What Might it Mean to be Successful in School and Work? (In a Lawyering Context, For Me)

-- By JoieLiew - Revised 25 May 2024

I see much of what we picture when describing success in life or work as measured by the quantifiable, such as someone’s salary or number of awards. The quantifiable is often paired with the qualitative, including if one went to a recognizable school and if they worked at a particular firm. There is space within this narrative to include if one overcame hardship and struggles – but the “overcome” part is key where there is usually a character arc of definitive growth. Success is often reduced to the tangible that can be presented in a neat manner, void of any failures and countless nights spent wondering if one can be enough or live up to expectations placed on us. I noticed this framing of success is widespread, including within law school.

So what might success as a law student and hopefully a lawyer mean if not primarily defined by quantifiable and qualitative “prestige” or the expectations of others? To address this question, I will consider my current thinking of what kind of lawyer I want to be by explaining what, where, and with whom I can make a practice. Afterward, I will reflect on how this work can and should fit into my life.

What, Grounded in the Why

In considering what I would want to do, I think back to the reasons why I decided to attend law school. Frankly, for much of my life, I did not picture myself as a lawyer or capable of doing the work lawyers do. I wish I could say I had childhood aspirations, but I – an English as a Second Language student who was behind the standard reading levels – was just trying to catch up to everyone. To ever critically study the law seemed beyond me, especially after secondary school and junior college where I received unfortunate grades (E, S) that fell out of the bounds of any American education system.

But, after years of attempting to move forward and finding my pace, I began to wonder if I could harness what I learned and will learn to fulfill my need to do something about all the questions that evaded me. While working as a personal assistant for senior citizens, I wished I could properly address questions on healthcare law (how to get a necessary treatment covered?) and landlord-tenant disputes (can the apartment evict someone for neighborly conflicts?). While researching Asian American advocacy and speaking with Chinese American activists, questions continually arose on education law (how can we advocate for Ethnic Studies in curriculums?) and hate crimes (would “hate incident” be better since the law does not have adequate categories describing all the hurt?).

With this reasoning in the background, I think what I want to do to confront these questions is to work with government agencies. Much of the legal answers to the questions I hope to look into are based on publicly funded endeavors and working in government would enable me to gain first-hand knowledge of what exactly is happening. This may not help with getting an answer that aligns with my moral sense given the limits of what can be done within those established structures, but I would at least know how to navigate around what is already being done.

However, I would add a caveat that I am still figuring the “what” out. I have not worked in legal contexts before and I hope my summer internship alongside other experiential learning experiences informs what I plan to do.

Where

I would like to continue working in New York and serve the local communities I grew up with. My community and the people with questions whom I hope to help are here. But, I am also open to moving elsewhere in the U.S., especially if more practitioners of law are needed there and if my family decides to go there too.

With Whom

When I think of the human network that would sustain my practice, I imagine working with colleagues like my classmates. I mean this as the highest compliment, as many of my peers in law school are passionate, brilliant individuals who clearly articulate their ideas in writing and speaking. The heart and determination they have inspires me to find my way to work alongside them, or others like them. Back to my concept of community, I see the foundation for my practice as the people I hope to be a resource for: those with legal questions but unsure of how or where to get help.

Fitting this Work with my Life and Ideals of Success

Now that I have thought about the what, where, and with whom, I will reflect on how this work will fit into my life and social, psychological needs. In law school and at work, we all may be busy and some can find an astonishing, very admirable balance between their personal life and professional/academic work. But I, and others, have a different approach to this balance where I must spend my time with careful awareness. For me, this approach is best described by Christine Miserandino’s analogy and spoon theory which, in essence, “illustrates the limited energy resources available to individuals with compromised physical and mental well-being.” “Spoons” represent units of energy where everyone receives a set number of spoons to use on tasks throughout the day. In this metaphor, as someone with chronic physical and mental conditions, I start the day with fewer “spoons” than others may. Tasks may consume more spoons for me, such as how it takes one spoon to board the bus and then another spoon to figure out where to stand to avoid blocking others with my bag. In contrast, this task may cost one spoon or none for others.

Embracing the spoon theory means that any work as a law student and future lawyer that I want to do will be personally meaningful, as I would not have chosen to use my spoons unless I cared deeply about the what, where, and with whom.

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