Alternative Legal Careers and Your Legal Job Search: Practicing
o you have more questions than answers? You are not alone. The lawyers with quasi-legal, alternative legal and non-legal careers are here to help. Literally. You already know many of us. We are your professors, career counselors, recruiters at placement agencies and law firms, and we work in corporate, academic, non-profit and any other work environment you can imagine. Yes, it’s true, your law degree is valuable and can be used in a countless number of ways.
Question: Can I graduate from law school and have my dream job without practicing law?
You will undoubtedly hear about someone who has done this. They are certainly fortunate, if not lucky. Some people will argue that without actually practicing law, your valuable degree won’t be very valuable. This argument is timeless. Regardless of where you stand on that debate, law students, here is a secret: you are not really learning how to be a lawyer in law school. That’s why you have to actually practice (get it…it’s practice?), before you’ll see the true value in your degree.
I speak to pre-law college students, law students, and lawyers about their legal job search options. Why would they value my opinion if I had never looked for my own legal job…a few times? It is my work and life experience, my success and failures that make me better at my job. Had I not tried litigation for 5 months I would have never known that I was right all along; I never wanted to go to court. But I tried. I went to the Southern District of New York, and ended up in front of the magistrate judge for whom I interned for while in law school. I thought this would be great; she’d remember me and no matter what happened I wouldn’t be nervous. However, I didn’t know enough about the case, which, at the time, I blamed on my boss who didn’t teach me. I was not prepared and I embarrassed myself at a place I had once considered a professional home and in front of a judge who once served as my supervisor.
The life and work lessons I learned during those few hours in court were worth more than almost any class I took in law school. I was practicing law that day. Here is what I took from the experience:
Lesson 1: Be prepared
Lesson 2: Do not take a former professional relationship for granted.
Lesson 3: Know your boss and their professional capabilities.
Lesson 4: If you don’t try you’ll never know.
Lesson 5: When you realize you are living a moment that will be a story you will tell for years, you are doing exactly what you should be to become a better lawyer.
Yes, you can have your dream job. You just have some work to do first.
