Golden Handcuffs.

• Author: CROMWELL, GIBSON
• Position: Law student reconsiders career in public service - Includes response

A third-year law student writes to tell why all his classmates who'd dreamt of government service are beading elsewhere--and why he's having second thoughts, too, With a response from Charles Peters

A top Wall Street law firm is the best place for a young man like yourself to start," the senior partner said. I was dining with the refined, silver-haired man at a pricey Midtown restaurant. My mouth full of chilled salmon, I could only smile, doing my best to demur. After all, I told the partner, I hadn't gone to law school to work for a firm. I wanted to find work that was both interesting and served a purpose beyond just making money.

He had clearly heard this before. In a confident voice, he assured me that joining the civil service would be a mistake--it would mean a lifetime of benchwarming, he said. Joining a firm, on the other hand, would mean professional excellence and a shot at being one of the country's top achievers.

For me, and for perhaps a thousand others who came to the country's top law schools--Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.--intent on a career in public service, this man's voice is just one of a chorus. In the summer before our third and final year--the time for career decisions--we weren't being recruited by the Treasury Department or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In fact, even civil servants themselves were dissuading us from beginning a career in government. Instead, private firms like Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meager, and Flom were pulling out every stop to get us to come aboard--and succeeding. We came to law school, I thought, not for money or job security, but because we wanted to serve our country. Now we're told that if we really want to make a difference we should steer clear of the civil service. Many of my friends are convinced. Now I'm wavering, too.

People go to law school for many reasons: to secure a healthy future income, to please their families, maybe even because they don't know what else to do. Then, when graduation time comes, a vast majority ask only two questions: "Which firm?" and "How much money?" Yet a good number of young American men and women study law because they want to enter American public life. This was certainly true for me. My love for politics and public policy began in high school, when I spent a summer working for a U.S. senator. The next summer, I worked in the governor's office. During college, I worked abroad at a U.S. embassy; later, I worked in Washington, writing cables to far-flung diplomatic posts.

It was heady and fun--drafting speeches for a Cabinet officer, negotiating with Japanese diplomats, chatting with French military attaches. Of course, for many people Wall Street is probably heady and fun too, but when I was working for the government, I also had the feeling that my work had real significance. At the SEC, for example, lawyers do valuable and important work, protecting investors against fraud while helping the country's financial markets to run smoothly and fairly.

A utilities regulator must balance efficiency and equity--making sure everyone has access to service, on the one hand, while also preserving the incentives and efficiency of the free market on the other. It's a complex job that requires an understanding of the law and the underlying technological issues, as well as the needs of different communities. Contrast this with a lawyer appearing before a regulatory commission. The regulator is charged with the public interest, the private lawyer is not.

During law school, I followed my fascination--friends called it an "obsession"--with government service. I worked two more summers in foreign policy jobs in Washington. I loved this work and thought I'd found my calling.

Now, as I face graduation in just seven months, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Already, many of my service-minded classmates have jumped ship--they're set on joining a firm, or, in a few cases, a nonprofit group or some other unorthodox organization. But they...