Recently, anti-Israel activists have become active on several American law school campuses, conducting controversial events at Columbia, Fordham, Davis, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, activists have created hostile environments for Jewish students at several universities. If you are a Jewish law student, or a non-Jewish law student who cares about justice, should you be concerned? Here are ten reasons why you should stick your head in the sand and be quiet. They have probably already occurred to you. But they do not hold water. 1. Law School is Not the Time for Activism Barricade at the Paris Commune (source: Wikipedia Common) You are not paying so much money, and assuming so much debt, to be a social activist. You are in law school to gain the skill, knowledge and credentials that you will need to succeed as a working lawyer. But law school is also a time for designing your professional identity as a lawyer. If you ignore injustice during your law school years, how likely is it that you will not do so afterwards? Ignoring your values for three years will not prepare you to be a socially conscious attorney who will make a positive impact on the world once you have graduated. And what better way to develop legal skills than by applying your legal education to issues you care about, working with seasoned practitioners who can guide you? 2. Falafels Are Enough You enjoy meeting other Jewish law students, but you are satisfied with the occasional social or religious events that your law school’s Jewish student association provides. The annual Shabbat dinner or Hannukah party or Israel celebration is sufficient to meet that need. Sometimes a good falafel is enough. But how much better to combine your Jewish identity and legal professionalism in ways that are more substantive? You may want to be educated, for example, in the specifically legal aspects of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Or you may want training in how to advance the civil rights of the Jewish. Or you may want to engage, in a serious and programmatic way, with the various other legal issues that are now prominent in the Jewish community. Anti-Semitic Stereotypes (Source: Wikpedia Commons) 3. You Don’t Have to Worry About Anti-Semitism Any More You may not have experienced anti-Semitism personally in the ways that your parents and grandparents did. And you prefer to think of anti-Jewish bigotry as a purely historical matter, rather than as the stuff of current litigation. But anti-Semitism has been resurgent around the world, including on many American university campuses. And there is a tremendous amount of unaddressed legal work that needs to be done to fight it. 4. Law Schools Are Not the Place for These Issues You may have been an undergraduate activist, but you see the law school as being a very different environment. Most of the political battles at your university are focused on the main campus and are conducted largely by undergraduates. But nowadays well-funded national groups are bringing anti-Israel events to law schools as well. They are highly organized and energetic in their denunciations of Israel and their efforts to insulate anti-Semitic activity from examination or criticism. Law schools are too important to cede to the haters. Those who support the civil and human rights of the Jewish people, as well as equal justice for all people, need to set the record straight. Harvard Law School 5. Fighting Anti-Semitism is No Way to Learn Legal Practice You have only so many hours in the day, and your legal studies are demanding. As much as you would like to join the fight against anti-Semitism, you do not see how you can reasonably combine this with your existing obligations. But there is no better way to learn the legal craft than to apply it to issues that you care about. If you are properly guided, you can integrate your personal interests with your academic requirements. Do you have a pro bono requirement at your law school? A clinical program? A law review writing program? There are many ways to integrate civil rights activism with your legal studies. The Louis D. Brandeis Center can help you do this. 6. This Will Not Help Your Career You want to be a securities litigator or a criminal prosecutor or an antitrust lawyer, and you do not see civil rights work as the path to career advancement. But that may be short-sighted. To be sure, anyone who fights for justice takes certain risks. Some employers however will value your commitment to civil rights and social justice. Others may be interested in the training and experience you receive in legal advocacy. Still others will admire your conviction that the law can be used as a tool to rectify injustice or the leadership that you demonstrate in doing so on your campus. 7. This is Not the Right Time There has never been a pressing civil rights issue that was not controversial. Taking positions on controversial issues (like peace in the Middle East and opposition to anti-Semitism) could complicate your career path. So what’s your plan, wait until you have a job, maybe as a law firm associate, before you take stand? But then you won’t want to make waves until you make partner. Then, when you have finally made partner, you will want to make sure you are equity partner. And of course you will not want to risk interference with your progress up the partnership compensation tiers. Really you are not safe to seek tikkun olam until you are retired. Or dead. 8. No One Has Asked Maybe no one has asked you to take a stand against anti-Semitism and in favor of the civil and human rights of the Jewish people. But we’re asking. If you are a law student at an ABA-accredited law school, the Louis D. Brandeis Center needs your help. We are fighting campus anti-Semitism, advancing the civil and human rights of the Jewish people, and promoting justice for all. We are chartering chapters at selective law schools around the country. If your school has a chapter, please join. If it does not, then think about starting one. We have opportunities for externs, summer civil rights law clerks and post-graduate civil rights legal fellows. During the semester, we have externship and pro bono opportunities. Contact us at info@brandeiscenter.com. Learn more at www.brandeiscenter.com. 9. You Do Not Need to Network Any More Than You Are Already Doing Peter Finch in Network You may have other ways of meeting other law students, legal academics, and successful practitioners. But it is never a bad idea to expand your network. Through Brandeis Center law school chapters, you may meet other like-minded law students at your own law school. Through our annual national law school conference, you may meet interesting, passionate students from other law schools around the country. In the course of your work, you may meet lawyers who share your values and are interested in sharing what they have learned about legal practice and the legal community. Louis D. Brandeis (Source: Library of Congress) 10. It’s Better to Work with Other Communities You may want to work with many other kinds of people and not just other Jewish law students. But fighting anti-Semitism and racism is not just for the Jewish community, and the Louis D. Brandeis Center works with a variety of people and groups. The Louis D. Brandeis Center is committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, etc. We value collaborations with other organizations, both inside and outside of the Jewish community, including advocacy organizations representing other identity groups.