Will I be able to find fulfilling employment? Forum

[BaiAilian2013]

You seem to have unusually high standards for what qualifies as a fulfilling job. This makes me think you are either wealthy or a k-jd (maybe on the young side). The number of people who feel a fiery passion about their jobs is much smaller than the number of people who at least mildly enjoy their jobs, and I think you're pretty lucky if you clear that lower threshold.

I don't feel any moral passion about sudoku (because that would be stupid), but I still really enjoy doing it. That's basically how I feel about my job, and I consider myself very happy and lucky. I've also had a lot of jobs I hated so much I don't even like to think about them, so that helps. If you don't actually need to work, then you do you, but otherwise I would suggest managing your expectations about jobs and what they should mean to people.

[NotMyRealName09]

Nobody just practices first amendment law. First you become a civil litigator, then over time you specialize and narrow your expertise, and probably start writing articles about the subject, and then, maybe, someone Google's, finds your article, has a legit issue, then calls you, and take it on while also working on other cases.

When I applied to lawachool, I think my application essay said I wanted to help the poor and those without access to legal services. Now I realize those clients don't have money, and I need money to live.

Your post reads like this - "I want to be a firefighter who only fights fires in tall buildings. Yet in order to get there, I have to learn how to give CPR, save cats, and fight small fires in storage sheds. That sounds boring to me. Therefore I'm going to give up on my dreams while I look for a life goal that doesn't require hard work or sacrifice before I reach the pinnacle."

Idealism is great, but you're earning a professional degree because you want a career. Have a goal, but realize baby lawyers have to take baby steps to even figure out how to file a pleading, let alone start arguing about the constituition. If you want to change the world, fantastic, never let it go. But first you gotta pay the light bill.

You don't strike me a "drop out" candidate. You're just becoming jaded by the reality of the profession. Welcome.

[Anonymous User]

You seem to have unusually high standards for what qualifies as a fulfilling job. This makes me think you are either wealthy or a k-jd (maybe on the young side). The number of people who feel a fiery passion about their jobs is much smaller than the number of people who at least mildly enjoy their jobs, and I think you're pretty lucky if you clear that lower threshold.

That's not it. I'm looking for something I have a fiery passion about because I'm so ill-suited for law school and the legal profession that I worry that some motivation like that is the only thing that will keep me from being completely buried by the competition. If I were better at this stuff, or had enough money to keep pursuing a career I'll probably never be good at, I wouldn't care so much about finding motivating work.

Your post reads like this - "I want to be a firefighter who only fights fires in tall buildings. Yet in order to get there, I have to learn how to give CPR, save cats, and fight small fires in storage sheds. That sounds boring to me. Therefore I'm going to give up on my dreams while I look for a life goal that doesn't require hard work or sacrifice before I reach the pinnacle."

I just want to make sure that the pinnacle exists! First Amendment Law is pretty much a complete fantasy for me- I never thought of it as a real possibility. Employment law is more what I'm actually working towards but I wonder if that's unrealistic too.

[Anonymous User]

OP I think you need to figure out whether you're ok with employment law in general, because you'll find it nearly impossible to immediately get into exactly the area you want.

I never expected to immediately stumble into the best and most personally fulfilling practice. I'd be fine starting out in a broader area of law and specializing as I go along. My worry is that I'll never work the kind of cases I described because they might not exist, even in the states where they are possible, or they might be so rare that I shouldn't expect to ever work on one.

But these notions of what can and cannot be said comes up often. For example, when can an employee speak negatively about her employer on Facebook?

Do employees in any state ever have a legal remedy when they get terminated for publicly criticizing their employer? I thought such cases were pretty limited. The stuff I was talking about is when somebody gets fired for saying something online that is completely unrelated to their employer or anyone they work with. That's what really gets me worked up, but I'd like to represent employees in the kind of cases you described too.

Its very often a cloudy issue and depends entirely on the circumstances. What if that employee posted a gripe on FB about his employer being cheap and paying low wages, and then other employees comment and join and they all start griping about the low wages? That may very well be protected, concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act (whether they are union employees or not). The situation can change immensely based on small tweaks in the facts. Again, almost none of it 1st Amendment related, but much of it related to what people can and cannot say.

[Anonymous User]

That's interesting. I read a little bit about that on an employment law blog.

I should clarify that when I say I'm interested in First Amendment law, I'm really trying to say I'm interested in law pertaining to speech in general. I'm just too ignorant to know how else to phrase it.

[dixiecupdrinking]

How about whistleblower protection stuff?

[Anonymous User]

That's interesting. I read a little bit about that on an employment law blog.

I should clarify that when I say I'm interested in First Amendment law, I'm really trying to say I'm interested in law pertaining to speech in general. I'm just too ignorant to know how else to phrase it.

So then give labor & employment a try and see how you like it.

[AReasonableMan]

If it's just a confidence thing, and you feel that the only way to compensate for your perceived shortcomings is passion you can take a broadened perspective, and learn to apply that passion to other subjects.

Also, passion quickly has a point of diminishing returns in a game that rewards clear thinking and analysis. You should focus on yourself and your own exams, and take solace in the fact that most of the other people probably aren't as smart as you think they are. You're probably just not used to being surrounded by so many hardworking well educated people. If you weren't able to compete with them you wouldn't have gotten into the school.

[NotMyRealName09]

If it's just a confidence thing, and you feel that the only way to compensate for your perceived shortcomings is passion you can take a broadened perspective, and learn to apply that passion to other subjects.

Also, passion quickly has a point of diminishing returns in a game that rewards clear thinking and analysis. You should focus on yourself and your own exams, and take solace in the fact that most of the other people probably aren't as smart as you think they are. You're probably just not used to being surrounded by so many hardworking well educated people. If you weren't able to compete with them you wouldn't have gotten into the school.

Jesus Christ I'm motivated as hell right now, I like this and I'm years removed from school, because its both depressing yet practical. No joking.

Like with a doctor - to a point you don't want your doctor emotionally invested in you, you just want them to play mechanic. If the cancer doctor cried everytime he saw cancer, he'd be a bad doctor. Also, I hope my cancer doctor has seen a shit-ton of cancer before he sees me. Fucked up when I type that.