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Ask FSF General Counsel Eben Moglen
Columbia Law School professor Eben Moglen has been the Free Software Foundation's (pro bono) general counsel since 1993. He's also involved with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and has been mentioned on Slashdot a number of times because of his participation in these groups and some of the worthy causes they support, as well as other freedom-related matters. One question per post, please. We'll run Prof. Moglen's answers to 10 of the highest-moderated questions as soon as he gets them back to us.
Prof. Moglen has already thoroughly answered this question, so we should not be wasting a question in the interview on asking it again. All he will do is either point to the same answer or summarize the same answer. I therefore ask the moderators to mark the parent down as redundant.
Since I'm also going into law school once I've graduated college (accounting major), I've done a lot of research on what it takes to become a successful attorney. If you haven't read the book "One L" by Scott Turrow(sp?) you'll probably want to do that. It's a very good book about the first year of law school, which surprisingly hasn't changed much since the 1970s (when the book was written) according to attorneys I've talked to, some of which have gotten their law degrees less than 10 years ago. It will tell you what to expect from law school, because it's very hard work.
If after you've read that and you still decide that you're cut out for being an attorney then the next step would be to take the LSAT in either your junior or senior year of college. I recommend taking a prep course or two first, since your LSAT score is one of the primary criteria for which law schools will let you in. Once you've done that you can start looking into which law school you want to go to and start sending applications till you get accepted somewhere you like.
Another thing I have also learned is that most law school graduates cannot get into an non-profit organization as a lawyer. It's possible, but difficult to do. The best thing would be to try to secure a position as a law clerk first and try moving up to a lawyer over time, but this could take a few years. The field of law is flooded right now and it's difficult to find a job exactly where you want to.
As to pro-bono work, depending on the firm you're working for, some will require pro-bono work occassionally, some will prohibit it, and others will allow you to do it, but on your own and on your own time. The EFF obviously does a lot of pro-bono work, but as I mentioned before. Securing a position in an organization such as the EFF, as an attorney would be very difficult to do without significant past experience as a civil/criminal/intellectual property attorney or law clerk.
In the end, you could decide, like me, to persue various avenues of law instead of subspecializing in something as narrow as intellectual property law. I intend to have my primary practice focusing on civil and criminal defense for low- and middle-income families, charging an affordable fee for those who otherwise couldn't afford to defend themselves. This will allow me to help society, and still make a decent, though not lavish living.
Just remember, law isn't what you might think it is. It's extremely complex, and it requires you to look at cases from both sides, be able to successfully argue both sides, and analyze very small details in cases. Many people have complained that law school attempts to change their moral character into something they don't like, but the fact of the matter is, if you can't see the opposing counsel's point, how can you successfully counter it. Out of "One L" one thing I found interesting was when the author was talking about a case where a man had pointed a gun at someone to rob them and pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't fire. Was that man guilty of assault or attempted murder? What if he had shot the gun into the air, hit a duck, and the duck fell on the man, would the criminal be guilty of battery in addition to robbery? Those minute details are what the law is all about. You have my best wishes in your efforts at becoming a good, moral trial attorney. Good luck, and have fun!
'Normalcy' is a perfectly valid word in 'English' English. It may have fallen out of common use, but it wasn't made up in America. This is true of many 'Americanisms', such as -ize vs -ise, 'ass' vs 'arse', etc, etc.
-- "I know that this is vitriol, no solution, spleen-venting, but I feel better having screamed, don't you ?"