Like everyone else, I've been attending job discussions for the past few days. I plan to work at a firm this summer. I feel a little guilty, like I'm being a money-grubber when everyone else is doing public service work. But I want to see what IP and patent law are like. If I hate it, or if firm life isn't for me, then I have all of next year to think of something else. If I like it, then I can try other firms next summer and make a more informed choice. I think there's plenty of time to do different, and possibly more noble, types of work in clinical programs and practice organizations during the school year.
Tonight I went to a panel about large firms. The takeaway message for me was that I probably can't work at one. I don't want to wait until I'm in my late thirties to have kids, and the part time option doesn't seem like it works. As much as I dislike most of David Brooks's ideas, maybe he's right about one thing: you can't raise a family and work full time, at least not without some serious help. And I hate the idea of paying someone else to raise my kids. Maybe in my thirties, I should focus on my family, and in my forties I can start devoting serious time to my career.
My parents made it work, with lots of help from their friends and my grandmother. But they had regular, predictable schedules. Tonight I kept hearing how you're expected to check your Blackberry constantly, and how you have to cancel your plans at the last minute because a partner has just dropped something on your desk. If you have a three-year old waiting for you, you can't just announce that you're not coming home. I don't want to be that type of parent.
I guess there are options -- government work, for instance. I just have to find out what they are. I also feel pressure to earn money after leaving a fairly lucrative career and getting us into debt. The options don't seem all that inviting.
Anyway, these are my impressions after a whole two days of hearing about jobs. I still have a lot to learn.
