Whatever happened to the do gooders?

My friend Erlignition posted about the rise and fall of the public interest folks at our law school here.

My response:

...as one of the people who spent last year trying to get a better LRAP (and found that the school just really doesn't give a damn in any meaningful way), I felt fear in my heart when I realized that I was going to be very very poor upon graduation and that all my classmates were not. I felt bummed that the definition of success around this school (and to many family and friends) is a big firm job that sounds prestigious and pays a lot of cash. Despite that, I still couldn't swing applying to one. I did, however, apply to a handful of small plaintiff's firms that actually PAY MONEY to summer help. Working for free is great, but it sure doesn't pay the bills! I also did the unthinkable to many of my classmates: I got a part time job!

I think that many in our class have persuaded themselves that they are taking these high paying summer associate positions so that they can "afford to work in public interest after graduation." For some reason, I just don't think that's true. I think they are kidding themselves. The same way that I was by not admitting that I wanted the recognition from my peers and others that would come if I tried for and got a prestigious firm job. For some reason, getting paid a ton of money a year for what amounts to having 2 full time jobs after graduation makes people think that you are really smart, while working in public interest makes people...well, I don't know what people think about that. In the end, I have decided to follow my gut. My gut led me here to law school, and it has been more reliable than the public service pronouncements of my classmates. :)

I don't know, because we don't see it very often. Usually for law students like for the rest of the country, greed and consumerism rule and doing the right thing is relegated to rhetoric.

Tiny Bookstore Manager makes over $50,000???

While I was looking for information on professor's salaries, I found the IRS Form 990 (Statement of income, expenses, etc for a 501(c)(3) org) for the law school's tiny little bookstore.

Turns out that the manager of the bookstore only works 35 hours a week and makes $52,000 plus $10,000 in contributions to his/her retirement plan.

The bookstore is only open for 5.5 hours a day most of the year. The only time I see it as being busy is at the beginning of the semester when all of us buy our books for the semester. I have purchased stuff from the bookstore before, and was always waited on by someone who looked like a student getting work-study.

Here is a damn good question: Why isn't the manager the one working the counter if she is getting paid so much? I would like to offer to take her job for $45,000. The school would save $5K a year, and I would have a job that is likely to be more lucrative than the public interest position I intend to pursue after graduation.

Better yet, perhaps we should just buy our books from the University Bookstore, located less than a block away and eliminate the law school bookstore entirely. I might end up paying 2% more for books, but I would also be able to pay with a credit card and be able to shop from 8 am until 8 pm or so (more than 7 hours longer than I can here).

As a bonus, the school could take the $60,000 they are saving (not to mention the cost of the student help and other operations costs) and put it into the LRAP every year. This would more than triple the amount that they could give to public interest students.

What is more of a social value - law students avoiding a block-long stroll to the bookstore, or us encouraging and fostering public interest work?

Seems that this school is choosing the former.