Kid Law

Despite all of my complaining, I did end up getting a second job with a family law focus. I'm currently doing a child custody research project for a solo practitioner, and I will be at her service for the rest of the summer. Ironically enough, I got the job with her the day before the family law firm I originally interviewed with offered me the job, after initially telling me I didn't have it because I didn't have work study. Even more ironically, both the solo practitioner I work for and this other firm have offices on the same floor in the same building, so I keep bumping into the fellow who interviewed me - only slightly awkward. The money is good with this job, and it is nice to be contributing to the household again, I just feel anxious about the amount of time it is taking me to actually figure out the answers to each legal question that faces us. But the legal questions themselves are quite interesting, and I'm using a lot of what I learned this past year at the DOJ about dependency and what I learned in class about parental rights.

I'm thinking more and more about what I want to do with my career. I just keep coming back to something with kids (in addition to my passion for LGBT rights). A couple of weeks ago I had a lunch date with an attorney who is the wife of one of the attorneys at Ryan's firm, and she practices education law, representing school districts. That just sounds fascinating to me. To work to support teachers in their efforts to support the children they teach would be an honor. Those jobs are hard to come by though, so I'm trying to be realistic about my future employment, particularly in this economy. Lately when anyone has asked me what I want to do I say, "family law or education law." What I really think to myself is anything that has to do with kids, LGBT issues, or the intersection of the two. Kids are the shining beacon for the future. You can truly help kids get on the right track in life, before their minds close and the pressures of existing close in on them, before they feel the need to prove something to the world about their toughness or their nonchalance. You can shield them and provide for them in a way you just can't do for adults without engendering resentment or a false sense of obligation. My whole working life has been involved with children, politics, and the law. I just need to find a way to combine the three in my career.