I ask this as someone that, overall, would consider libertarianism to be the most desirable political and social system/philosophy, and as someone that is also in my final year of my law degree.

Recently I've been wondering about the interaction of these two things, because sometimes I feel that, at least in my country (a highly developed Western country), the level of legalism and sheer volume of legislation on all aspects of life is so overwhelming that it feels "wrong" for me to be preparing to actively take part in that system and make it my career. I spend hours each day studying and making notes on seemingly endless legislation that attempts to govern and order absolutely every facet of life both public and, increasingly, private, and it both exhausts me and dispirits me. I just don't like it. I don't like how seemingly with every passing year the government exerts more and more control over every part of human life and renders individual autonomy, freedom and choice practically non-existent outside of very strictly set parametres. I doubt even the Soviet Union legislated this much, and that's saying something.

I don't have a problem with laws or the rule of law (obviously not, as a law student) - I'm not an anarchist. I actually like and approve of much of the traditional common law and I feel it much better maintains a balance between liberty and law. Maybe that's one reason why contract law appeals to me so much, being based almost entirely on common law and mostly upholding the rights of individuals to contract on their own terms. It's just statute that is the problem, in my opinion. I feel that this is where individual freedoms are constantly being eroded, not at common law. This isn't really a shocking statement - statute is made by politicians whose entire job is to exert their own power and authority over people, rather than judges who mold and interpret common law merely on a reactive basis based on tradition and custom.

Anyway, I could probably ramble about this for a long time. But I'm curious what you guys think of this topic, and what your views on the matter of libertariasm and law-work are, as libertarians. Are any of you lawyers, and how do you believe that your job has influenced/been influenced by your libertarian views?