I was conscripted into attending the PILF auction last night. I bid on a BarBRI course (being as I have no ginormous law firm to pick up the tab for me, but I lost) and poker night with Judge Alex Kozinski (I wasn't willing to pay $1800 for the privilege of losing another couple hundred to the good judge, but I like to think I made it more expensive for the winning bidder)

I admit I have no desire to practice public interest law. Yes, I know, we've got to stand up for the little guy, etc. I'm all for that.

1) What I fear are public interest law organizations. When I was a private consultant (prior to law school) I had to deal with a lot of companies. The non-profits were always, always, the biggest pains in the ass. They could not make decisions, they were permanently disorganized, they loved to waste time on little political vendettas, etc.

Yes, plenty of private companies are the same way. But for private companies, the rubber has to hit the road somewhere, and this is a limit on goofy behavior. For non-profits, this moment never seems to come.

A good friend of mine worked at a prominent public interest law organization last summer and said they had plenty of talented people, but as she put it, "nobody ever knew where the file was". For me, working at a place like that would be a death of a thousand cuts. I like knowing where the file is. I need that kind of basic hygiene in my work environment.

2) I don't buy the idea that it's somehow noble for to take a dramatically below-market-rate job so one can 'serve the public'. Thing one, it's exploitative. Thing two, it's a bad business decision for the person taking the job.

For myself, I've had periods of my working life where I made good money & periods where I made no money. Believe me, the good-money parts are a lot better. I've always felt like you gotta do things for the money before you can do things not for the money.

12 Mar 06