It is true that some of us in law school entered with the genuine desire to seek justice for the marginalised with our law degree and do the sort of work which really makes lawyering a profession rather than the service industry it seems to have become.

However, coming to the end of my first year of law school in a few days, the general sentiment among my peers is that justice sometimes seems to be a matter of who has the better and more expensive lawyer.

Harvard Professor Robert Granfield, for example, argues that 'The promotion of cynicism in law school is one that restricts the possibility for producing lawyers that are interested in the promotion of social justice'. He asserts that a 'conflict exists in law school regarding the values associated with law and those of the individual student... the vast majority of students developed a type of cynicism that drew them away from altruistic interests of pursuing justice'.

Since law school teaches one how to construct an argument for almost anything, if one is not sufficiently discerning it is easy to become less invested in the ideals and beliefs one once had.

My peers applying to law school this year must rethink the ideals that motivate them to join the legal profession if they want to emerge with the same notions that attracted them to the profession in the first place.

It is possible to emerge from law school a better person, just as some have reported emerging with strengthened social convictions, tempered with realism. This determination can and should start from the very beginning - the law school interview.

Christine Huang (Ms)