In search of a money tree

There's a special aspect of law school unique to those who plan to be public interest lawyers: funding. I spent the better half of the day decked out in my pink bathrobe and surrounded by various iterations of my resume as I tried to finalize my applications for Peggy Browning Fund money. If successful, I could get paid some decent money for the summer doing employment/labor law for a cool legal services company. My preference is actually to get some experience doing immigration work for 2L summer, but if the money's in employment, employment I shall take. (Not actually necessarily true, but for the time being, that's what I'm telling myself.)

I don't generally concern myself too much with OCI or mock interviews, and I'm not on law review. Apart from the fact that very, very few firms (i.e. one hand's worth of fingers) are doing spring OCI at my school, I simply don't have an interest in working for any of the ones that do. I like it that way. If I did, it would complicate things and make my life full of tough decisions. I might actually have to try harder in the "dress like a grown-up" department. I might actually have to manicure my nails regularly. Or maybe not? I really don't know. All I know is that it's not in me to make the effort.

This probably paints a poor picture of public interest law, and fulfills the stereotype of PI as the field for people who aren't good at law school. That's a shame. Because I actually think I'm going to make a damn good lawyer. I am an excellent researcher and I have pretty good writing skills. I'm a creative problem-solver and I LIKE interpreting regulations and statutes. Somebody will be lucky to have me. They just don't know it yet.

I'm just not cut out for the aspects of law that I once thought were the bread and butter of law school (see OCI, law review). Turns out, while those are important and definitely smart ways to get ahead, they aren't the only ways. So I'm off in search of a money tree, doing my volunteer work and talking my enthusiastic talk about 287(g) agreements and OSHA logs, just hoping somebody will notice. That's my job search, in a nutshell. Best of luck in yours!