在美国,律师是最不开心,最受人尊敬的富人外文翻译资料-外文翻译网

American Legal Education and Professional Despair

David Frenchensp;

Lawyers are among the most unhappy, least respected wealthy people in America.

Unhappy? At any given time, roughly 19 percent of lawyers suffer from depression, a rate almost triple that of the general population.1 Lawyers are twice as likely to suffer from drinking problems, with 20 percent afflicted.2 Numerous studies paint a picture of a profession besieged with high levels of stress, deep anxiety, high rates of suicide attempts, and deep discomfort with job choices.3

The anecdotes are equally vivid. An amusing animation describing the gap between the ideals of prospective law schools and the reality of law firm practice has soared to over a million YouTube views.4 The blogosphere is littered with popular websites dedicated to exposing the woes of the legal profession, and one canrsquo;t attend any significant gathering of lawyers without hearing endless lamentations regarding work hours, purposelessness, and money.

But by some objective measures, all this wailing is almost absurdly misplaced. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the 2009 mean annual wage for the nationrsquo;s more than 550,000 lawyers at $129,020—and that was in the midst of a recession. The mean wage topped $150,000 in Washington, D.C., New York, California, and Delaware.5 If you asked untold millions of Americans if an annual salary exceeding $120,000 would materially contribute to their well-being, they would answer with a resounding “yes.” For a large percentage of lawyers, however, this substantial slice of the economic pie doesnrsquo;t come close to buying happiness.

There are, no doubt, many reasons for the morale crisis in the legal profession. After all, not many people like lawyers. In an annual Harris poll, law firms are in the bottom five institutions in public confidence (along with Congress, Wall Street, the press, and labor unions), with only 13 percent of the population expressing a great deal of confidence in the leaders of the legal profession. By contrast, military leaders inspire confidence in 59 percent of Americans.6

Further, many aspects of legal work are objectively stressful. Litigation is rife with conflict even in the most courteous jurisdictions, and trials are known to tax the endurance of even the most seasoned litigators. During my law firm days, wersquo;d schedule vacations after large trials, knowing full well that wersquo;d be utterly exhausted for days following the verdict (and inevitable post-trial motions).

Additionally, the type of people attracted to the legal profession may not be all that pleasant. At least one psychologist has noted that lawyers tend to be perfectionists and pessimists.7 This makes intuitive sense: perfectionists tend to do well in school, and they also possess the attention to detail necessary for good legal work, but pessimism is perfectionismrsquo;s inevitable handmaiden. We canrsquo;t be perfect, the system often fails, and constant exposure to the darker corners of humanity (after all, most people seek legal help only when something has gone wrong) leads to cynicism. As one veteran attorney told me my first week on the job, “The practice of law would be greathellip;if it werenrsquo;t for clients.”

Moreover, interacting with perfectionist pessimists can be difficult. In organizations, lawyers are often seen as hurdles to cross, not enablers in organizational success. “This will have to pass legal” becomes a statement of dread as lawyers rain on parades, scold clients for causing potential—not actual—problems, and generally act as the stereotypical schoolmarms of the present age, smacking with rulers anyone who strays beyond the lines.

But therersquo;s another culprit in legal despair, another force working in the hearts of young lawyers-to-be, a force with outsized influence in their future success but with seemingly minimal awareness of their looming professional reality: law schools.

In no other professional school is there a starker gap between the profession as practiced and the profession as taught. Not only does law school fail to prepare students for their professional life, it often actually sets them up for defeat and disappointment. In short, law school promises more than it can deliver financially, professionally—and perhaps most critically— emotionally. If lawyers are on a path to despair and disappointment, law schools put them on that path and give them a hardy shove down the way.

Fuzzy Finances

First, the finances. On January 8, 2011, the New York Times published a lengthy story that represents in-depth mainstream reporting at its best. Called “Is Law School a Losing Game?” the article lays out in devastating detail the changing financial landscape of modern legal education.8 On the front end, costs are skyrocketing. The U.S. News amp; World Report law school rankings indicate that even tier 3 and tier 4 schools are charging as much as $44,000 per year for tuition, with many schools charging well over $30,000.美国的法律教育和专业的绝望

在美国,律师是最不开心,最受人尊敬的富人。

同样生动的轶事。一个有趣的动画描述法学院未来的理想与法律事务所的实践这一现实之间的差距已经飙升到一百万YouTube的观点。博客充斥着致力于揭露法律职业的困境的流行网站,并且一个不能出席任何重大会议的律师完全没有听到关于工作时间、无目的和金钱无休止的耶利米哀歌。

毫无疑问,在法律职业里，有关斗志的危机的有许多原因。毕竟,没有多少人喜欢律师。在一年一度的哈里斯民意调查中,律师事务所在五机构中是公众信心最低的(还有国会,华尔街,媒体,和工会),只有13%的人口表示对法律职业的领导人有强烈的信心。相比之下,59%的美国人对军事领导人充满信心

还有,有种类型的人吸引到法律职业可能不是那么愉快。至少一位心理学家指出,律师往往是完美主义者和悲观主义者。这造成了一种直观认识:完美主义者倾向于在学校做得很好,他们也拥有做好法律工作所需的对细节的关注,但是悲观主义不可避免的是完美主义的侍女。我们不完美,系统就会常常出错,不断接触人类的黑暗的角落(毕竟,大多数人只有当出现问题时才寻求法律帮助)，导致犬儒主义。作为一个资深律师告诉我我第一个星期的工作,“法律的实践太好了hellip;如果没有客户。”

但是还有另一个罪魁祸首是法律绝望,有一股力量在他们未来的成功有巨大影响,但似乎很少意识迫在眉睫的专业的现实:法律学校，另一种力量是工作的年轻律师。

模糊的财务状况

但这巨大的支出代表一个好的金融投资吗?学校竭尽全力向学生保证。就业统计数据是极度夸大成功毕业。这些行为包括:

例如法律研究生,可认定为“九个月后使用”即使他或她有一份工作,不需要一个法律学位。在阿普尔比连锁餐厅的服务生吗?你被雇佣。袜子过道家得宝吗?你也能工作。就业数据完全建立在自我报告和忽略没有响应的毕业生,这一过程本身可能倾斜数字更高(“因为高薪工作的毕业生比在无线电器材公司一个小时赚9美元的人更有可能做出回应”)

考虑到这种透明地统计方法上的缺陷,也就不足为奇了,至少有一个有影响力的评论家,印第安纳大学的威廉·亨德森毛雷尔法学院,称之为“Enron-type会计”。

但工作承诺和工作之间的不匹配的现实只是一个金融现象的一部分。当初始助学贷款到期时，大的起薪变得相当小,并且最近法律毕业生很快意识到——与许多职业一样——真正赚钱的一闪而过，但是少数。许多律师,实现富有是一个终生的过程,而不是直接的(甚至中期)法学院教育的结果。

他们也不邀请客人。诚然,我的哈佛法学院(学生)和康奈尔大学法律(讲师)前景倾斜了,但我们的课堂演讲嘉宾提出了一个名副其实的繁荣,名声和美德。从暴徒律师(谢谢你,德肖维茨教授,特别是娱乐类)到联邦法官，再到电视演说头部特写活动家,传达的信息是明确的:繁荣,和兴奋,触手可及。

在某种程度上,这种炒作是可以理解的,甚至可能是可以原谅如果法学院培养学生为即将作为律师,代表客户的专业挑战和他们的实际角色。