Now What?
Weekly Report 10/24/2017 to 10/30/2017
Recently, I spoke with Mr. Stewart Rabinowitz, an immigration attorney on the phone. I learned a lot about the differences between criminal and immigration law, and one notable contrast I found was the amount of research that Mr. Rabinowitz has to conduct on a daily basis. In this political climate, the immigration policies are constantly changing, so Mr. Rabinowitz explained to me how critical it is to stay updated with current events in his field. I found this so intriguing; the criminal lawyers that I met with a few weeks ago had described how little research they have to do because codes of conduct and individual rights stay relatively secure, so it was interesting to hear how opposite his experience has been.
In thinking more on this, I decided that I wanted to learn more about public policy and how it is created. This past week, I spent time cold-calling the two Texas senators and the congressman for this district. It was frustrating not to be called back or to be redirected to schedulers who told me they were too busy, but I was not surprised by this response. I would like to begin interviewing more state representatives involved in the creation of public policy because I am not yet sure of my interest in this area. Earlier this year, I was hoping to combine my topic of law with a study of political science in order to learn more about both fields of study. However, I have recently realized that I really enjoy upholding the law more than working to develop new legislation. I have not yet met with any legislators, so I would like to focus on both the judicial system and legislation in my upcoming interviews and research assessments in order to compare these two fields to one another.
In addition to meeting with representatives involved in the creation of public policy, I would love to start meeting with associates from large firms and district attorney prosecutors. In my SMART goals, I wrote down that I would like to have met with at least three different types of attorneys before the second semester. As of this week, I have now completed this goal in meeting with three criminal defense attorneys, a civil litigation attorney, and Mr. Rabinowitz, an immigration attorney. Now, it is my goal to begin meeting with attorneys not only in different fields, but also in different types of firms. In almost every interview that I have conducted, the lawyer advised me not to work at a large firm because the hours are much longer and the stakes are much higher, yet the wages are not much better. I would like to find out for myself by meeting with associates from huge firms who can share their side of the story. I have also not met with any prosecution attorneys from the government, so I would like to start interviewing district and states’ attorneys to compare defense with prosecution.
This week has allowed for me to develop new ideas on where to further my study and whom to contact going forward. The interviews I have had so far have most definitely been the biggest learning experiences I have had through this program this year, so I would like to continue maximizing my use of the opportunities in this class by meeting with as many possible professionals with as many possible professions.