Letter from Oomf #2
To circle back:
Previously, I mentioned I would circle back to my disdain for some of the career avenues my degree has opened up. One of the many troubles I had in the job search, was finding a law firm or place that I felt wasn’t totally evil at its core.
I felt that the big business law firm I briefly worked at in Undergrad was wrong for defending giant companies from “disgruntled employees.” All of this under the veil of “employment law.” Lawyers like to find vague words for what they do to list on their website as “areas of practice.” Obviously there was nothing I could do in my position to change that so going forward, I decided to avoid business law all together. I don’t think there’s really anything that would change my mind on that area of practice, but other areas might make a little more sense.
I remember feeling shocked, but not guilty at all when looking at the numbers big businesses would spend in legal fees when two business would sue each other. These are big corporations after all, sure, they could be using their money to improve their employee’s quality of life, but that’s probably asking too much of a corp. in the first place. They sue and spend gross amounts of money because they can. So maybe working for a business law firm that’s doesn’t do “employment law” wouldn’t be so bad. It would definitely make it easier to leave.
One of the issues I’ve found working for what the industry calls a “public interest firm” is that while its amazing that we get to defend regular people of the public, we also are in a unique position to drain them of their life’s savings. The people who come to us aren’t asking for representation because they want to, the future of their property and health are being threatened by big developments. Sometimes outside agencies that have money will fund peoples causes which in turn fund us to do work, but most of the time those non-profit organizations only fund upper level appeals. How does one get to appeal to higher courts that bring in outside legal funds? Well you’ve got participate in local and state level hearings first, which requires some kind of legal expertise that you will most likely have to pay for yourself or have something so offensively bad get proposed that it makes big noise in environmental circles. These processes can take years and most people just aren’t affluent enough to fight the long fight. As it is, we charge a discounted rate compared to other traditional firms and we still end up having to cut corners to retain clients and save their money.
Secondly, the biggest part of your job as a legal assistant is billing hours. This involves tracking the amount of time you take to do a task for a specific case. Since clients get charged hourly, the more time you take doing a task the more a client will get charged. I feel especially conscious billing my hours here as someone new to the field. Why should someone who’s taking up legal representation out of necessity be charged more because I’m stupid and don’t know how to format a Word document? I would feel less bad if this was just some company who’s mad a different company made some deal.
One more thing about smaller firms: Since most public interest firms operate on lower scales that bigger firms, they are notoriously disorganized (as I’ve learned the hard way), which ends in assistants and attorneys working late nights to keep up with everyone else. I admire everyone who works in the public interest field, but it truly is wearing me down and it’s not just because I’m new. The other legal assistants talk about exhaustion and frustration with what we do. The attorneys are up to their necks in work, sending emails as late as midnight or even later. Truly cutthroat stuff.
Quick quip about Government jobs: These are your City of Austin employment opportunities, Federal level employment, etc. Working with(against) the TC*Q (Texas Commission on **vironmental Quality) at my current job, I’ve learned that most government jobs are essentially pencil pushers. Intensely compartmentalized to the point of isolation. No one knows anything so no one can take responsibility for anything. The big boss commissioners essentially approve nearly every permit that lands on their desk no matter how devastating it will be to the surrounding community and when people like my attorneys decide to sue, they have numerous legal methods of covering their asses. That being said government jobs can provide a lot of stability when it comes to working hours. No working late there…still most likely a no for me though.
Finally, academia. I wouldn’t mind becoming a teacher of some kind, specializing in labor movements or Latine studies like the professor I mentioned in the last letter. I’m just so lost on how to get there. I’m passionate about these things, but another big financial commitment is just sooooo….hard to fathom right now. UT has a popular Latino Studies grad program, but as previously mentioned, saying I’m not sold on UT as an institution would be a gross understatement.
Somebody pooped in the “marketplace of ideas” that Universities are supposed to be, as stated by the Supreme Court. Anyone who speaks up, specifically at UT, is running the risk of losing their job as we’ve recently learned. However, I don’t think losing a job over speaking up about an issue would necessarily blacklist one from other university jobs…maybe.
One can only hope that UT’s marketplace of ideas is just especially pooped in and other marketplaces are less shit from a butt.
Who knows, maybe grad school is in the future for me, but its definitely a few years down the line if it is. No job or university will ever be as impactful as community mobilization, but it’s hard to not be conscious of these things when job hunting. Right now it’s unfortunately less about where my moral lies and more about getting paid more. I hate that I will probably end up having to compromise at some point, but I literally do not know what my other options are.
Best,
Oomf
Song of the letter: