Law Professors, Law Schools

Free Market Law Professor Seeks Unpaid Help

Putting the "free" in "free market."

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Are you a 2L or 3L looking to take on some high-pressure, tight deadline work for free? Are you the sort of person willing to believe that “important” work is its own reward? Well, then we have the gig for you. Professor Eugene Volokh wants to file an amicus brief, but doesn’t want it to interfere with his travel plans, and he’s offering no money or credit. That’s where you come in.

Professor Volokh, the legal blogger extraordinaire, put out this APB for students:

I’d like to write a short amicus letter – essentially, a 3-page-long friend-of-the-court brief – in a First Amendment appeal now pending in Massachusetts. I need to submit the letter by next Wednesday, since I’m leaving the country next Thursday, so this would require a very quick turnaround; I’d need a first draft by mid-afternoon this Friday, and a revised draft by the end of the day Sunday, though there will also be some cite-checking and follow up work early next week.

Sounds like an exciting project for some enterprising student interested in the exciting world of First Amendment litigation that they’ll never encounter again after they graduate. But here’s the catch:

Unfortunately, because the project is short, and because it will take place entirely during the Summer, it will not be possible to get class credit for this…

Oh, great. And there’s not any mention of financial compensation. I thought the fundamental premise of the whole libertarian, free-market-warrior mentality that Volokh espouses rests on the premise that no one should do anything for free. As Ayn Rand explained in her love letter to awkward boys who fancy themselves geniuses that the rest of us call Atlas Shrugged (affiliate link):

“Good heavens, couldn’t he give it to you as a courtesy?”

He sat looking at her for a moment, studying her face, as if deliberately letting her see the amusement in his. “Miss Taggart,” he said, “we have no laws in this valley, no rules, no formal organization of any kind. We come here because we want to rest. But we have certain customs, which we all observe, because they pertain to the things we need to rest from. So I’ll warn you now that there is one word which is forbidden in this valley: the word ‘give.’”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “You’re right.”

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Perhaps we’re supposed to employ Rand’s logic that altruism is the ultimate evil… unless it’s for the benefit of her heroes. Because they believe enough in capitalism to deserve it (if you haven’t read Atlas Shrugged… don’t. But you should check out this extensive and ongoing review of the book, because it’s tremendous).

We’re having some gentle fun at the expense of our brother blogger, but in all seriousness, the problem here isn’t Volokh’s — as he said, he can’t give out credit unilaterally, and he probably doesn’t have a budget for hiring help — as much as it’s endemic to the academy. Many professors, like Volokh, perform real legal work and rely on their students to act as a stable of ersatz associates working, basically, as interns. And while internships for credit are all well and good, an internship for nothing is just exploitation.

Defenders of this system — and there are many — will trot out the same tired excuses spouted by the private sector (and federal judges, and the DOJ): the “experience” is its own form of compensation. But all work provides experience. The only thing you get when you depend on free labor is a limited pool of applicants, constrained by their ability to take on free work on the side.

Or that their work is “important” and just wouldn’t get done if they had to pay for it. Oh, come now. It’s important to you, but that doesn’t make it important to anyone else — and it certainly doesn’t make it important enough that someone should do your pet project for free. When Floyd Abrams writes an amicus brief on some important First Amendment issue, Cahill doesn’t short his associates because his work is so “important.” Obviously, there’s such a thing as volunteer work, but pawning off your projects on other people isn’t a charitable enterprise. If it’s so important, do it yourself or figure out how to compensate someone for their effort.

What Professor Volokh needs is a school willing to pay — even a pittance (as a 2L, I helped a professor on a matter and NYU paid me $10 an hour) — to fund his work. If the school markets itself on having a high-profile academic engaged in real-life First Amendment advocacy, they should cough up the resources to let him do it effectively.

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(The full email available on the next page…)

Earlier: This Lawyer’s Unpaid Internship And The Worst Generation
Federal Judge Generously Offering No Pay For Clerkship
The DOJ Wants You, Experienced Attorneys — To Work for Free
Uh-Oh! Federal Judge Says We Might Have to Start Paying Interns

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