Two Fighters for the Underdogs

This week, two attorneys spoke to the Summer for Undergraduates Program about the practice of law: Tommy Warren and Benjamin Crump. Both have been extremely successful, and they have achieved that success by representing common people, people who can not afford to hire attorneys.

Both of their biographies are written in detail on the Internet, but it was nice to hear in their own words how they got into the practice of law and what inspires them today. Many of the students came up to me afterwards and talked about how Mr. Crump and Mr. Warren have persuaded them to look into public interest law, or at least a type of law that, in the words of Mr. Crump, does not help Goliath to defeat David.

Mr. Crump employed me at his firm last summer, and it was good to see him again. After another year of law school, I am strongly leaning toward working as a plaintiff's personal injury attorney upon graduation. It is the type of law that I understand best at this point, and it also seems to be one of the more rewarding fields, not just financially but emotionally as well. It is more gratifying to win a victory for the human being who, through no fault of her own, now faces serious challenges in just surviving from day to day- as opposed to billing the massive corporation or insurance company in an effort to defeat this person.

Of course, there are arguments to be made that a positive career exists on both sides of this battle. But for Mr. Crump, Mr. Warren, and myself, I think most of the time we want to see the face of the person we represent, to know their story, to know their problems, and to win a personal victory for them.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn