The Practice of Law or Not: What Lies Beyond Graduation

This course seeks to explore a simple question: what lies beyond graduation? Within that question are a myriad of complexities. What does it mean to be an associate or a partner in a law firm? Should I do litigation or transactional work, such as public finance, whatever that is? Should I become a prosecutor or a public defender or criminal defense attorney? Should I go in-house and in what size place? Should I leave the law behind and pursue business or other opportunities? Those are not the only questions. To add an overlay that we all must address directly or indirectly, how is my being a person of color relevant to my decision and my success? In a world in which diversity is said to matter, as a person who is not of color, should I take that into account? What about being a woman or LGBTQ in the workplace? Or, what about being a woman or man who wishes to have a family? How does that (or should that) impact my decision? These are just some of the issues that will be explored. They will be explored each week in classes lead by different guests who will be law school graduates practicing law at law firms as associates and partners, practicing as prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers, in-house counsel, counsel for start-ups, and law school graduates who have left the law. The course will require the writing of a paper and grades will also depend on class attendance. Attendance, Class Participation, Final Paper.