What Can You Do With A Law Degree?
Join The Marines and Run For Congress
Once you get into a top law school, staying on the Biglaw course requires determination, talent and a clear headed focus on your goals. Getting out of Biglaw requires all the same strengths, mixed with a little bit of crazy.
J. Ashwin Madia has been a law firm associate and a Marine, and now he's running for Congress. But like so many of us his journey started in the relative safety of a top law school. The friends of his from NYU Law might know him better as Jigar. Madia starting using his middle names when he joined the Marines.
The few Marines I've met all talk about a desire to give back to the community and Madia is no different:
My parents came to this country with $19 between them, and they bought an $11 bottle of champagne and they started with $8 in this country. So this was a small way to give something back.
Where Madia is different is that his post-bar trip was disturbingly similar to boot camp, insofar as he had to go to boot camp.
The marines are kind of unique in that if you fly a plane or drive a tank or are a lawyer, you all go through the same training. It was funny, after I took the bar exam I had 8 months of crawling around in the mud and shooting a machine gun and learning martial arts and learning how to be a rifle platoon commander.
Madia helped the Iraqi government formulate their legal system, focusing on getting suspected terrorists competent defense lawyers, fair trials, and if guilty, speedy incarceration.
He has also had more traditional legal jobs. After his tour with the in the Marine corps, Madia went back to Minnesota (where he is from) to work at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi in their IP department.
But, you know, sometimes I would look out of the window there and just think of other things I could be doing.
More about Ashwin Madia and his G.I. Joe advice to Biglaw associates after the break.
Madia, a Republican turned Democrat (Democratic Farmer-Labor party for those who know their Minnesota politics), is running for Congress in the Minnesota 3rd. Its is an open seat in a previously Republican district. Madia was a long shot to even win the primary, but the latest Survey USA poll has him within the margin of error in the general.
Madia credits his law firm for helping him compete in this race:
[O]ne of the biggest hurdles unfortunately for anyone getting involved in elected office is money. Its raising money. ... But I was very lucky because I had a group of pretty well off people who worked in law firms who wanted to help me and wanted to support me. So I was able to establish some credibility early on by raising quite a bit of money in a short period of time. And a large part of that was because both the partners and associates at Robins were so supportive.
Would you support a fellow associate running for Congress? Do you think your partners would? A lot of firms talk about supporting their associates in various extra-legal endeavors, but how many are really willing to make a cash investment?
Not surprisngly, Madia has some very direct advice for associates who are looking for something more than the Biglaw lifestyle offers, "just do it."
They just need to make the decision to do it and cut off all avenues of retreat. ... Chances are if they're working at one of these top law firms, they've been successful at everything they've ever done in their whole life ... so they have the skill set to do it.
Ashwin Madia will checking in on his old NYU haunts soon. He's holding a fundraiser at the Harmonie Club, Monday the 15th. Regardless of whether he wins or loses, it is some pretty interesting advice for anybody just "looking out of the window."
(59) Comments
first!
“disturbing*ly* similar to boot camp …” Proof read!
Jigar? Really? Jigar? What does it rhyme with?
NYC to rifle platoon commander!
"J. Ashwin Madia, has been a law firm associate and a Marine, and now he's running for Congress. "
No need for that first comma. Proofread!
Juh Juh Juh JIGAR UNIT!
Jiga what, Jiga who?
This is quite possibly the worst narrative ever written. I can't even follow the story.
And it might help to keep your open your eyes when you type. And keep them open when you proofread.
The line between this blog and a blog written by a dude sitting in his underwear in his mother's basement is getting more blurred every day. Do your advertisers know your writing is this sh*tty?
#5 and #8 should get a room and smoke each others poles.
At Cravath, after you take the bar exam you have 8 months of crawling around in the mud, shooting a machine gun, and learning martial arts. Not all first year associates survive. It's what makes Cravath, Cravath.
#9: "smoke each other*'s* poles."
#9:
Does your mom know you are in her basement?
From #8
You might crawl around in the mud at Cravath, but Skadden still always wipes the mud out of Cravath's ass.
As a biglaw associate and Army veteran, I think this dude is awesome (in that he is like me, but better).
Also, good post, Elie.
#11... that was the point.
Grab "ur" knee pads and join them..
"J. Ashwin Madia, has been a law firm associate and a Marine, and now he's running for Congress. "
No need for that first comma. Proofread!
"Madia starting using his middle names when he joined the Marines."
I usually don't care, but this grammar is horrible...
Madia has good TV commercials:
www.madiaforcongress.com
#12 -- I am in your mom's basement right now and she is smiling and walking like a cowgirl.
"Ashwin Madia will checking in on his old NYU haunts soon."
This sentence confuses me...
The Ass of Cravath shall forever be wiped by the sniveling drooling UPEN State Law student masses.
#20... I wonder what the missing two letter word could ....
It's a blog, relax.
Ashwin Madia will checking in on his old NYU haunts soon.
This is a sentence? Fire Elie.
What is wrong with you assclowns who always correct other people's grammar? Are you OCD or are you just a bunch of flaming douchetards?
I HATE YOU ALL
Money on some AA troll to say "USMC = TTT"
Is grammar required at Cravath?
came with 19 dollars and bought champagne? huh?
"Are you OCD ..." isn't correct. "Do you have OCD" is better.
Thank goodness for the fair "trails" in Iraq. Elie, when you make your living from writing, try proofreading.
USMC = TTT
USMC=TTT
Are his parents like some kind of alcoholics, spending half their life savings on a bottle of Andre? I guess it worked if he popped out, though.
Guys at my high school who were OCD and a bunch of flaming douchetards used to correct each other's grammar all the time, it was no big deal.
you people are cartoon characters. it was a great, timely post about a very interesting guy and 90% of the comments are about misplaced punctuation. the fact is you are all incredibly jealous that Elie gets to post on a blog and you are all sitting around waiting for more diligence and/or doc review.
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/05/12/99-grammar/
USMC≥TTT≥Mike Spann
Foreign Legion = TTT
34 is correct.
I've found that people like this come from the following background - They were tools in high school and nobody liked them because they studied all the time, volunteered, and engaged in other such shit so they could get into a good college. They were tools in college and nobody liked them for the same reasons they were not liked in high school, except now they were gunning for a spot at a top law school. In law school they were supreme tools running around kissing every ass they could to land a biglaw job. They now have this going for them, but have no social skills, are awkward in the presence of normal company, are likely virgins, and are left wondering why they tried so hard to succeed when they are surrounded by others who, God forbid, don't always use proper grammar, have a life, and otherwise don't suck. How could I have sacrificed the past 24 years of my life and be sitting next to a guy who is normal yet still ended up where I did? On top of all that, all I do for 10 hours a day is review documents.
So, these people have to justify all the knowledge they amassed in life by correcting others. In 7 years, these will be the same people who are passed over for partner because while they billed 2,300 for every year they were at the firm, they cannot be put in front of a client and have absolutely no book of business due to their inability to fit in with normal society.
As a biglaw associate AND an Army vet AND an Indian . . . I have to agree, this guy is awesome. Semper Fi
He's Indian? Like a Navajo or a Sioux?
As a biglaw associate and a WASP, I have to agree, 37 is awesome. Semper Fudge.
35, you Obama voter, Mike Spann was a Marine artillery officer before got soft and joined the CIA.
What’s a fair trail? Is that like a pathway at a carnival?
Bring back Lat. Or, at least hire Elie a proof reader.
I stopped reading at "the friends of his." Why not simply "his friends"?
Honestly, I wouldn't comment on a missing comma, but this was just terribly written! While people on this blog are quick to jump on someone for grammatical errors, it speaks volumes when the editor of the blog posts ridiculous stories that he didn't even proof-read. Elie, instead of focusing on what Obama's crack looks like, go read your shit first
This story was fine.
Effective trolling can involve nitpicking grammar on pointless or insubstantial posts (cf. "I like pie").
Nitpicking grammar is never incorrect, and is frequently amusing, but in the context of an otherwise cool story it just makes you look like an ass.
ditto 45
you should really check out this story, notable also because this is the brother of "Mekka Don," previously profiled on ATL.
Litigation Battles? A Weil Associate Gets Ready for a Real War
http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2008/09/litigation-batt.html
# 11 = "others' " plurals must place the apostrophe after the s.
See, now THAT was amusing.
-46
#49 -- It's not a plural unless you think they each possess multiple poles.
The advent of all you illiterates to this site will be its downfall.
There are a million sites where you can all post and you'll fit right in. Hey, I get that everyone's got their thing, and, obviously, language is just not yours. But, although you may not be able to understand it, some of us appreciate a well-turned phrase or a coherent paragraph. It is after all, what good lawyers do for a living. So to all of you ass-monkeys out there who say who cares about grammar, or even whether a post makes sense, get the f**k off the site, your odor is killing me.
As to you Elie, your grammar is offensive and embarassing.
52, you left out numerous commas, added several commas where they didn't belong, unnecessarily committed the stylistic blunder of beginning a sentence with a conjunction, butchered the natural structure of the second sentence, and let the last sentence trail off in a near-incoherent tangle of jumbled and incomplete phrases.
Self-immolate now.
I think we should ship him back to whatever God forsaken hellhole of a country he's from.
Well, drunken posting has its risks, like no comma before the "after all," and the very slight trailing into incoherence you mentioned, 53. But,,,,,,,, only semi-literate pedants cling to that rule against starting sentences with conjunctions.
And 54, why don't we just ship you back to whatever God-forsaken hellhole of a New Jersey town it is that you hail from?
55,
I guess one reason I shouldn't be shipped back to a New Jersey town is that I'm not from New Jersey.
Another reason I shouldn't be shipped back anywhere is that I'm not a God-hating, Muslim communist like this Jigar fellow.
Regards,
54
37: Amen. Truer words never scribed. That was precisely my experience in BIGLAW as a (relatively) normal person and is the number one reason I was so psyched to get out of there.
Jigar rhymes with Cigar. And he's not Muslim you twit.
Guys at my high school took the bar exam, had 8 months of crawling around in the mud, shot a machine gun and learned martial arts all the time, it was no big deal.