Overcoming Common Hurdles to Leaving Law for a New Career

A growing number of lawyers are hitting the wall. That is, coming to the realization that they don’t want to continue to practice law.  It’s not just lawyers of course.  In the age of the Great Resignation, all sorts of people are realizing they want to seek greener pastures.  Even if they don’t know what those greener pastures are.

At ex judicata.com, we believe we can help attorneys at least find career satisfaction, which goes a long way toward happiness.  We’ll leave helping the investment bankers, doctors and record company executives to someone else.

We are doing this through a website with a number of features, some of which include:

–Courses to help lawyers enhance their JD skillset for positions in business

–First-ever alternative career diagnostic test for JDs

–Job board where 100% of the positions seek a non-practicing attorney

–Professional guidance in CV/LinkedIn redrafting, personal branding and coaching

—Interviews with dozens of JDs who pivoted to major success in business

There used to be a wonderful 60-second commercial for Apex Tech a trade school on 18^th Street and 6^th Avenue in Manhattan that was a late-night fixture in the 1980s and 1990s.  It featured 3 hooks.  You graduate with a certificate.  You graduate with your own “professional set of tools” and then the call to action. The pitchperson, dressed in workman’s overalls, is holding a phone out.  He smiles and says “Now, I can’t call you….”  That became a catchphrase.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2223378784573281

Of course, in the modern age we can contact you and the easiest way is by email.  But the thing is, to connect and bring the world of exjudicata.com to you, you must open that email and click on the link.

*With apologies to Gretchen Ruben, author of the wonderful book The Happiness Project, who is actually a former lawyer, editor of Yale Law Journal, and Supreme Court Clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Let us be clear on something.  We are not anti-lawyer, anti-law firm or anti-anything.  The law is a terrific occupation and the foundation of democracies around the world. Yes, a bit over the top.

We have the support of law firms who want their associates, if they choose to leave, to leave happy.  Every single one becomes a potential source of business. 

Ditto with law schools.  Prior, they did not have a dedicated resource to help graduates and alums who came to them seeking to move to nonlegal careers.  We have been on-boarded at 40 ABA-accredited law schools to date with more on the way.

If you are a lawyer in a firm, law department or government role and you have determined that you want to move away from the practice of law we recommend that you first ask yourself two questions.

1. Have you tried more than one practice group?
2. Have you tried more than one job in the law?

So, for example, those who don’t like litigation because it is too confrontational, have you tried working in corporate or tax or bankruptcy?

Similarly, for those currently working for toxic partners, have you tried practicing law at another firm?

If the answer is yes to both of the above questions and you still feel you want to leave the practice of law, now is the time.

A good number of you may be in a holding pattern.  You’ve come to the conclusion that you are not happy in your job practicing law.  But you’ve not affirmatively acted to change your circumstances.

Here are some common reasons and our logic to help you move past these obstacles.

Student Loans/Finances—“I have student loans and I can’t leave my well-paying job and take a financial hit” or, if loans are not an issue, “I can’t leave my well-paying job and take a financial hit.”

The first thing is determining how much you owe.  A surprising number of attorneys don’t know how much they owe in student loans.  Second, get the latest information on debt management and forgiveness.  This can be gotten from websites like credible.com or joinjuno.com and many others.

Alternatively, you may want to consult with a Certified Financial Planner. The benefit is these people take a more holistic approach and will look at all your current assets and make a financial plan with student loan management as just one variable.

There is a further designation that some certified financial planners have –CSLP.  Certified Student Loan Professional.  We’ve seen no indication that a top Certified Financial Planner needs to be a CSLP too.

Critical, of course, will be determining how much of a hit, if any, you will be taking.  You can only do this by identifying the kinds of alternative careers you would be interested in.  The ex judicata job board can help here.  And do keep in mind that the financial hit may only be short-term compared with the compensation you will be making later in your new career.  But here again, talk to a financial planner or successful relative that has your best interests at heart.

Every case is different of course.  Some lawyers are fortunate to have a spouse earning enough money to allow that attorney to take a financial hit.  The same is true for lawyers with wealth in their family.

If you are a 5^th year associate at a firm with PPP of, say $4.0 million, it’s unlikely that you will wind up making more money in another career.  However, partnership is a crap shoot in the best of circumstances.  1 in 10 of an associate class at Am Law 100 firms make partner.  Daunting, and in addition the time period to equity partner is longer than ever now averaging 10 years at Am Law 100 firms.

Also, you may wind up rising to lead a company or have a position in a startup and make more than had you been made a partner.  And, here, happiness is the critical intangible.  You are already a super hard worker in a job you don’t like.  Imagine how well you could do with that same work ethic at a career you actually are excited by.  The recommendation is an obvious one.  Talk to your financial planner or that wealthy relative with your best interests at heart.

Pride/Ego—There is a certain cache` to being a lawyer and if at a name-brand law firm or corporation even more so but that never goes away.  You are always building on that credential.  The cache we at ex judicata want for you is the cache** of fulfillment and career satisfaction.

Often pride/ego is directly tied to one’s friends and family  as in what will my family think if I quit my job as a lawyer to do something else?  We had the good fortune to interview, Scott Westfahl, Professor of Practice and Faculty Director of Executive Education at Harvard Law School.  Professor Westfahl, who was once a nonpracticing attorney at McKinsey had this to say:

“As a JD you are always building on your past experiences. And this idea that I’m throwing away that JD credential if I’m not applying it currently is wrong.  What good is a credential if it’s not making me happy and fulfilled and I’m not doing what I want to do?  But again, there’re a lot of counter voices. There are people in your family or friends who start to raise concerns, like “Have you lost your mind?” “What are you going to do?”

What you are going to do is find that job that brings you satisfaction.

In a similar vein, we were talking earlier with Jack Flug, a Managing Director at Marsh & McLennan who pivoted from law to insurance early in his career and has held a number of senior executive positions in the industry. He said:

“A lot of people might say you went to law school to be a salesperson?  And the answer is “I’m not selling widgets, I’m selling a service.  And I must really understand what that service is in great detail in order to be effective.”

The final hurdle lawyers who want to transition to another career must overcome is the most obvious one, fear.  Fear of leaving a well-defined path for the unknown.  Fear of change. For many it’s do well in high school, go to a good college, go to a good law firm, spend years as an associate and then, hopefully, become a partner. You don’t have to think about anything. Just keep your head down and work. But something interesting is happening. 

Never before has the global workplace been so transparent.  There are examples all around of people doing incredible things at incredible places to work. There are more and more examples of lawyers achieving significant success in ways other than the practice of law.  In fact, we have interviews with 36 such JDs on the ex judicata website.  See how they did it, the challenges they overcame and how you can pursue your own unique journey.

It’s all about building on and leveraging your JD skillset.  It applies to literally every occupation. A couple of weeks ago we were speaking with Dean Patricia Roberts of St. Mary’s Law School.  The school is on the leading edge of legal education. While offering a traditional classroom experience its online program is the first and only, so far, to get ABA accreditation.  Dean Roberts said:

“It’s not about what can you do with the law degree, it’s what can’t you do with a law degree? The sky’s the limit. We get so many skills from a legal education.  I think no matter what field or industry, analytical ability, oral and written communication skills, the ability to see different pathways no matter what problem is thrown at us, and critical judgment are what all employers want to see in their top performers and leaders.”

There was a leader of an Ivy League law school who each year in his address to new students would say: “A lot of you sitting out here are thinking you are cut out for bigger things, that you’re not going to be lawyers. 99% of you will be.”  Times have changed and you can too.  Chart your own journey.  Start now.  Let us help.

Ed.