This is such great work. Rising 2Ls have more leverage over the direction the legal industry takes than any other group across society. To use that leverage effectively, this is exactly the kind of information that students need. Congratulations to @Ls4Ca! https://twitter.com/Ls4Ca/status/1311637279283310594

I've called on law students many times to #Divest their labor from firms that are worsening the climate crisis. This work makes that possible.

Why do rising 2Ls hold so much power? Bc all of these elite firms recruit their summer hires at the beginning of the academic year. Then they hire those summer hires.

So essentially all of their recruiting is done based on school name and 1st year grades. They need to attract from elite schools to keep their elite firm status. So when students at Stanford, Harvard, Yale, etc. refuse to work for firms with fossil fuel ties, the firms notice.

If rising 2Ls from top schools make it known and loud that they won't interview with fossil firms, the culture will change FAST. Firms will start falling all over themselves to repair their image. It will be then up to students to hold the line, and not settle for greenwashing.

Law school, even (especially?) at elite schools, creates a false perception in students that they are failing at all times, that they must cover their bases, that risks are extremely risky. But the truth is exactly the opposite.

If you are a student at a top 6 law school, you are among the 1000 safest people in the job pipeline. You will never have more freedom or a stronger safety net than you do right now. This, of all moments in your life, is when you can be the most audacious in your demands.

You are the product. You are what the school is selling, and firms are competing to get you. But both the school and the firms will do everything they can to make you feel worthless, and that you should be grateful for any attention they give you. It's on purpose, and it's a lie.

And that lie is engineered to push you into the well-worn pathways that uphold the status quo. Deviating from it is punished, and it takes a psychic toll, but ultimately all they can do is tell you ghost stories. There is no real danger. It's a hall of mirrors.

So use this information. Be loud about it. Tell firms you are refusing them because of their bad climate score. Tell firms they are your first choice because of their good climate score. Do this EVEN IF YOU AREN'T WORKING ON CLIMATE.

You hold all the cards. You won't be in this position again for a very long time, if ever. Use it.