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FearAndAnxiety 26 - 07 Feb 2010 - Main.CourtneySmith
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| | When Eben talks about the fear and anxiety created by law school, grades, and dwindling firm jobs, does this resonate with you? How about fear that you won't find something that you are passionate about, that fulfills you, and that allows you to support yourself and your family?
I wished that Eben had spoken more to that fear and anxiety today in class, and more specifically, what to do about it. | | | In short, I was trying to remark upon the transformation that a lot of law students go through, and which I was starting to observe in myself. Suddenly, the game of where you can get hired becomes an end in itself. Suddenly, our sense of self-worth becomes tied to the relative prestige of a job offer, even though no one you know outside of the law bubble has ever heard of these firms. And the biggest irony of all is that most of us don't even want these jobs. That the firms can be so successful, despite the fact that we know these jobs are barely short of hellish, speaks to their great skill at playing off of our fears and anxieties. They present us with a manicured image of success, and we bite.
-- RonMazor - 07 Feb 2010 | |
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My first job paid $19,000 a year, and I was able to pay all of my bills and was truly happy (and I lived in Manhattan). My biggest fear right now is that I will spend a huge amount of money and put in three years of hard labor here and end up making myself miserable (or at least less happy) in the end. Eben's story of the drunk driver with a horrible family life terrifies me more than the prospect of a B- or not making $160K in 2013.
Also, Ron: I like the law firm lobby thread. I think many firms need to create a false (and posh) reality for the bright young things working for them. You're right: no one outside of the firms has heard of most of these places. On a related note, I worked on the support staff at a big firm for a while and was shocked to really feel for the first time in my life the presence of a CLASS system. There was an amazing divide between "attorneys" and "staff," and it really shocked me. My background is privileged by no stretch, but I had never been in a situation where someone flat-out treated me as a total inferior without a second thought. The divide was reinforced by the firm in countless subtle ways that I think were designed to mask the anxiety and tell the associates that they were really important ("See! You're far superior to the secretaries and the receptionists and the woman who fixes your blackberry!").
-- CourtneySmith - 07 Feb 2010 | | | |
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