Legal Profession – Page 12 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Interview with Marquette PILS Fellow Kelsey McCarthy

Post author:Melissa Love Koenig
Post published: February 12, 2019
Post category:Legal Practice Legal Profession Marquette Law School Public

This year’s 26th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do Gooders Auction to support the Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will take place on February 15, 2019 at Marquette Law School. Here is a link to details about the event. Attendees may purchase tickets online and check out items that will be auctioned. The theme this year is Game On! The proceeds from the auction go to support scholarships for Marquette law students to engage in public interest work during the summer. This is an interview with 2L Kelsey McCarthy, who had a PILS Fellowship last summer.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

I worked at End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin.

Compliance: The Emerging Career Path for Lawyers

Post author:Ioua Alen Marcyn B. Lagazo
Post published: November 13, 2018
Post category:Alumni Contributor Business Regulation Corporate Law Legal Practice Legal Profession Public

Political cartoon from Puck Magazine in 1908 showing Moses holding the Ten Commandments and various business and Wall Street figures reacting with alarm. — From Puck Magazine, 1908. Various Wall Street figures react to Moses and the Ten Commandments.

When entering law school, and sometimes even before law school, students are put in front of this metaphorical “fork-in-the-road.”

Transactional or litigation?

In most law schools today, those are the two apparent options. However, this is just not the case anymore. There is at least one more, and emerging, option: the compliance route. It’s not completely transactional nor is it at all litigation. In some cases it takes ideas from both, and involves a bit of work in areas that would not necessarily be considered “practicing law.”

Oh, I’m sure I just hit a nerve for many of you. “Why would you go to law school and get into mountains of debt, and then get a job where you’re not completely practicing law?”

Bear with me and let me explain.

o In June 2016, a car manufacturer was forced to spend $14.7 billion to settle allegations of cheating emissions tests and deceiving customers on its diesel vehicles.

o In September 2016, a banking giant was hit with $185 million in fines by governmental authorities after thousands of its employees illegally opened unauthorized bank accounts. Earlier this year, new regulatory restrictions were imposed against the bank essentially halting the growth of the business until there has been sufficient improvement in its business practices.

Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Wellness in the Legal Profession: Change is Necessary

Post author:Yamilett Lopez
Post published: October 17, 2018
Post category:Health Care Legal Education Legal Profession Public Student Contributor

Last week, the American Bar Association (“ABA”) designated and celebrated October 10th, 2018 as National Mental Health Day for Law Schools.[1] This date coincided with the World Mental Health Day.[2] The ABA’s National Mental Health Day for Law Schools serves as a vital reminder that the legal profession is not immune from mental health problems. In fact, the numbers themselves highlight just how important discussing and tackling mental health and wellness are to both law schools and the legal profession in general. Both law students and lawyers suffer in large numbers from mental illness and substance abuse. Therefore, it is important to address these concerns and to help both law students and attorneys live a life that focuses on their wellbeing.

Statistics on Attorneys

In comparison to other professions, lawyers themselves experience higher rates of mental health issues and substance abuse. Attorneys are the most frequently depressed occupational group in the United States, and they are 3.6 times more likely to suffer from depression in comparison to non-lawyers.[3] In a study of roughly 13,000 practicing attorneys conducted by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, 28% of the attorneys reported experiencing depression, 23% reported experiencing stress, and 19% reported experiencing anxiety.[4] Of these participants, 21% are qualified as problem drinkers, and they “experience problematic drinking that is hazardous, harmful, or otherwise generally consistent with alcohol use disorders at a rate much higher than other populations.”[5]

This same study found that younger attorneys, rather than older attorneys, are at a greater risk for experiencing these issues.