When I say I’m a law student, the first thing most people
comment on is the fact that I’ll end up earning heaps of money. When I explain
that that’s not my intention at all, the question is then what I plan to do
with it. I struggle to articulate a coherent response. Usually it’s just some
vague notion of wanting to help people and better society, which is all very
well, but is a rather inadequate response. So I though it was about time that I
actually explored the reasons why I’m at law school. This will help me
articulate myself better to those who ask, as well as giving me good motivation
on those days when I wonder what the hell I’m doing.
It first occurred to me to do law when I was in my last year
of school and had to decide what to study at uni. I remember my mum encouraging
me to do law cos I was “too smart to just do a BA”. This seemed a bit
ridiculous and elitist at the time, cos BAs seemed awesome. However, at the
information evening the woman talking about law seemed really cool so I decided
to give it a go.
Throughout my first year, I could quite clearly divide the
law students into 2 camps – those who were sure they wanted to do a law degree
and become lawyers, and were determined to do it no matter what, and those who
were there just to try it out and see what happened. Being in the second group
myself I had a much more relaxed approach than some. I remember before the end
of year exams not being stressed at all, because I had decided that if I did
badly, I’d just give up law, do my BA, and be happy. This relaxed approach
allowed me to study hard without freaking out, which I think enabled me to do
better than I otherwise might have.
During my first year at uni, my eyes were opened
significantly. I fell in love with politics and IR, and especially Robbie, one
of the IR lecturers, who inspired us to question everything society had made us
assume about the world. Several times his lectures made me cry, as I realised
just how fucked up the world is. I also cried when I found out that he was
leaving, due to frustration at the restructuring of the IR department (which
was completely ridiculous, ideological and undemocratic. But that’s a story for
another day). Robbie also led me to question doing IR/development at all – as I
realised how ridiculous it is to go into other societies to “develop” them,
while we are doing so much wrong ourselves. His lasting message for me, aside
from the rather unhelpful “don’t be despondent” about the cuts, was to “radiate
out” starting with yourself and your own society, rather than trying to fix
everyone else.
I joined Greens@Vic, mostly for social reasons at first, as
a lonely first-year looking for like-minded friends. I soon realised that the
Greens were the only party with a sensible vision for the future, and the voice
of a movement that I wanted to be a part of. I loved the fact that politics was
so accessible, and that I could so easily meet and engage with Green Party MPs.
I also did a bit of volunteering at the office, which was boring work – mostly
data entry, but awesome due to the amazing people there, and the free trade aid
chocolate. I also did lots for the election campaign – doorknocking, leafleting
and the like, which affirmed my conviction that the Greens encompassed most of
my political beleifs.
I slowly realised how much I have in common with my dad, who
I was living with at the time, which was funny, because I always thought I was
much more similar to my mum. My dad is a lawyer (who no, didn’t inspire me to
do law at all), who is very into politics (and no, didn’t particularly inspire
my political interest either). We had lots of great discussions that year,
mostly regarding politics (we actually have quite similar views despite him
being and loyal labour supporter). I could wander into his office at 11pm to
ask law questions, and he was (still is!) a fantastic proofreader of essays. It
was awesome when I was studying something and he would tell me about his involvement and what he thought
at the time. It was fascinating to realise all the worthwhile stuff that he has
done – which seemed so intensely boring when I was a child.
The other major change in my life that year was becoming
vegan. In hindsight it seems unbelievable that it took so long – from realising
that it was the right thing to do, to being able to turn down dessert made by
others (especially my aunt’s chocolate mousse!!), took me about four or five
months. It was another thing that made me passionate about wanting to make a
difference – most of our animal welfare laws are archaic and cruel, and there
is no hint of animals rights. Towards the end of the year I got involved in
starting a vegan group at uni, and now I am also part of an animal rights
group.
I liked the idea of using law for good, and this inspired
me, once exam results were out, to keep going with it in second year. I still
knew that I could drop out after the first few weeks if I really hated it,
having heard about plenty of people who had done so, and I think that comforted
me somewhat. I do enjoy it though, for the most part – legal thinking is a
fascinating process, and the pedantic nitpicky part of me really likes it. Of
course the creative side of my brain really struggles with being stuck in a
box, but that’s why its awesome doing a BA at the same time.
Second year (so far, touch wood) has been pretty awesome.
Public law is rather disappointing due to incredibly boring lecturers, but
crimes has been fantastic. Both the lecturers so far have been incredibly inspiring. The first one, Mamari, was definitely the best law lecturer I have
ever had. She spent several lectures going over Maori, and other alternative,
approaches to criminal law. Even though the system we have to learn about is
very much stuck in a box, it is heartening to know that alternatives exist, and
they are at least acknowledged at law school.
That brings me to another point: law students. Lots of them
are aresholes. Case in point: one day I was studying with a bunch of people I
had recently met. We had just had a lecture on Maori approaches to fault, which
was one of the most interesting and inspiring lectures ever. This bunch of
people I was studying with, however, did not think so. They complained, saying
they thought we’d covered all the “Maori stuff” in the first week, and that it
was “irrelevant” to our legal system. That made me want to scream and cry and
rage all at once, but of course I didn’t, I just kept quiet until the topic
changed (to the USA, and the belief that might is right, which didn’t exactly
make me feel much better…)
Biking home that day I was on the verge of tears. My faith
in humanity and especially in law students was completely undermined. They were
unbelievably racist, bigoted, privileged and egocentric. It depressed me deeply
that these were the next generation of lawyers, who are supposed to fight for
justice. I felt that these people were perfectly representative of law students
generally, and to be honest, that is probably still correct. I felt isolated in
a sea of negativity, of self-centred power-hungry jerks, and that I risked
drowning amongst them if unless I treaded very carefully the fine line between
fitting in and being different.
The next time I biked home from uni on the verge of tears
was only a few weeks later, and I think represents a turning point in my
reasons for being at law school. The Community Justice Project did a screening
of Operation 8, and given that I’d been meaning to see it for like a year, I
decided to go along. I’m so glad that I
did, because it really opened my eyes to how completely fucked our “justice”
system is. While many aspects of the film stood out for me, the thing that
remains strongest in my mind is something that Valerie Morse said to us
afterwards – that 70% of women in prison are Maori. This shocked me beyond
belief. It didn’t seem possible that a system could fail a whole race so badly.
The other thing that stood out was just how close to home everything was. The images of the police breaking the glass at 128 really got to me, having spent plenty of time there myself. Mark Eden talking about the infiltrator in animal rights groups really shocked me too, and I was glad that the film looked at these issues more broadly. I can understand why the police would target Maori separatists (although of course I think their actions were completely unjustified), but planting spies into animal rights groups just seems too ridiculous to be true.
The Urewera 18 spent 5 years battling the justice system.
Even though 14 have been let off their charges, it is unlikely they will ever
see anything resembling justice. The kids who had guns shoved in their faces
will be traumatised for the rest of their lives, and the financial and
emotional costs of being dragged through the courts is immense. An acquittal
does not change this. No amount of compensation can replace a lost childhood or
a sold family home, but I doubt any at all will be forthcoming. Without the
work of awesome lawyers, the Urewera 18 would have been completely screwed.
Although the justice system is flawed, racist and unjust, it is the one we are stuck with, and we need people to fight
within it.
I was not particularly surprised when Tame and Rangi were
sentenced to 2 ½ years for firearms charges. I was more surprised by the shoddy
turn out at the protest against it. In fact shoddy turnouts at protests have
been quite a theme lately (see my rant on asset sals…). I know their appeal was
last week some time. No idea how it went. It amazes me that their sentence was
so much harsher than Emily and Urs’s sentence of 9 months home detention, for
exactly the same charges. If this is not blatant racism, I don’t know what is.
Amongst all this rage, frustration and anger, there is one
thing that really makes me happy, which is when I meet people who are doing
awesome things. I felt incredibly inspired talking to the older generation of
greenies at the AGM a few months ago. They were the coolest old people ever,
many of them having been involved in the Values Party as 20 year olds back in
the 70s. The intergenerational mixing was something I had never really
experienced before and I found it incredibly beautiful that they had so much to
share and offer to us.
I also found it profoundly depressing. In the 1970s, the
environmental problems facing the world were insignificant compared to what we
are currently experiencing. They couldn’t even imagine the downward spiral that
humanity was about to embark upon. They had been fighting for 40 years, with
minor victories, yes, but these were mere glitches on a trajectory heading
exponentially downwards. Although the vibe of the conference was upbeat and
positive, celebratory even, I couldn’t help but feel, or at least imagine, a
sense of failure on the part of humanity as a whole.
I have also met some amazing lawyers. A few weeks ago I met a vegan lawyer
and a vegetarian lawyer, which probably doubled the number of veg*n lawyers I
know. It was definitely the highlight of my evening, if not my weekend. I have
heard lots about a group called legal vegans which existed in Auckland. It
sounds awesome. When I first heard about it I was amazed that “vegan lawyer”
actually existed as a category of people. I’m really really keen to start one
up here cos I think it would be fantastic.
That being said, I am unsure to the extent to which I
identify as vegan above any other identity. I have realised over the past few
months that of course not all vegans are amazing people. It frustrates me that
so many of them think that because they are refraining from cruelty to animals
they are doing their bit, period. Like with asset sales, it frustrates me
hugely when people are passionate about something but refuse to stand up and
actually do something to change it. I am wary of spending too much time with
vegans, at the risk of ignoring other opportunities to get involved with other
things.
In conclusion, I have no idea where I am going with law. I
am interested in animal rights law, but I don’t want to limit myself to this
and become a narrow-minded “vegangelical”. My interest in development is
dwindling as I realise the concept is filled with hypocrisy, and we need to fix
ourselves first. Our environment is fucked, and maybe law can play a part in
fixing it. Social justice will always be important to me, as I see how people
are constantly screwed over by the “system”. It is hard to know in which
direction to go when there are so many pressing issues to be passionate about.
Fortunately, I believe that all our problems are absolutely related, and mostly
come down to selfishness and greed. Their solutions will not be mutually
exclusive, and require a fundamental change in our society. I think any change
has to occur on all levels – from the grassroots, from the government, and of
course through the courts.
Law can be used for good or for bad – it is a neutral tool,
and I don’t believe it is inherently a bad thing (maybe at the moment it is
used more for bad than good, but this doesn’t mean it has to be). Plenty of good things have been achieved through the
legal system over the years. Yes, there are plenty of really areseholey lawyers
and law students out there. Yes, there are a few really awesome lawyers who I
find inspiring, but they certainly don’t outweigh the arseholey ones. It is my
absolute conviction that the world needs more lawyers with a social conscience,
and hopefully I can be such a person. I don’t even think it matters what I end up
doing – as long as I can do it with a clear moral conscience, I know I will be
following the right path.
