Related Posts
How can I join the all things MBB bowl?
Bowl Leader
What is your favorite product strategy podcast?
Additional Posts in Litigation & Arbitration
Coach
Coach
Best typo you’ve seen in a motion?
Mentor
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Honestly, I find the really small stuff (adoptions, clinics, etc.) to be the most rewarding - you can see a tangible impact on the lives of those who need it most and quickly. In the middle are small cases like a random 1983 single prisoner litigation where you really get to own it as an associate and develop. Those are professionally rewarding albeit probably a bit less so emotionally than, say, helping a family navigate the adoption system. The worst are the big ticket litigations I’ve been roped into with various PI organizations. Here there’s usually a ton of unrewarding grunt work and the PI orgs / partners take a lot of the good professional opportunities, plus in my experience you aren’t really directing these types of cases or getting to serve the client like you might in a small litigation. Often there are alternative motives at play (i.e. the PI org trying to make your clients case a vehicle to change the law when it isn’t the right vehicle to do so) and it can be VERY frustrating when you are put in that situation.
Mentor
Interesting perspective on impact cases. I have led a couple of very large cases that had national level impact and that are the sort of thing that only a very large firm with a lot of expertise and resources could handle. I find those especially rewarding because they can have such a huge impact. But you’re 100% right about the tension that can arise between an organization like the ACLU and its co counsel. The most dangerous place in the world is the space between the local ACLU Exec Director and any TV camera or microphone - dude will run your ass over. And sometimes goals don’t align very well. Re jr associate roles on those cases I’m sorry that’s been your experience. We usually give associates most of the depos and court appearances but I understand that’s nonstandard.
Re small cases I agree with you. I did some guardian ad listen pro Bono when I was a junior associate. Huge need and can make a big difference in a little kid’s life. Many of our associates really like asylum cases for the same reason.
OP, I recommend thinking hard about what matters to you. Immigration. Education. Reproductive rights. Environmental causes. Public lands. Wildlife. National parks. Veterans rights. Elder law. Voting rights. The list is endless and I suspect that you’ll find whatever work you do most rewarding if it connects to something you feel strongly about. Once you settle on a cause, talk to whoever steers pro Bono at your firm.sometimes you have to show initiative but in most firms it’s not hard to find a partner who will support you and supervise matters you want to get involved in. For example a few years ago we had a senior associate who was passionate about marriage equality. He connected with Lambda Legal and came to the firm with a request that he owed allowed to represent the plaintiff in the first marriage equality case in a particular state. The firm approved it contingent on the associate finding a partner. He did so, they file suit, and within about 6 months a federal judge entered an order allowing same sex marriages in a very conservative state. That associate made it happen and was justly proud of the outcome.
And good for you for asking the question. A much better topic than “when is x firm going to announce its salary and bonus numbers?”
The best pro bono work I ever did was a name and gender marker change clinic. The work was easy, but impactful.
Representing human trafficking victims claiming reparation from a state-sponsored trust fund