Future Concerns

I have struggled to answer the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” all my life. Over the past 27 years, my answers have included veterinarian, screenwriter, musician, field biologist, music journalist, environmental strategist, novelist, record store owner, environmental engineer, director, astronaut, travel blogger, and sports reporter. Essentially, I’ve dreamt of every possible career in the world except for lawyer. I never really thought about law school until I understood the field’s versatility. Feeling pigeonholed in my job as a government environmental advisor, I jumped at the opportunity to pursue a discipline that touches upon so many other domains. Yet my biggest struggle over this first semester of law school has been coming to grips with the fact that I’m a passion addict. So far I’ve been unable to prioritize a specific legal interest, but rather trying to do all of them.

I find myself constantly in wonder of classmates who know exactly what kind of law they want to specialize in. How can someone focus on one singular issue when there are so many interesting events and people on campus? With thought-provoking guest lectures almost every week, I’ve found myself bouncing from aspiration to aspiration. My undergraduate and Master’s degrees are both in environmental science, so it only makes sense that people presume I want to be an environmental lawyer. I do, and I think that would be an incredible career in something I’m passionate about. But then I was absolutely sure that I wanted to travel the world as an international human rights lawyer after attending Noah Weisbord’s lecture on the crime of aggression earlier this semester. After meeting with executives of the Montreal Canadiens in October, I began fantasizing about working as a lawyer for my beloved bleu blanc rouge. But then at night when I switch gears to my side job as a music journalist, I start fantasizing about being a lawyer representing independent musicians against greedy labels and distributors. I had never put much thought into criminal law, but after going to court for a first time as part of the 1L Criminal Justice paper I can see myself as a federal or provincial prosecutor. The Art Law events this semester (Q&A with Hollywood producer Bob Cooper, screening of There Are No Fakes) had me convinced that I needed to find a way of combining law with my love of cinema and art. I’m incredibly thankful that I missed Mitch Garber’s guest lecture because I might have left dreaming of a career owning a sports team.

I’ve always lived by Bob Dylan’s line “he not busy being born is busy dying” from “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”, and law school has been a fantastic avenue for exploring my diverse interests. I feared before starting law school that I’d be the only student who didn’t want to go to a big firm, but I am truly grateful for the incredible clubs and organizations on campus that introduce students to a range of legal careers. I don’t know if there are any clubs that I didn’t sign up for on Clubs Day. I still have no idea what I want to do, but if future career clarity doesn’t reveal itself over the next three years, I’m preparing to open Montreal’s first international environmental criminal music sports human rights art boutique law firm. Feel free to apply!

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This issue marks the last Quid Novi of the decade. The Quid has been in steady publication since 1978, who knows what the next decade will hold? With newspapers folding across the continent and a decline in quality journalism in favor of clickbait, could this mark the last decade of print journalism? Will readers be downloading the Quid to some sort of imbedded microchip in 2029? Will the Editor-In-Chief position be replaced by an AI algorithm? I sincerely hope not. The Quid looks forward to providing you with quality student news for years to come. Best of luck to everyone on their final exams, and I hope you enjoy reading the last Quid Novi of the 2010s!