As a person who articled and practiced with a provincial government, and now teaches at a law school that defines itself in part by “the Weldon tradition of unselfish public service”, I encourage my students to consider a career of legal practice in the public service – but to do so with their eyes open. While I have written elsewhere about how government practice is different than other legal practice,[1] here I want to discuss the important but sometimes overlooked difference between the concepts of “social justice” and “public service”.
There is plenty right, and nothing wrong, with the choice to pursue social justice as a career or a calling. As I sometimes tell my students, it may be that while a legal education is an excellent preparation for a life lived in pursuit of social justice, becoming a lawyer comes with constraints that may impede folks in that pursuit.
Public service
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