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Comment by astrofinch | Hacker News Reader

Graduating from Yale Law sounds like it's for suckers. Let the elites have their crazy working hours and stressful hoop jumping--I'm not envious.

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Their cohort effectively sets the vision for American legislation and justice. You may not be interested in them, but they're interested in you.

This. These folks are helping to shape new laws that set precedent for every other case. For example: the wealthiest now pay historically low tax rates [1][2]

[1] https://twitter.com/DLeonhardt/status/1181004566088814594

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/06/opinion/incom...

Setting the vision for American legislation and so-called "justice" is hardly something to be envious of, or to be proud of if you know anything about legislation or the "justice" system.

I'm sure this harsh burn has them all reeling. I'd imagine they are quitting their jobs as I speak.

Get off your high horse.

Do they really set the vision, though? Did they start the #MeToo movement and bring down Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men? Are they leading the push for transgender acceptance? Are they the reason why reparations and universal healthcare are now mainstream policy proposals in the Democrat party?

It certainly makes sense for the wealthy, elite lawyers of a society to set the course of policy. But I'm not sure what the empirical evidence from 2019 America says. I think a lot of these Yale graduates end up becoming cogs in the existing system without actually changing it, and I think other forces might be equally as or more impactful in terms of shaping political currents.

I mean, go look at the professors leading these policy pushes, the journalists writing about metoo, and the policy wonks pushing for healthcare or trans changes. You're going to see a lot of JDs from top schools -- a lot of Yale. You won't see any self-taught coders or mathematicians from CalTech, you know?

In the age of big data, the gig economy, and oligrachs dominating the US economy and political sphere--you're next.

You should read The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovits: https://www.themeritocracytrap.com/

The author is actually a Yale Law Professor, and the book came out about a month ago.

The author delivered this speech!

I hope that poster saw that, lol.

And yet we routinely see people here arguing in defence of 80- to 100-hour work weeks at startups. This kind of mind-sickness is not the sole domain of the elite legal profession.

Or a notably 4/9 minority at the Supreme Court. The majority of course went to Harvard.

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