quo.ti.di.an

elle woods meets aristotle

I work at a law firm, and some might believe that I’m working there as a means by which to bolster future graduate school applications.  That is not true; I am working there because I need to eat. Granted, it’s not the most impressive job, and I don’t do the most intellectual tasks while I’m at work, I think there is some practicality to working after graduation.  After all, not everyone has the luxury of opting for numerous unpaid internships that bolster future graduate school applications.  Even so, I think it’s   There is some practicality to having a job upon graduation; depending on multiple factors—including socioeconomic background—not everyone can opt to take unpaid, yet very cool and “noble,” internships.  It’s unlikely that having this job on my résumé will help me get into school, but that is not a reason not to treat this as a learning experience.  It has introduced me to the absurdity of law firm economics and fully shows that Mandevillean principles are very much alive today.  Just as the affluent person hires a cleaning service, the powerful attorney hires a secretary (who is oftentimes nicer and more knowledgeable than the attorney) who allows him to perform his or her job.

My interests lie in examining the multiple intersections between reason, emotion, and morality; fortunately, the practice of law—like many things—is tangentially related to all three of these mental faculties.  Aristotle wrote that “the law is reason, free from passion.”  Perhaps that is what law is intended to be, but that is not how it is carried out.  Like Elle Woods, I think Aristotle’s aphorism is false.  The difference is that her interpretation is more optimistic and takes the form of an unnaturally short commencement speech.  A lawyer uses reason to practice law, and in some cases, manipulates the law so that it aligns with his or her conception of reason.  To say that the law is purely reason is a farce.  In addition to acting “reasonably,” there are lawyers who aim to uphold a certain lifestyle and achieve happiness through the practice of law, thus showing how emotion comes into play.  In some cases, attorneys are more concerned with making money for the firm than upholding any moral standard, and as a result they take on cases that reaffirm the negative lawyer stereotype.  The beauty of it all, however, is that people—including lawyers—operate as result of a nexus created by reason, emotion, and morality.  In effect, there should not be a simplistic way to classify all lawyers. That being said, both history and popular culture would have you believe that all lawyers are nefarious.