Law in Contemporary Society

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NoahJosephSecondEssay 4 - 03 May 2021 - Main.NoahJoseph
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Lessons After a Year of Law School

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My Career Plans

 
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-- By NoahJoseph - 03 Apr 2021
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-- By NoahJoseph - 02 May 2021
 

Introduction

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Starting law school in August 2020, I was unsure of which area of the law I wanted to practice. Eight months later, I am still quite far from making a final determination on this point. Nevertheless, I have gained deep insights into the ways in which I would like to use my license to practice the law, even if I do not know precisely what practice area I will be working in.
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Having recently finished my first year of law school, I now have a tentative long-term plan for my career. This plan is based primarily on my work experience, 1L classes, and a variety of conversations that I have had with my professors, classmates, and colleagues. Although my plan is subject to change as I continue through law school, my current goals are outlined below.
 
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My Current Plan

 
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My ultimate goal is to run my own public interest practice. The area in which I am most interested in working is immigration law, but I am also interested in human rights, disability rights, and racial and ethnic justice. Beyond these fields, I am interested in exploring a wide variety of practice areas, both within and outside of public interest law.
 
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Values

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Ideally, I would want my practice to be relatively small, as some of my best work experiences have been at small firms. I believe that small firms allow each employee to have a greater impact on the firm’s work. As a result, each employee has more responsibility and will likely feel more inclined to produce better quality work.
 
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As the COVID-19 pandemic upended my plans for 1L and sent me back to my childhood home, I was suddenly presented with the opportunity to reflect more deeply on what truly matters to me. In particular, as I considered the immense loss of life that came with the pandemic, I became increasingly more aware of the limited time I have in my life. With this awareness in mind, I have become more determined not to waste the little time that I have doing something that does not align with my values. In order to avoid such a situation, I have begun to think more closely about which values are most important to me. One of these values can be described as the redistribution of good fortune. Over the course of my lifetime, I have been granted a vast array of incredible opportunities which have led me to Columbia Law. None of these opportunities were the sole product of my own labor, but were mostly afforded to me through factors beyond my control, including the support of my friends and family. Meanwhile, millions of people around the world are suffering from brutal injustices, mostly because they happened to have been born into situations more difficult than my own. While some levels of unfairness and injustice in the world may be inevitable, I want to use my good fortune to temper their effects as much as I can.
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I also want my practice to be financially flexible, such that it can adapt to my changing needs. For example, I may need to support a family at some point, so I want to be able to adjust my practice accordingly.
 
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Another value that I have is providing for my family. I do not plan on getting married or having children for quite some time, but this is something I hope to do at some point in the future. Since my family provided me with many of the opportunities that led me to where I am now, I want to be able to provide any children that I have with similar opportunities.
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Moreover, I hope to live and work in Southern California in the future. I grew up in the Los Angeles area, and most of my family still lives there. As such, I feel very strong ties to this community. I have also begun to make some professional contacts in Southern California through some of my internships.
 
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Long-Term Goals

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A Potential Model

 
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In order to put the redistribution of my good fortune into action, I intend to focus my career on social justice. I want to use my legal education and license to remedy some of the injustices that plague our nation. Clearly, these injustices are manifold, so I must figure out which particular issues I want to focus on.
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In fact, one such internship has provided me with a model for my future practice. During the summers after my sophomore and junior years of college, I interned with a small business immigration firm in Los Angeles. This firm only had three attorneys: a married couple and their son. Despite the small size of this firm, it is very well respected in its field and it does exceptional work for its clients. The lawyers at this firm seem to have the perfect balance between financial success and control over their time. As such, I hope to use this firm as a template for how I will run my own firm in the future.
 
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Beyond this, I also want my practice to be adaptable to fit whatever needs arise in my life. Especially if I end up having a family to take care of, I want to make enough money to provide for them, while also having enough control over my time to respond to their needs. I think that the best way for me to do this would be to run my own small firm.
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Of course, there are certain ways in which my ideal practice would differ from this firm in order to meet my particular needs. For example, although much of this firm’s financial success comes from its work with corporate clients, I would like to incorporate more pro bono work into my practice. Moreover, this firm’s work dynamic was heavily influenced by the fact that all of the attorneys were related to each other. Since there are currently no lawyers in my family, it is unlikely that this will be the case in my own practice. Nevertheless, I do not need to work with family members, and I am prepared to seek future legal partners through other means.
 
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I had the opportunity to observe such a small firm during the summers after my sophomore and junior years of college. Over these summers, I interned with a small business immigration firm in Los Angeles. This firm only had three attorneys: a married couple and their son. Despite the small size of this firm, it is very well respected in its field and it does exceptional work for its clients. The lawyers at this firm seem to have the perfect balance between financial success and control over their time. As such, I hope to use this firm as a template for how I will run my own firm in the future.
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Immediate Concerns

 
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There are certain ways in which I would adjust this firm’s model in order to create a firm that fits my own needs. For example, I would like my firm to incorporate more pro bono work than the aforementioned business immigration firm did. Nonetheless, this firm generally seems to provide its lawyers with the type of lifestyle that I am seeking.
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In order to create my ideal practice, there are a number of tasks that I would like to focus on during the remainder of law school. Foremost among these is determining which practice area I will work in. I intend to do this by speaking with lawyers working in a wide variety of fields. The university frequently hosts events dedicated to this exact purpose, but I have not attended many so far. Hopefully, if these events are in person in the Fall, I will be able to converse with different types of lawyers to see which practice area best suits my interests.
 
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Short-Term Goals

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Additionally, I will be interning at an immigration law firm over the summer, which will hopefully help me determine whether or not I would like to pursue a career in this particular practice area. Moreover, this internship will be in Los Angeles, so it may give me insights into what running an immigration firm in this area would be like.
 
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In order to meet the long-term goals described above, there is much work that I need to do in the remaining years I have in law school. One of the most important tasks I have is to determine what practice area I would like to work in. I intend to do this by speaking with lawyers working in a wide variety of fields. The university frequently hosts events dedicated to this exact purpose, but I have not attended many so far. Hopefully, if these events are in person in the Fall, I will be able to converse with different types of lawyers to see which practice area best suits my interests.
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Moreover, I would like to determine how much money will be enough for me in the future. Once I have more information about this, I can make informed decisions about various details of my practice, including how much pro bono work I can do.
 
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Additionally, I will be interning at an immigration law firm over the summer, which will hopefully help me determine whether or not I would like to pursue a career in this particular practice area. Moreover, this internship will be in Los Angeles, which is an area in which I am considering living in the future. Thus, this summer may specifically help me to determine whether I would be interested in running an immigration firm in the Los Angeles area.
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Finally, I want to continue developing my relationships with my classmates and professors. Hopefully, these relationships will provide me with my future partners and clients.
 
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Finally, another short-term goal that I have is to learn more about what my financial needs might be in the future, and how I can meet these needs. In particular, I want to determine which specific salaries would allow me to live different types of lifestyles. Gaining a deeper understanding of this will help me to make more informed decisions about practically every aspect of my practice, including where I will be able to work and the specific practice area on which I will concentrate.
 
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You can improve this draft by making the writing simpler. Every sentence in each paragraph must add an idea or be removed. Every word in each sentence must be doing work. Take "Finally, another short-term goal that I have is to learn more about what my financial needs might be in the future, and how I can meet these needs." It means, I believe, "I need to know how much money is enough for me." Much of the draft can be reduced to "I am thinking about opening a small immigration practice of my own." These are valuable insights, but they benefit from being put simply, where we can see what they are, rather than being surrounded by padding. There aren't many words necessary to establish that you might have to support a family one day. Boil down what is here, put it in a straightforward arrangement (Why would "long-term goals" precede "short-term goals"?) and then I think it will become clear what questions your essay really needs to ask and begin answering.
 
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NoahJosephSecondEssay 3 - 01 May 2021 - Main.EbenMoglen
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
 

Lessons After a Year of Law School

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You can improve this draft by making the writing simpler. Every sentence in each paragraph must add an idea or be removed. Every word in each sentence must be doing work. Take "Finally, another short-term goal that I have is to learn more about what my financial needs might be in the future, and how I can meet these needs." It means, I believe, "I need to know how much money is enough for me." Much of the draft can be reduced to "I am thinking about opening a small immigration practice of my own." These are valuable insights, but they benefit from being put simply, where we can see what they are, rather than being surrounded by padding. There aren't many words necessary to establish that you might have to support a family one day. Boil down what is here, put it in a straightforward arrangement (Why would "long-term goals" precede "short-term goals"?) and then I think it will become clear what questions your essay really needs to ask and begin answering.

 
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable.
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 \ No newline at end of file
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NoahJosephSecondEssay 2 - 06 Apr 2021 - Main.NoahJoseph
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META TOPICPARENT name="SecondEssay"
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 It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
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 It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
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Paper Title

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Lessons After a Year of Law School

 -- By NoahJoseph - 03 Apr 2021
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Section I

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Introduction

Starting law school in August 2020, I was unsure of which area of the law I wanted to practice. Eight months later, I am still quite far from making a final determination on this point. Nevertheless, I have gained deep insights into the ways in which I would like to use my license to practice the law, even if I do not know precisely what practice area I will be working in.

Values

 
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Subsection A

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As the COVID-19 pandemic upended my plans for 1L and sent me back to my childhood home, I was suddenly presented with the opportunity to reflect more deeply on what truly matters to me. In particular, as I considered the immense loss of life that came with the pandemic, I became increasingly more aware of the limited time I have in my life. With this awareness in mind, I have become more determined not to waste the little time that I have doing something that does not align with my values. In order to avoid such a situation, I have begun to think more closely about which values are most important to me. One of these values can be described as the redistribution of good fortune. Over the course of my lifetime, I have been granted a vast array of incredible opportunities which have led me to Columbia Law. None of these opportunities were the sole product of my own labor, but were mostly afforded to me through factors beyond my control, including the support of my friends and family. Meanwhile, millions of people around the world are suffering from brutal injustices, mostly because they happened to have been born into situations more difficult than my own. While some levels of unfairness and injustice in the world may be inevitable, I want to use my good fortune to temper their effects as much as I can.
 
Added:
>
>
Another value that I have is providing for my family. I do not plan on getting married or having children for quite some time, but this is something I hope to do at some point in the future. Since my family provided me with many of the opportunities that led me to where I am now, I want to be able to provide any children that I have with similar opportunities.
 
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Subsub 1

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Long-Term Goals

 
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Subsection B

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In order to put the redistribution of my good fortune into action, I intend to focus my career on social justice. I want to use my legal education and license to remedy some of the injustices that plague our nation. Clearly, these injustices are manifold, so I must figure out which particular issues I want to focus on.
 
Added:
>
>
Beyond this, I also want my practice to be adaptable to fit whatever needs arise in my life. Especially if I end up having a family to take care of, I want to make enough money to provide for them, while also having enough control over my time to respond to their needs. I think that the best way for me to do this would be to run my own small firm.
 
Changed:
<
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Subsub 1

>
>
I had the opportunity to observe such a small firm during the summers after my sophomore and junior years of college. Over these summers, I interned with a small business immigration firm in Los Angeles. This firm only had three attorneys: a married couple and their son. Despite the small size of this firm, it is very well respected in its field and it does exceptional work for its clients. The lawyers at this firm seem to have the perfect balance between financial success and control over their time. As such, I hope to use this firm as a template for how I will run my own firm in the future.
 
Added:
>
>
There are certain ways in which I would adjust this firm’s model in order to create a firm that fits my own needs. For example, I would like my firm to incorporate more pro bono work than the aforementioned business immigration firm did. Nonetheless, this firm generally seems to provide its lawyers with the type of lifestyle that I am seeking.
 
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Subsub 2

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Short-Term Goals

 
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In order to meet the long-term goals described above, there is much work that I need to do in the remaining years I have in law school. One of the most important tasks I have is to determine what practice area I would like to work in. I intend to do this by speaking with lawyers working in a wide variety of fields. The university frequently hosts events dedicated to this exact purpose, but I have not attended many so far. Hopefully, if these events are in person in the Fall, I will be able to converse with different types of lawyers to see which practice area best suits my interests.
 
Added:
>
>
Additionally, I will be interning at an immigration law firm over the summer, which will hopefully help me determine whether or not I would like to pursue a career in this particular practice area. Moreover, this internship will be in Los Angeles, which is an area in which I am considering living in the future. Thus, this summer may specifically help me to determine whether I would be interested in running an immigration firm in the Los Angeles area.
 
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Section II

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Finally, another short-term goal that I have is to learn more about what my financial needs might be in the future, and how I can meet these needs. In particular, I want to determine which specific salaries would allow me to live different types of lifestyles. Gaining a deeper understanding of this will help me to make more informed decisions about practically every aspect of my practice, including where I will be able to work and the specific practice area on which I will concentrate.
 
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Subsection A

 
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Subsection B

 



NoahJosephSecondEssay 1 - 03 Apr 2021 - Main.NoahJoseph
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META TOPICPARENT name="SecondEssay"

It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.

Paper Title

-- By NoahJoseph - 03 Apr 2021

Section I

Subsection A

Subsub 1

Subsection B

Subsub 1

Subsub 2

Section II

Subsection A

Subsection B


You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. To restrict access to your paper simply delete the "#" character on the next two lines:

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.


Revision 4r4 - 03 May 2021 - 05:23:54 - NoahJoseph
Revision 3r3 - 01 May 2021 - 14:54:24 - EbenMoglen
Revision 2r2 - 06 Apr 2021 - 02:35:15 - NoahJoseph
Revision 1r1 - 03 Apr 2021 - 04:14:57 - NoahJoseph
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