in violent times should i have to sell my soul?

anyway, it's just an interview and they might not like me anyway so this might be academic. but i was referred because i have experience in ERISA and employee benefits, and that's what i'd be doing (not the union-busting stuff). i'm at my wit's end where i am right now, but at least where i work they don't do stuff that gives me ethical problems. on one hand, a number of l-school friends who were "idealistic" went on to big-firm jobs doing stuff that their "idealism" would balk at (i.e., they're hypocrites). on the other hand, i come from a union family and i've always believed that it would be hard for me to look my dad straight in the eye if i ever worked at an anti-union firm.

"Bust the union? I thought you said boost."

However if there was a chance that in the long run you could change the company from within - then maybe.

pete--no chance in changing from within. that's not the nature of the thing.

cross yer fingers and hope i knock 'em dead at the nice firm not the bad guys!

1. Small compromises lead to bigger comprises; if you don't set your own uncompromisable moral limits in advance, you run the risk of becoming unrecognizable to yourself in less time than you'd imagine.

2. In all legal jobs, there are three vital factors, two of which must be present to make it worthwhile: interest (fun), moral correctness, and money. 89.976% of all legal jobs are boring and immoral; beware those that pay well.

3. Never take a job that would make it difficult to look your family in the eye unless you have a hard time looking them in the eye otherwise.

4. The techniques of the enemy are best learned in the enemy's camp.

5. I have met happy associates and interesting associates at big law firms; I have never met a big firm associate who was both interesting and happy.

6. The labor movement in the United States is largely corrupt and moribund, as are the labor unions itself; representing management is less like siding with Goliath over David and more like siding with the US over Castro. There is no good guy.

7. A position with a management-side firm in no way rules out future labor-side work; on the contrary.

8. People who succeed at law firms are not those who best serve their clients or who understand the law the most; they're those who are the best at being law firm lawyers. Of course, those same guys tend to set the standards in the legal community.

9. I've lost twenty pounds since I left my firm; I tend to gain weight when I am unhappy.

10. It's hard to be idealistic when you're starving.

11. Law firm structure is such that, if you want to have nothing to do with the union busters and you can stay busy and earning without having anything to do with them, you won't have to have anything to do with them.

12. The actual management of a firm, how associates are treated, what sort of behavior is expected of them, and whether the work atmosphere is intellectual or hysterical are often more important on a daily basis than whether the clients are good guys or bad guys.

13. I'd rather die than ever work for the benefit of corporate capitalism ever again.

Mucho luck, Tad! Tis apparent that you actually enjoy doing law as a profession, so stick with it. (I can say this having lost my delusions of becoming an Entertainment lawyer after a miserable 6 months in Law School.)

This is the thread where we fail at our morals!