I should have mentioned this a while back, but thanks to Professor Bainbridge for this recent column in which he argues that conservatives and libertarians are just as committed to advancing social causes as are leftists:
What about all those conservatives who have taken low paying jobs at think tanks like Cato, Heritage, or AEI? Or the public interest lawyers working at low paying jobs at places like the Pacific Legal Foundation? My firm belief is that those institutions provide a pool of individuals who would be perfectly happy to settle into the academy, if they had a fair shot at finding an academic job.
Well, you won’t be surprised that that made it around the office with some delight!
For those who are interested, I make $59,500 a year, plus benefits (a good health insurance plan and a 403(b) retirement plan, as well as having my bar fees reimbursed; and of course PLF pays for my Westlaw access and other resources). I am a staff attorney, meaning I’ve been an attorney for PLF for two years and three months, and have been licensed to practice law since February of 2003. I don’t know what the salaries of more experienced or higher-ranking PLF attorneys are. It isn’t a great deal of money, but it rents me a cute little house in a town I like and I’m comfortable. (Remember, the cost of living in Northern California is pretty high.) I think PLF pays pretty well for a public-interest firm. Most importantly, I have a job I believe in very strongly, and get a profound sense of personal satisfaction from it, which is worth the difference in the salary I might get at another job. Indeed, if I didn’t do public interest law, I wouldn’t do law at all. So there’s no need to send care packages—but, of course, there’s always a need to help PLF defend liberty!*
*-This is, I swear, the last time I will ever do this.
Update: Oh, yes, someday I probably would take an academic job if it were offered, but not right now.
