in the fight to reform backwards policies and under-represented groups. Sometimes one’s passion and dedication seems to be simply not enough.
In spite of all of this, I continue to be steadfastly committed to changing the world through the legal process because I firmly believe that lawyers are soldiers on the front lines of Martin Luther King’s “radical revolution of values.” I now approach law school as a test of will power: the many challenges that law school puts in my way only make my determination to help others stronger because so many others fall by the wayside. I realize that I am a soldier of change and that my country, my brothers and all those who depend on an equal access to justice depend on me. These tests will ensure that I can endure the battle for social justice. The path to achieving the unified global community that I seek may be, by most accounts, near impossible, but at least I know that if I pass this law school boot camp, that possibility of change still exists.
Do you have what it takes?
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