Law in Contemporary Society

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JulieMinFirstEssay 8 - 14 Jun 2021 - Main.JulieMin
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Creatively Envisioning my Practice

Reflection of My Inner Soul at Law School

Helplessness Due to Loss of Motivation

Last fall, I felt skeptical and helpless of choosing to attend law school. I neither was interested in law nor dreamed of becoming a lawyer. I simply wanted a “stable” job that would not require any financial knowledge as I hated numbers. Therefore, I was relieved when admitted to the law school with great employment prospects.

However, learning about the reality of big-law firms and associates’ work-life balance, my immediate response to the fear and anxiety was to drop out. But I had already paid for my tuition and did not want to waste my years-worth of effort of vigorously preparing for law school. Thus, I pushed through a semester, unclear of why I had to attend classes. My internal conflict thus created a mental split between my struggle to not give up and the desire to put an end to a purposeless struggle. To make the “split feel less tearing”—borrowing from Professor Moglen’s words—I relied on alcohol to make it to the end of the semester.

The Initial Shallow Attempt at Solving My Cognitive Dissonance

Applying to Columbia Law, I wrote in my personal statement North Koreans face significant challenges in South Korea, and that I want to pursue a legal education to help these re-settlers frame their past sufferings as human rights violations, mobilizing them to call for reforms in the South Korean government’s resettlement program. This was my personal narrative that I carved out for myself and convinced myself to be my true passion.

Even when I was writing the first draft of this essay, I wrote that my creative attempt at solving my cognitive dissonance was to follow my “passion”, which I defined as refugee empowerment. As an East Asian Studies major, I engaged in North Korean refugee policy related extra-curriculars for years—volunteering at North Korean refugee organizations and interning at legal NGOs serving North Korean refugees. I had internally convinced myself that—as an East Asian Studies major who was born and raised in Seoul—this specialization would make me a unique candidate both as an applicant and student at law school.

Thus, when Professor Moglen pointed out that my purpose to pursue a US law degree would only be “very peripherally associated” and “doesn’t involve practicing US law”, it was the first time I honestly questioned myself: was I consciously conditioning myself to a set “passion” that would conveniently reassure myself I have a set path ahead of me? Something not big law, something public interest related, and something involving a field I would have more experience than others and have more specialty in. I also think my inner moral compass led me to believe that for my law degree to hold value, it must in some way serve the victimized minorities of society.

Redesigning my Path

My Passion for Wine

But really, when someone asks me what makes my eyes light up, and what makes me zone in so strongly that I lose track of time, I always answer “wine tasting”. During and after college, I studied extensively for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and bartending exam, learning the history and processes of wine making, various regions and wineries that produce grapes, as well as tasting note distinctions for wine varieties. My dream has always been to become a professional sommelier. However, raised by strict Asian parents who constantly told me the money they have invested in my education would go to waste if I were to pursue a non-academic path, and already having built my career for law school for almost a decade, I have for years shoved my greatest passion in the back of my mind and merely regarded wine-related activities as a side “hobby” of mine.

Representing Beverage Clients

With my US law degree, I want to represent beverage clients. Law and regulations apply to all steps of producing, distributing, selling, marketing, and advertising alcohol beverages—including wine. I want to represent various clients such as but not limited to importers, wineries, wholesalers, and unlicensed third parties. These parties are subject to various regulatory investigations under the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau as well as various state alcohol legislations. With my enthusiasm and knowledge of global wines and wineries, coupled with personal experience as a bartender and somelier-trainee, representing clients and providing regulatory or licensing guidelines will instill within me purpose and professionalism of working in the beverage industry. I also want to facilitate global import of more diverse wines to the US by representing wineries in purchasing and selling businesses in transactional sales and mergers.

Looking Forward

Even until the second semester of law school, I never imagined I could build my own legal career and link it to my non-academic passion. Knowing now that I can, I am excited but simultaneously scared. While following the traditional big law path would provide me with countless mentors in the industry, this new challenge pushes me to carve out my own path and take greater initiative, as opposed to merely hopping on the big-law associate producing assembly line.

But my fear is what most stifles my growth. Yes, I have never professionally worked with lawyers in the beverage industry, my business plans are not yet “concrete”, and I lack detailed knowledge of how wine import regulations work. It is not that these anxieties or doubts are invalid—in fact, they are practical concerns worth keeping in mind. However, the most important thing to not succumb to such fear. I will accept these challenges and use them as a motivation to more specifically design my practice. As Professor Moglen has advised, it is my job to “revise, reconsider, and redefine” individual decisions in envisioning my career, and my practice is an evolving one. I am thus proud to have completed the first step to building my practice—creatively and autonomously envisioning my legal roadmap.


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Revision 8r8 - 14 Jun 2021 - 08:07:58 - JulieMin
Revision 7r7 - 19 May 2021 - 07:27:07 - JulieMin
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