A Job vs Your Passion

A lot of people have asked me, "Why environmental law?" After all, there are many areas of the law where you can do good work. Certainly working to free the wrongfully convicted is very rewarding. I would imagine that helping the victims of domestic abuse is also worthwhile. I am sure that helping people obtain justice in medical malpractice cases, or when someone has been the victim of someone's negligence can make you feel good inside about the work you do.

We've all heard (or told) the various lawyer jokes. We're sharks. The first thing to do is, "kill all the lawyers." (Missing the context of Shakespeare's quote, of course). However, when you say that you are involved in protecting the environment not only for people alive today, but for future generations, often people tend to view you a little differently. That's nice, but is it the reason to choose environmental law as a career path?

In my opinion, no. If you love what you do, you have to love it for yourself--not because other people think it is nice. In fact, I sometimes think that in many ways it may be easier to work in a field that you're NOT passionate about. It is easier to "let go" at the end of the day, and focus on your wife, your kids, or whatever you have in your personal life that you also care about. Many people I know believe that this is the key to retaining your sanity.

Maybe they're right--but I've never wanted my life's work to be dedicated to topics that I am relatively ambivalent about. Now, I don't practice environmental law full-time--far from it! However, my love of the environment started young: surfing, skiing, and especially backpacking on the John Muir trail. This is some amazing scenery: Yosemite Valley & the Ansel Adams Wilderness. I realized that if I wanted to be able to enjoy these places, and if my kids, and their kids were also to enjoy them, then we needed to exhibit more stewardship. Too often our natural resources were liquidated for immediate returns without regard to their value to future generations.

So, when I had the opportunity, I returned to school. I felt that studying the law would be the best way for me to contribute to this world in a positive way. Maybe I would leave things a little better than I had found them--or hopefully at least no worse! Tomorrow the 2012 California Bar Environmental Law Conference starts in Yosemite. It's one of my favorite places on this Earth, and over the next several days I'm hoping to learn a bit more about how I can help.