I Went To Law School, But Not To Practice Law
By: JAMILA YOUNG
So why did I go to law school, and is the truism true that it is a waste of time for those who have no desire to litigate? To be cheesy and to get a pity laugh because I’m positive you get my law school joke, it depends. Don’t get me wrong, I have had many days and nights when I asked myself why I got a law degree, but I don’t regret it. For you, the answer may be different. For me, it was a great decision due to my interests in a multitude of areas. It also gave me the skills to research, interpret and write about legal topics that are hot button issues. Lastly, law school gave me the opportunity to brand myself as a health law enthusiast while keeping the door open to other opportunities I wish to pursue through activism, volunteerism, sitting on boards, and even the development of side ventures. Simply put, I chose law school because I wanted to stack my priorities in a better load and be able to reinvent my career when my restless spirit was ready to start anew.
Seeing that I am a writer, it is only natural that I want to break down my about this truism of the law degree through analyzing stanzas of a lesser known poem written by the great Robert Frost: The Armful.
For every parcel I stoop down to seize
I lose some other off my arms and knees
And the whole pile is slipping, bottles, buns,
Extremes too hard to comprehend at once
So often, I have been asked why I went to law school that I have a beautifully memorized response packed away in the back of my mind that would sound a little something like:
“I never went to law school with the intent of being a practicing attorney for my entire life, or possibly at all. I care deeply about the broad spectrum in health policy, health advocacy, and health education. I also love helping those in need, teaching others about the law, and understanding how to interpret laws to best serve them. I am also an advocate for the best education practices for our children, for those affected by domestic violence and saving the world, one issue at a time. Maybe one day I’ll practice law; just not today or tomorrow.”
That’s an entire lifetime plus an extra three lifetimes added on worth of goals. There are just too many parcels of good things to choose from and it began to seem like everything was slipping out of my hands and overwhelming my next move. Thankfully juggling my life and law school taught me that I can do these things, but I must clearly state my goals and where each area stands in regard to importance in my life and to my success.
Yet nothing I should care to leave behind.
With all I have to hold with hand and mind
And heart, if need be, I will do my best.
To keep their building balanced at my breast.
Health care has been a big part of my life so I naturally gravitated toward that kind of work and internships. In the summer of 2008, I interned at Atlanta Feminist Women’s Health Center under the direction of Janelle Yamarick as the Women of Color and Marketing Intern. I entered thinking I was going to make beautiful pieces of factual literature and exited realizing that advocacy, laws, and policy drive our world. Because I advocate for women’s rights, particularly in health care, I realized that changing the world starts with understanding my government and the laws that are created.
I could have easily taken the MPH to PhD route or even the MPP/ MPA route. However, it seemed to me that law school would give me a taste of everything I loved and be broad enough for a spur of the moment, type A personality, activist to have a lifetime of options. So I went to law school and left nothing undiscovered, especially in the health field. I looked high and low for the right fit for a future career. I wrote papers, interned, became active in several organizations and asked the opinions of others. As a health law enthusiast, I took the several opportunities that were made possible by going to law school. I interned with two law firms learning VA law, Elder law, and Health law. I was selected to be an intern with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the largest department in the Department of Health and Human Services. I even became a health law research assistant, worked as a virtual intern for a national drug policy organization and worked under a general counsel. Coming to the close of law school, I was certain the time wasn’t right for me to practice law, but using my heart and mind, I still was in an upheaval of ‘what next’? I felt that the foundation that my building was balanced on was nearly complete, but I had not solidified the direction to turn. I questioned myself and asked “So why did I go to law school”…
I crouch down to prevent them as they fall,
Then sit down in the middle of them all.
And then I graduated. No better feeling than walking across the stage and receiving a degree that I lost sleep for, cried over, and prayed to pass daily. The next step was the hardest; I had so many skills that they seemed to blind what direction to turn and as Frost says in the stanza above, I sat down with everything around me wondering where to go and how to get there.
I knew that health law had to be a part of what I was going to do, so I used my law degree to navigate my way to a career path. I postponed the bar exam until July of 2015, making people question my three years of legal learning again. The choice was right for me because I was burnt out, had no desire to practice immediately and I wanted to explore other options.
I began volunteering myself for speaking engagements on legal and health law topics which I presently still do. After searching high and low (I never said that the law degree will get you an instant job!) I found an opportunity that I felt would give me a hint of where to turn. I interned with my congressman which led to a job offer. I saw the political process up close, attended the Congressional Black Caucus and other events. During that that time, I interviewed to be a part of an organization called Emory Urban Health Initiative out of Atlanta, Ga. I was selected and at my first meeting, I was asked to interview for a position as a health insurance navigator for both Grady Health System and Emory Urban Health Initiative. As I ‘sat down in the middle’ of the two job offers, I reflected on law school, what I had learned and what my degree had open doors for me to do.
I had to drop the armful in the road
And try to stack them in a better load.
I knew I had to make a decision so I dropped the armful of wonderful ideas, doubt, and worry and went with the health navigator position and kept my role as a speaker on various health topics. In law school, I studied the Affordable Care Act, so being able to see the law in action and serving in a job position that was brand new was dream come true. Every day, I use the law to help people understand the ACA. I host health insurance and education events, network with top health leaders in Georgia, attend speaking engagements and conferences for organizations and schools, sit on panels to educate physicians, and I have hosted a CLE at the State Bar of Georgia. This job has opened doors toward my future endeavors, and the legal degree gave me the magic key.
I will say that without law school, I could have done what I’m doing now. I will also say that going to law school, has given me the opportunity to do what I am doing now. Confusing? Probably, but such is life. I am not a partner in a corporate law firm, a tenured law professor, a big time CEO, a director of a nonprofit on health advocacy or a political heavyweight. However, I am exactly where I should be and this law degree played a large part in getting me here. The armful of confusion due to my many desires is becoming a perfect stack thanks to my legal degree.
