No, those classes exist but they're not available to 1Ls. You don't get any say in your schedule your first year.
Practicing Law as a Communist
Cool, thank you for your initial reply and this last one.
Reading autoadmit is hilarious… I had forgotten it existed. Nevertheless, things look pretty damn grim for the world, let alone the USA. Take out big loans, get a "useless" education, and watch it all fall apart. Bad things are coming, whatever they may be, the whole house of cards isn't doing too well. It isn't going to stop people from living, and neither should the impotence of any given vocation to affect the power structure.
Better to waste time doing something you can sort of enjoy yet cripples your spirit than doing nothing and being crippled all the same. Better to have something useful to give when the time comes it'll be asked of you. People are only doing their best, and if they fall prey to the temptations of capitalist offerings and diversions, that's just them following the bread crumbs of those incentives. There's no stopping the inevitable.
You should lighten up about it. Most people know there aren't any Atticus Finch's in the world, and the real Frank Serpico wasn't anything like the guy shown in the movie. Eastwood's big cop roles are all fashie stormtroopers of death for angry white guys to fawn over and desire to be; aspiring to be that way is kind of like aspiring to be Richard Ramirez with a badge, it's not realistic (movies are not realistic).
I was going to get Rosenberg's The Hollow Hope, but I'll give this a read first.
Being a public defender is notoriously shitty and depressing. At least, for the left-wing public defenders I've heard from. If you think you'd be good at it, go for it, but please for the love of God earn yourself some money. You can use those skills if you need to later on.
Most of this comes from the fact that public defenders don't get paid much either.
You can do a lot of good work as a lawyer defending workers and consumers from porkies, but don't expect to be able to make any structural change. It's a fine job to get as a socialist, as long as you choose to defend the little guy and don't go for the money. The world always needs more good public defenders.
(me)
I'm supposing that OP doesn't care too much about the money or work pressure. He just wants to do good for the world.
Aside from the pay issue, what are their main complaints about the job?
The main thing that worries me is that it seems like if you really try to upset the status quo, the other side will retaliate by making your life as difficult as possible. I suppose you can never take things "too far", from the perspective of the judges and prosecution.
In this article (worth reading IMO), a former PD talks about how his anti-system attitude eventually got him fired:
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That sounds really Kafkaesque.
But yeah, I agree, don't be an idiot. You aren't going to beat the system on your own. Don't try "jamming it up" or whatever. If you do, be sure to make a media storm about it.
Make sure you read An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States before you take Con Law. Also, google Evgeny Pashukanis if (or Vyshinsky if you like to larp) instead of taking jurisprudence.
Good luck bro, doubt that.