Comments on: A clinic for the cure of bleeding hearts. http://www.nazg.com/iqrai/index.php/2008/07/07/a-clinic-for-the-cure-of-bleeding-hearts/ Sliding down the banisters of the ivory tower. Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:50:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Dara Lind http://www.nazg.com/iqrai/index.php/2008/07/07/a-clinic-for-the-cure-of-bleeding-hearts/#comment-707 Dara Lind Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:08:28 +0000 http://www.nazg.com/iqrai/?p=142#comment-707 Actually, there is a market for for-profit immigration lawyers. Plenty of cases that are less straightforward than "you came here illegally and now they want to send you back" come from clients who have some money: holders of expired visas, divorcees of visa marriages, immigrants seeking waivers on the basis of "exceptional talent," etc. (And the free trainings the Bar Association for immigration lawyers offers means it's relatively easy to gain expertise and stay up-to-date, an advantage many politically sensitive fields don't share, if my understanding is correct.) I'd assume that students who have worked in legal clinics are aware of this, and if they're not that's because they've already assumed that Helpful Law and Lucrative Law are mutually exclusive. Second of all, the students interviewed in the article aren't talking about coming back to immigration law after they've established themselves, because they <i>don't seem to want to do immigration law.</i> Maybe I underestimate the extent to which it's embarrassing to discuss law-school debt with a reporter, but none of them even seem to find the prospect attractive: it's unfair, it's overpoliticized, it's difficult. One would think that if they planned to get out of debt and then do what they wanted, they'd say so. Actually, there is a market for for-profit immigration lawyers. Plenty of cases that are less straightforward than “you came here illegally and now they want to send you back” come from clients who have some money: holders of expired visas, divorcees of visa marriages, immigrants seeking waivers on the basis of “exceptional talent,” etc. (And the free trainings the Bar Association for immigration lawyers offers means it’s relatively easy to gain expertise and stay up-to-date, an advantage many politically sensitive fields don’t share, if my understanding is correct.) I’d assume that students who have worked in legal clinics are aware of this, and if they’re not that’s because they’ve already assumed that Helpful Law and Lucrative Law are mutually exclusive.

Second of all, the students interviewed in the article aren’t talking about coming back to immigration law after they’ve established themselves, because they don’t seem to want to do immigration law. Maybe I underestimate the extent to which it’s embarrassing to discuss law-school debt with a reporter, but none of them even seem to find the prospect attractive: it’s unfair, it’s overpoliticized, it’s difficult. One would think that if they planned to get out of debt and then do what they wanted, they’d say so.

]]> By: Noah http://www.nazg.com/iqrai/index.php/2008/07/07/a-clinic-for-the-cure-of-bleeding-hearts/#comment-706 Noah Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:57:08 +0000 http://www.nazg.com/iqrai/?p=142#comment-706 It seems like you have to bring money back into this equation. First, you graduate law school up to your ears in debt. I know two immigration lawyers. Both spent a couple years in big firms first, because they had to. Once you're in though, the decision to leave is a very different one from what you choose right out of law school. Second, both of the immigration lawyers I know do not work in for-profit firms. One works for a quasi-governmental organization, the other for a non-profit. Both are really stuck for staff, but they're far more stuck for funds. In the current atmosphere, I can't imagine that the money going to immigration law (not the for-profit handling of visa cases and such but the kind that you practice in clinics) is flowing too fast. It seems like you have to bring money back into this equation. First, you graduate law school up to your ears in debt. I know two immigration lawyers. Both spent a couple years in big firms first, because they had to. Once you’re in though, the decision to leave is a very different one from what you choose right out of law school.

Second, both of the immigration lawyers I know do not work in for-profit firms. One works for a quasi-governmental organization, the other for a non-profit. Both are really stuck for staff, but they’re far more stuck for funds. In the current atmosphere, I can’t imagine that the money going to immigration law (not the for-profit handling of visa cases and such but the kind that you practice in clinics) is flowing too fast.

]]>