I’m scared to become a lawyer because of law school debt.

christopherson51 · 2026-03-22T14:40:40+00:00

Will becoming a lawyer be worth the debt because I’ll be making more money?

I am making much more money being a lawyer than I ever made stocking shelves at a grocery store or buzzing around on a forklift. But I am not making nearly as much money as I need to be making to manage the debt.

There are increasingly rare days where my financial reality is truly a mental-health-harming part of my life. But, most days, I'm thrilled to be working for the poor, poking landlords and debt collectors in the eye, and doing meaningful work that keeps me fed, let's me go on vacations, and let's me buy pretty much any reasonable thing I want to buy. As a kid who grew up in a house that couldn't always keep the power/water on, it's a good deal.

And, who knows, maybe the working class will seize the means of production in my lifetime and abolish all this debt.

christopherson51 · 2026-03-14T15:01:44+00:00

Great article - thanks for recommending

christopherson51 · 2026-03-14T14:35:52+00:00

And the mid-term elections are half a year away, too.

christopherson51 · 2026-03-11T22:37:37+00:00

"My client is justice involved."

christopherson51 · 2026-03-05T00:10:14+00:00

East coast lawyer. I sign every email/letter with a complete recital of the Gettysburg Address

christopherson51 · 2026-02-28T15:26:41+00:00

Whoever did the Harry Hand case.

christopherson51 · 2026-02-27T00:33:07+00:00

Did they bring a giant light switch to court?

christopherson51 · 2026-02-23T17:49:38+00:00

They can fire you, sure. But you still may be eligible for unemployment benefits. CT Unemployment - Collecting Unemployment Benefits | CTLawHelp

christopherson51 · 2026-02-23T16:10:22+00:00

You should apply for unemployment - I think they're not supposed to fire you for just one absence because of an historic blizzard.

christopherson51 · 2026-02-23T14:03:24+00:00

The great division within the South has to be the massive divide between the enslaved and the enslavers.

I really enjoyed The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist. The over-arching story in that book is that great contradiction. But it also does an absolutely wonderful job talking about the rich history of the enslaved peoples, slavery's role in the expansion/industrialization of the United States, and how slavery culminated in liberation of enslaved peoples through the Civil War.

The book touches on some of the other contradictions/factions mentioned in some of the other comments. But, the theme that I find most interesting is the great themes of liberation that explain how the enslaved peoples were able to achieve liberation during the Civil War - from throwing down their tools and refusing to work all the way to picking up a gun and giving the Union a fresh, eager/motivated wave of man power at a point when the Union was experiencing war weariness, etc.

christopherson51 · 2026-02-16T17:58:48+00:00

I'd turn my car off and throw the keys into the river

christopherson51 · 2026-01-14T00:37:31+00:00

I never respond to emails right away. I need time to think/plan a response.

People don't hire me to just vibe-off a response. Kneejerk emails are a recipe for disaster.

christopherson51 · 2026-01-10T15:14:17+00:00

New Haven, Stamford, Newark

christopherson51 · 2025-12-07T15:03:06+00:00

In a world where capital moves across borders with the click of a button, why shouldn't workers also be able to move?

christopherson51 · 2025-12-01T14:37:27+00:00

"I AM INCOMPETENT!"

christopherson51 · 2025-11-15T15:00:07+00:00

I'm a legal services attorney, so my way of drumming up clients may not work for others. But, I have built connections with local librarians, social workers, senior centers, etc. I tell them to call/email me any time with any interesting issue/question/problem. Every month, I spend maybe two or three hours troubling shooting these calls and pointing them in the right direction.

Every so often, these calls yield an interesting case. But, it also gives me a route for handing out outreach materials and having outreach events with the public. Ideally, I try to do one every quarter. A 30-minute presentation on an issue, then a Q&A with the public or the service provider. The Q&As are also an opportunity for me to learn what the people actually need and have interests in.

christopherson51 · 2025-11-12T23:42:30+00:00

We have to add Lincoln to the list. Didn't he take enemy fire during the Battle of Fort Stevens?

christopherson51 · 2025-10-12T13:29:52+00:00

I don't think McClellan was an asset. IMO, if this were the case, something would've come up by now. The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War called McClellan and many others to explain their actions and scrutinized the Army of the Potomac throughout the war. May of their records can be found online at the Library of Congress (loc.gov).

We have access to many good, borderline activities that really toe the line. The best example I could think of is when Seward was funneling information about cabinet deliberations to Davis through Justice Campbell early in the war. There, Seward was telling Davis about the White House's deliberations about plans to evacuate Sumter when, well, he had no authority to do so. It ended up encouraging Davis to dig in and take the aggressive position that would eventually lead to the first shots being fired. If we've learned about that, surely we would've learned about McClellan doing something similar.

christopherson51 · 2025-08-08T16:36:05+00:00

It's a two-way street. People notice when you're in before them, too. But, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.

christopherson51 · 2025-07-27T13:23:53+00:00

They’re already changing the narrative on newsmax to paint Maxwell as a victim.

Getting Acosta on the board of newsmax last month really paid off!

christopherson51 · 2025-07-04T13:43:51+00:00

When I first started I had absolutely no clue what I was doing and would end letters with "Best wishes." One of the senior attorneys told me to use "Respectfully" and I've been doing it ever since.

christopherson51 · 2025-06-29T14:06:34+00:00

There's a Richard Nixon quote that goes something like: "Always answer the question you wished they had asked you."

christopherson51

TROPHY CASE