Finding Freedom

-- By ArjanHeir - 26 Feb 2021

Direction

I was surprised in the first week of Legal Methods when the dream of attending CLS turned into a nightmare. My internal direction was insidiously supplanted by external direction. I felt compelled to purse goals that was not mine via means that were not mine. A problem resulted: this external direction was steering me towards a practice that would not meet my intellectual, moral, material, and political needs. Consequently, I would be left feeling depressed, unsatisfied, and trapped, like the majority of lawyers.

I was forced to recognize that part of the problem was me. I was no longer learning for its own sake. Instead, I had joined the competition to gain the accolades that would supposedly impress future employers. Yet, rejecting prepackaged objectives is not the entire solution. Without an external referent, I must set my own endpoint.

Charting a Path Forward

To make law school work for me, I must figure out the practice I desire to build in order to know what I need from my legal education. During the first year of law school, I have determined that I want my practice to include both academic and practical facets. I came to law school, rather than graduate school, to gain a license that could be used to make things happen in society. Thus, although I want scholarship and teaching to be part of my practice, I also want to take on cases and engage in legal work. The challenge I am currently facing is determining what type of legal work I will undertake.

The Practice Area Conundrum

How to proceed? First, I need to narrow my options. My academic career thus far, and indeed my decision to pursue a law degree, has revolved around keeping as many options open as possible. I believe the desire to have options stems, first, from not having a single passion or “raison d’être,” but rather having many diverse, milder interests. In addition, I fear committing to a practice area and then discovering that I do not enjoy it, either because I do not find it intellectually interesting or because the day-to-day work is mundane. As a result, I have successfully delayed committing to a substantive practice area.

I have two more years to remedy this. Part of the solution is for me to remind myself that the license is flexible; a decision today does not have to be binding for life. Similarly, the decision is not binary. A choice to principally practice in one area of law does not foreclose the possibility of taking on smaller, pro bono projects in other areas. Thus, the license can accommodate a number of my varying interests. Furthermore, law school has the resources to help inform my decision. The experiential learning offerings give me the opportunity to “verify” that I enjoy and am well suited to a practice area before fully committing.

A First Pass

With this frame of mind in place, the question turns to which areas of law I ought to test out in the next two years. I am certain that I want to teach, so I will work backwards from my reasons for wanting to teach to reach a decision vis-à-vis a practice area.

I would not be in the privileged position in which I find myself unless I had teachers who made learning enjoyable and believed in me. That is, teachers who were passionate about what they were teaching and committed to making their fields accessible was infectious, and fueled my intrinsic motivation to learn. My professors also opened my eyes to possibilities I was not even aware of. I was genuinely unaware that “normal” people could attend elite institutions until a professor suggested I apply. Had it not been for another’s belief in me, I would not be here. My commitment to teaching reflects my desire to provide the foundation for others to flourish, as my teachers did for me.

While education is one way to provide others with opportunities, my law license can also be used to the same effect. Asylum seekers enter the U.S. to chase the “American Dream” and escape the nightmare of their home countries. Geographic mobility has permitted me to pursue opportunities. This past semester, my moot court problem centered around an asylum case. From an intellectual standpoint, I was engrossed by the questions of what constitutes persecution, rather than harassment, and what minimum level of protection the U.S. requires a foreign government to provide to its citizens. From a personal point of view, the case reminded me of my position of privilege. I was afforded the opportunity to learn by virtue of being lucky to live in country where my safety was assured.

My initial thoughts when I read my moot court record was that I would be challenged to argue the petitioner should be denied asylum after she suffered an abduction, arbitrary searches, and other forms of harassment. I was horrified to read the case law and discover I could relatively easily argue the case against granting asylum; the petitioner’s experience was bad, but not bad enough under American law. Although I have an academic interest in contracts and property, I rarely, if ever, find myself moved to want to achieve the results for either party. Immigration law is different. The decision to grant or deny admission to the U.S. has profound effects on people’s lives.

I hope to have a better grasp on whether I want to pursue a career in immigration law when I participate in the Immigration Defense Externship in the fall. Depending on how I find bringing cases before the Immigration Court and/or Board of Immigration Appeals, I can look towards gaining more hands-on experience in immigration law next summer.

Conclusion

Have I committed to immigration law? No. But by selecting a single area for trial I have begun to take the path towards choosing a practice area and, thus, determining which skills, resources, and people I need from my legal education.

Word Count: 998

• #Set ALLOWTOPICVIEW = TWikiAdminGroup, ArjanHeir
• #Set DENYTOPICVIEW = TWikiGuest

Note: TWiki has strict formatting rules for preference declarations. Make sure you preserve the three spaces, asterisk, and extra space at the beginning of these lines. If you wish to give access to any other users simply add them to the comma separated ALLOWTOPICVIEW list.