Advice for 0L deciding on career in public interest law Forum

[estquigley]

Hello everyone,

I am currently a 4th year undergraduate at a top public school entering my 5th year. The reason for this is because I decided to leave the pre-medical track during the beginning of my senior year. In short, I've decided that medicine is perhaps not the way that I would like to have my impact on people. I have always been an avid reader of classical literature and philosophy, and really been displeased at the fact that I've lacked the time to read for fun due to the busyness of my pre-medical studies.

In a career, I would like to have a broad exposure to people from many different walks of life, learn about their lives, and be involved in helping them to live more happily. I would really like to be a positive influence and "heal their minds", if I may. Through my experiences, I've developed an attraction towards the idea of defending people's rights, particularly those related to poverty, education, and other inequalities. I feel like education particularly lies at the root of some larger-scale problems, and that improved access to quality education would indirectly alleviate them. I would like to be involved in a career which really promotes the advancement of opportunities, and allows others to live in ways that many of us are used to, with much unhindered growth, at least relatively speaking. The lack of opportunities of many is something that is very salient to me.

Here is the difficult part of my situation: I am potentially leaving a career choice which is very high paying, and very secure. Before become disinterested in a medical education, I achieved an MCAT score over the 95th percentile. However, I could find no way to justify my becoming a doctor until recently, which I will explain. I just felt like if I were to become a doctor, everyday I would think about how I might be missing out on doing "what I really wanted to do", which to me, means to use my skills as a people-person, leader, communicator, and one is very curious about the humanistic side of things.

I've been trying to do research on the role of a lawyer in public interest. I would really like to use my skills and abilities (double major in cell and molecular biology and philosophy) to become an architect of society (maybe this sounds Platonic, but I don't think that there is a best way to live, but many ways to flourish, and possibly many ways to be deprived). I just want to feel connected to many different things, and many different people. I would like to to promote the greater good, perhaps through supporting the ideals of justice and equality. I don't want to just put people behind bars, or reapportion money to the affected parties of lawsuits, but would like to be involved in shaping society to provide a greater future for all. Obviously, I am not aware of what kind of role that I would play in all of this. It all sounds very idealistic, and very broad, but I am still just a developing student.

I'm not really sure who exactly I would like to be like, but some of my role models are people like Catharine MacKinnon, Elizabeth Anderson, John Rawls, and Martha Nussbaum, on paper at least. I am not really looking towards a career in academia, but I understand that there must be people situated beneath these thinkers to interpret their messages, and hopefully, apply them in ways that will benefit society.

Today, I stumbled upon these articles, about earning to give:

http://qz.com/57254/to-save-the-world-d ... ll-street/

http://80000hours.org/earning-to-give?_ ... 1399672039

Basically, the idea is, if you make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on Wall Street, or as a medical professional, you could pay the salaries of a few non-profit, or public interest workers, out of the amounts of your donations. The authors of the article argue that you would have more success this way in achieving your underlying goals.

A tough decision lies ahead of me, that is, to become a doctor, make 200-400k a year doing something that would satisfy me, but not completely, and donate a large portion of it to good causes, or go to law school, find a job in public interest, and be involved in peoples' lives in a way that would really stimulate the whole of my person. Without thinking too deeply about it, I feel like in general, the best thing to do is to follow your heart. But I am trying to weigh what is sensible against what I feel like I truly desire, and it seems difficult, and unclear at best. Tentatively, I feel like the answer is to do what I really want to do, and pursue the career which allows me to relate to others in the way that I would want to, and not to choose some career as a secondary means to my ends, even if they are the ends which I wish to bring about.

I that think the next sensible step for me should be shadowing some Public Interest Lawyers.

However, I would like to ask current lawyers working in public interest about what they think I should do. Do you feel like you are making an impact in your job? Do you think there is a better way of accomplishing your goals? Does it take money to really "get things done"? How do you feel about the progress that you've made in your current career?

Sorry about the excessively long post. I know that I alone am in the best position to reflect upon all of my experiences and disposition, and ultimately make the best decision, but I was wondering what kind of advice I could get from people on this forum. I realize that I may receive a good amount of cynical responses, but I was hoping there would be a few helpful perspectives.

Thank you all.