lawyerly thoughts of the day

preliminary thoughts.

• stress.  i don't deal very well with stressful situations.  i think the law path (more so than other paths) is really stressful.  stressful in terms of competitiveness in school, competitiveness on the job market, etc.  i think the public interest path, because it is so uncertain, would be particularly stressful.
• oversupply.  the job market for lawyers is shrinking.  we read about it in the papers every day -- firms are deferring new hires. 
• status.  law (regardless of track), is really rigid and fixated on status, more so than other fields.  the people who went to the best schools, who made law review, got the best grades, went to the most reputable firms / organizations succeed.  it's not that i don't think i couldn't make it (i have full confidence i can beat a game based on grades and smarts), it's that i don't enjoy that way of thinking and that kind of environment.  i don't want to be "one of them."
• high school debate.  i was on a competitive high school debate team, and i didn't enjoy it.  i liked learning about issues very broadly, connecting them together, and thinking about ways to "fix" things.  but i disliked, especially, debating procedural kinds of issues ("topicality" if anyone remembers). 

but there are still elements of law that are appealing to me.  like, learning and using a specific "tool" or skill rather than learning about things broadly.  specifically, i think i'd be better at reading / writing rather than more quantitative stuff.  also, maybe i can overcome the things i mentioned if i have focus, if i can keep my eye on public interest / environmental law.