York University President Emeritus Harry Arthurs told graduands at Spring Convocation ceremonies last June,
…if you have abilities, if you have resources and opportunities, you also have an obligation to use them on behalf of people who don’t.
Arthurs, a renowned labour law scholar, graduated with his law degree from the University of Toronto in 1958.
A video of his speech is available here.
Pfft… This from a University that charges what? North of $15,000 per year? New lawyers from lower/middle income families will have enough challenges repaying their loans without taking the paycut of a “public interest” type law job.
Then by the time the loans are gone… so is the idealism.
It is possible to avoid being vacuumed into the big-firm-pay-off-your-loan-with-your-soul phenomenon — it’s just that these options (1) are drowned out by the generally-supported big firm recruitment model, and (2) require that the student perhaps extend their financial plans somewhat.
It can be done – I know three young lawyers who have successfully maintained their idealism, by choosing alternate — two of them do significant pro bono and legal aid work in private practise, and one actually works as a lawyer for a public interest organization. All came from working class/lower middle class backgrounds, and two of them had large student loans.
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