LAW PUNDIT Tuesday, November 23, 2004 11/23/2004 10:11:00 PM [Home]
Public vs. Private Interest Law - a Matter of Money?
Public vs. Private Interest Law - a Matter of Money?
ambivalent imbroglio comments in depth on a posting by Jeremy Blachman about not going to work for a large law firm, discussing therein the demands on time made by large law firms and the monetary differences between jobs in public and private interest law.
amibivalent imbroglio writes in his posting "Public Interest Law: It's Not About You":
"And a good way to see the difference is to stop asking what a particular job can do for you, and ask instead what a job could allow you to do for other people. That makes the differences more clear for me, anyway."
To which the LawPundit would add three rhetorical questions:
Is it not a fact - by definition - that the MORE we are paid, the MORE we are doing for others?
Is it not a fact that the MORE we do "our own thing", the less we are generally paid?
Do not some idealistically inspired people (doing their own thing "100%") even work for nothing? (Bloggers come to mind).
There is a common misconception that people who get paid well are working MORE for themselves and those who get paid LESS are working more for the community. But this is simply not true. Generally, the reverse applies.
There is a general wisdom about getting rich: "Go out and observe your fellow men and then give them what they want or need and you will be wealthy". And also this is true.
He who follows his "own" path will generally not be rewarded for it by others, unless somewhere down the road other people observe that the selfishly chosen path also provides THEM with a benefit, e.g. iconoclastic inventors, pioneering entrepeneurs, the rare genius, etc.
Some artists, for example, become rich and famous in the course of their careers for doing their thing (very seldom), but most are starving, whereas "commercial artists" make a good living. Indeed, many of the great masters painted portraits of the rich and the famous - for cash - during their lifetime.
The trouble with work for large law firms is that one has to GIVE a lot to GET a lot. That is all.
That's life.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 11/23/2004 10:11:00 PM
Public vs. Private Interest Law - a Matter of Money?
Public vs. Private Interest Law - a Matter of Money?
ambivalent imbroglio comments in depth on a posting by Jeremy Blachman about not going to work for a large law firm, discussing therein the demands on time made by large law firms and the monetary differences between jobs in public and private interest law.
amibivalent imbroglio writes in his posting "Public Interest Law: It's Not About You":
"And a good way to see the difference is to stop asking what a particular job can do for you, and ask instead what a job could allow you to do for other people. That makes the differences more clear for me, anyway."
To which the LawPundit would add three rhetorical questions:
Is it not a fact - by definition - that the MORE we are paid, the MORE we are doing for others?
Is it not a fact that the MORE we do "our own thing", the less we are generally paid?
Do not some idealistically inspired people (doing their own thing "100%") even work for nothing? (Bloggers come to mind).
There is a common misconception that people who get paid well are working MORE for themselves and those who get paid LESS are working more for the community. But this is simply not true. Generally, the reverse applies.
There is a general wisdom about getting rich: "Go out and observe your fellow men and then give them what they want or need and you will be wealthy". And also this is true.
He who follows his "own" path will generally not be rewarded for it by others, unless somewhere down the road other people observe that the selfishly chosen path also provides THEM with a benefit, e.g. iconoclastic inventors, pioneering entrepeneurs, the rare genius, etc.
Some artists, for example, become rich and famous in the course of their careers for doing their thing (very seldom), but most are starving, whereas "commercial artists" make a good living. Indeed, many of the great masters painted portraits of the rich and the famous - for cash - during their lifetime.
The trouble with work for large law firms is that one has to GIVE a lot to GET a lot. That is all.
That's life.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 11/23/2004 10:11:00 PM
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