Some deliverymen in New York City were getting ripped off by their employer. The guys were working tons of hours and only getting $520 per month from their employer, the Saigon Grill. Turns out that they only made about $2 an hour. They sued with the help of a public interest law organization and won a multi million dollar verdict.
Check out the New York Times story.
This is the kind of thing that makes me excited to practice law!
That's the only explanation I can figure for why we haven't offered the Poverty Law or Consumer Law classes listed in the school catalog I received before I started here. Seems like they listed all these great classes to get me to accept admission, but once I got here, it was only patents, trademarks and 8 sections of legal writing taught by former 7th grade teachers.
Speaking of consumer law, does this sound like the familiar "bait and switch" sales tactic? I wonder if I can force the law school to honor its advertising....
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.
Oh wait, you can't afford to do that. You have student loans and lots of them. This education isn't free kiddo. Yep, we lured you here with high-minded ideas about truth and justice, but we didn't want you to go out and actually help those poor people! We do an annual clothing drive for them, and the 10 sweaters law students donate is enough charity, isn't it? Those clinics happen to focus on social justice issues, but the real purpose is to prepare you to get jobs working at Wal Mart corporate HQ.
You want to work at Legal Aid now? Oh no! You can't do that. See, we made sure that you've got $100,000 in debt. Those Legal Aid people will only pay you $28,000. Do the math bleeding heart liberal - you can't pay back that monstrous debt with $28,000 per year! The joke's on you do-gooder. When we talk about public interest law, we are talking about wanting to help the underprivileged - we don't actually want you to take a job doing that! Wake up and smell the poverty 1L. It's time to sell out.
Why the heck did you take that summer job at Legal Services? They aren't paying you a dime. While your classmates are good little boys and girls and took firm jobs that pay $2,500 a week, we are going to have to give you a $2,500 grant for the whole summer so you can at least pay your rent, you pitiful slacker.
After you graduate, if you keep this up, we will try and make the world think that we give a damn with our lousy LRAP. The year after you are done with this place, we are gonna kick in $978.00 toward your student loans so that the rest of the world thinks we care about you and what you are doing. Don't be fooled we don't. After that, you are on your own. I know that we recruited you saying we wanted our students to be compassionate and go out and make the world a better place, but we didn't mean it. Now buck up and get your ass over to Dewey, Cheatem and Howe and get a real job!
Signed,
Your Law School
The law school is having Community Justice Week, which started today. Basically, it is a public interest oriented week packed with various events. Today, I attended a panel discussion which featured two public interest attorneys. One of them started a public interest firm which provides low-cost legal services on a sliding-scale to people who normally could not afford an attorney. His part of the panel was really interesting. One thing that I really liked: when I asked which classes were most useful during law school, both panelists said that the clinics were the most helpful, and didn't mention a single other substantive law class. They both agreed that taking those classes with a professor who was a practicing attorney or one who actually had a current law license was the most important factor in choosing which classes to take.
