Richmond! Richmond?! Richmond!!

I really think I'm going to move to Richmond, Virginia, with only a temporary not-that-well-paying job lined up.

This is not the absolutely most sensible thing to do. The absolutely most sensible thing would be to aim for Baltimore--because my sister lives only 50 miles away and I could save money by staying with her while I study for the bar. And I kinda sorta like Baltimore, despite some of its less attractive qualities. And it's a bigger legal market, with the added option of working in D.C. if necessary. And I know a few people there. The Maryland bar is not as hard as the Virginia bar.

No one I know has been to Richmond, and they don't get the appeal. Well, here it is: For one thing, Richmond has lots of pretty old neighborhoods with pretty old houses. It's almost in the New Orleans/Savannah/Charleston league. Who knew? It feels like a Southern town. Parts of it remind me of Memphis, parts of it remind me of New Orleans. But it has a better economy than any of those places. And it's a hell of a lot closer to my family in PA. It's not a tropical climate, but it has fairly mild winters. It's a good size--big enough to have a city feel and stuff to do, but not huge and sprawling all out of control like the the Baltimore/DC metropolis. You can be in the Shenandoah mountains or at the shore in less than two hours either way.

The only thing is that it is maybe not the absolute best place to build my dream career. The best job markets for environmental lawyers are on the west coast, in Denver, in D.C. and in New York State and maybe New England. Richmond is a relatively small and conservative legal community. But the temporary job in Richmond would be at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which is a great organization. Also, I am told that the Virginia attorney general might be hiring a lawyer or two to handle conservation easements in the next few months, which would be right up my alley. The gamble is that if I move there and pass the bar I will be more marketable than I am from New Orleans. The challenge is that there are many good law schools in Virginia and they don't need to import from Tulane. I'm pretty sure I could at least do contract work and make a reasonable living, the question is whether I will find work that is engaging and fulfilling and makes a contribution to the world's well being.

I've applied for two jobs not in Richmond that I would probably accept if offered. One is in Chapel Hill and the other in Denver. But if neither of those work out, I'm pretty sure I'm heading to Richmond.