Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Public Relations (Agency Side)
In our continuing series of open threads on career alternatives for attorneys -- i.e., "things you can do with a law degree other than Biglaw (or contract attorney work)" -- we've covered a number of interesting areas. Thus far we've written about lawyers at accounting firms, law librarians, and law firm recruiting coordinators / directors.
Today we peer at a profession that's more removed from the legal realm, but where legal training is still helpful and valued: public relations (at a PR agency; PR professionals who work for law firms will be covered later). A tipster tells us:
While I have nothing quite as clever as Manager of Legal Sea Foods, I can propose a career that has unlimited earning potential, bonuses and still allows a JD the opportunity to be involved in interesting and high-profile issues: public relations. Several of the top agencies today, including those specializing in issues management or crisis communications, have positions available for lawyers (or recovering lawyers).At my last agency, I worked with a total of seven, most of whom attended Top 15 law schools. Most of our clients were involved in product recalls, discrimination lawsuits, predatory lending practices, patent disputes, etc. The work was highly confidential and occasionally involved a good courtroom battle, aside with the typical battle with the NYT. Since we dealt with the general counsel's office most of the time, it was a tremendous asset to have someone who understood their "language."
Sounds like fun. And considering that both legal and PR types are talented talkers, skilled at the art of spin, public relations seems like a good fit for lawyers (or aspiring ex-lawyers).
Okay, we're sold on the substance of the work. What about the pay?
Find out, after the jump.
For non-legal employment, the pay isn't half-bad, at least if our tipster is accurate:
Salary is difficult to say, but my old firm would have paid between $75,000 - $100,000 for a JD with no prior communications experience; with experience, add $25,000 or more. If they can write a press release or Q&A document in English, add another $10,000.Recovering lawyers (those who retired from in-house assignments or started family and came back to work) are worth much, much more. Most agencies will even hand out fancy titles like "Senior Vice President" or "Managing Director" for individuals at this level. Senior will be in the title.
Bonuses depend on business, but these days, business continues to be good for most agencies with big clients, who have serious issues.
So there you go. If you have information to add about working for a PR agency, or additional questions you'd like to pose, please take advantage of the comments.
We're continuing to accept suggestions for future Career Alternatives posts. If you have a suggested alternative career path, please email us (subject line: "Career Alternatives"), and include some basic info about the field that you're nominating (e.g., how to get into it, pluses and minuses, salary data, etc.). Thanks.
Earlier: Career Alternatives posts about lawyers at accounting firms, law librarians, and law firm recruiting coordinators / directors.
(43) Comments
Working for a PR firm = Sending out lots of blast emails that nobody bothers to read.
I disagree on the starting salary - I just interviewed at a midsized PR/Crisis Communications agency (kind of disenchanted with litigation and nearing the end of a clerkship) - and they offered me $55,000 to start, in
a major (but not NY) Mid-Atlantic market. They had a major litigation and international practice, very well regarded, but not Edelman or Ketchum or
Hill & Knowlton, etc.
But they did say that if I had 1-2 years of work post-clerkship, they would start me as a "Managing Director" or "Of Counsel" at $150K+ based on
JD + Marketing background.
I was a reporter in the business section of a big-city daily newspaper for many years before going to law school. One thing I hated about that job was having to constantly deal with inept, bloviating PR people. I avoided them whenever possible. It gives me the chills to think about becoming one.
3:53 - But you probably have many former colleagues who are now in PR. It seems to be the field that a lot of ex-journalists wind up in. Hacks--->flacks.
That's true - they trade their self respect for a living wage. None of them are happy about it. 3:53.
Zzzzzz..............................................
The main requirement of public relations is that you be able to write clearly. I have an extensive PR background and now work with lawyers. I have found a rare few that can write clearly enough to handle a PR job.
That's true - I know some feel they traded their self respect for a living wage. Most would rather still be reporting.
I should point out that there are some good PR folks out there. Most of them are in-house at specific companies, and are good at answering questions about their companies. But the "spinmeisters" from outside agencies are a real drag to deal with. Sometimes they could be useful as a source of feature stories (ie. a company with a new widget hires a PR agency to tell the press) but it's usually the widget that sells itself.
3:53.
The main requirement of public relations is that you be able to write and communicate clearly. I have an extensive PR background and now work with lawyers. I have found a rare few who can write or communicate clearly enough to handle a PR job.
there are a decent number of hot, fresh-out-of-college girls who wind up working at PR shops.
I would think the main requirement of public relations is to get your message right the first time rather than have to correct it later.
But I'm just a lawyer with no PR experience, so I'm probably not writing or communicating clearly enough to make my point.
Another Alternative to Law: Garbage Man.
Your average big city garabage man makes more than your average non-T14 law grad. Most of the garbage trucks are mechanical now, so it's not as dirty. Certainly not any more filthly than working in a PI, Divorce, or Insurance Defense shop. Bonus: You get to work outside and have a respectible profession!
...and you don't even have to know how to spell "respectable!"
4:18=TTT!
@4:29: Why are you drawing the line at T-14? Why not 15? or 20? I suspect you went to a 14th-ranked school...
Or how to spell "filthy," for that matter.
4:15 -- funny, but 4:02/4:04 clearly stepped into this one...
I propose a moratorium on trashing people who make typos. Such comments are pedantic and uninteresting.
T-27 school. Your wife. My car. Done.
4:37- because since the USnews rankings started the schools in the top14 have always been in the top14, giving them national cache (can't type that ' thing).
I've been reading this blog for a while and had no idea that's what "T14" meant. And I went to one! I feel quite validated.
I think I'm going to go to the office next door and insult the extremely talented attorney who did not attend as high-falutin' a law school.
Attorneys could better serve their clients if they would take advice from those with expertise in other fields, including PR.
BS, 4:49. There is no "cache" (or cachet) coextensive with "T14" anywhere outside of this and other stupid internet boards populated by law students and very junior associates. In my experience, people generally recognize Harvard, Yale and Stanford as top-tier, Columbia and NYU a half-step behind, and then some other schools (which range in prestige depending on your geographic location -- Boalt is probably the next favorite here in SF; I suspect UChicago would take that spot in Chicago). I went to HLS and had never heard of "T14" before I first came to this board. I suspect it's a category that was recently created by students at "good" schools that are not top 5.
5:34,
I heard of T14 before I ever went to law school. In fact, there is even a Wikipedia section on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_school_rankings_in_the_United_States#Consistency_at_the_top_of_the_U.S._News_Rankings
Note the cites to a variety of sources using the T14 terminology.
I have a PR job with a public law school on the West Coast that I took after bailing out of Biglaw. 65K, baby. The problem is that if you have even half a brain, you will be bored out of your mind in less than a month.
what about lifestyle and hours expectations? if it's crisis management, and you're an external service provider, does that mean a lot of short notice overnight/weekend assignments at the client's beck and call?
Lat - I love these posts. Keep them up!
I don't get something about the PR companies..... Why would attornies use them? Wouldn't they be waiving the attorney-client privilege and work product immunities by sharing with them confidential information and materials?
You say that "legal... types are talented talkers," but if that's the prerequisite skill then I'm not sure most of your readers are right for this job. Most biglaw associates are either very poorly trained or not trained at all in oral advocacy. They're generally really, really bad.
On the other hand I'm a trial attorney, and this seems like it might be an interesting second career option for me. Thanks for the post!
:P
6:29 - I worked in PR at a Fortune 100 company right out of college before going to law school, and it is definitely something I consider going back to again, but to answer your question about the hours - yes there can be lots of short notice, weekends and late nights, because you are at the beck and call of whatever crisis arises. Our "client" was the company, but it was really interesting work, I worked a lot with the higher up attorneys (the reason I went to law school in the first place) and senior executives, and dealt with a lot of interesting issues. And the hours are nowhere near as bad as at a big firm, the majority of the time.
Having worked in PR before entering law, I can tell you that you'll be working with the stupidest people in the working world. You'll be embarassed to be grouped together with them. You'll want to shoot yourself in the head. Seriously, consider this path only if you are lazy and intellectually inept in such a way that people mistake you for borderline retarded.
I am a lawyer that attempted to get into PR about 5 years ago in Southern California. I even went to USC's MA program in Journalism with a focus in PR (which was a joke and a waste of money). I received few interviews and the interviews I went on, they only offered Assistant Account Executive positions which started at $35K or less. Although I have some good friends in PR, most PR people I encountered thought lawyers don't make good PR people. No real reason or rationale, I just think that they are worried that people from other disciplines will find out that PR is a joke and anyone can do it.
A lawyer's ability to organize complicated thoughts and a general appreciation for what issues are "important" can help the PR process. Economies of writing and speaking, and - um - personality conflicts, would be the lawyer's pitfalls.
This is a great string. If you compare a small business loan with law school debt, it's logical to bring the ability to "think like a lawyer" to many other sectors. Get that creativity moving, left-brainers.
"There is no "cache" (or cachet) coextensive with "T14" anywhere outside of this and other stupid internet boards populated by law students and very junior associates. In my experience, people generally recognize Harvard, Yale and Stanford as top-tier, Columbia and NYU a half-step behind, and then some other schools (which range in prestige depending on your geographic location -- Boalt is probably the next favorite here in SF; I suspect UChicago would take that spot in Chicago). I went to HLS and had never heard of "T14" before I first came to this board. I suspect it's a category that was recently created by students at "good" schools that are not top 5."
I call BS. No one on the west coast knows that NYU has a highly ranked school. If you say, I went to "Cornell Law" or "Duke Law", people will be impressed. If you say "Chicago", you will get a blank stare, unless if they know someone who smart who graduated from there. Berkeley's law school is very well regarded in SF. No one would put it behind NYU (except for NYU grads) in SF.
Are you kidding me? I'm in SF and most people I associate with realize that Boalt's ranking (with regard to the rest of the top 14) is a bit of a joke considering the quality (numbers) of its applicants. Excellent school, nevertheless.
6:22,
You must associate with Hastings grads.
People on the west coast who aren't attorneys can't differentiate between Cornell and Columbia.
Hastings and Davis are tops in SF.
6:04, the only people who are relevant to the discussion are lawyers. And as an SF lawyer at a large SF law firm, I can assure you that every lawyer I know and work with is aware that NYU has a top 5 law school. And -- gasp -- they will also not respond to "Chicago" with a blank stare. The things you say might well be true if you're talking about the reactions of some bike messenger at someone's house party, but I don't know why you'd particularly care.
I agree with 11:45. Don't waste your law degree working at a PR agency. A monkey could draft "talking points" and media alerts. Trust me.
Hopefully, some would consider one of the decent PR people out there. I work full time at an agency in the DC area (6 years exp). I'm also currently an law student (rising 2E).
There are certainly ways that a JD will help you do a job in PR - writing, issue spotting, dealing with complex issues, issue management, etc. God knows the PR industry could use more people who know how to think through problems analytically.
You also need to have an interest in and passion for dealing with the media though. And also an appreciation that doing so is an important function for clients and the culture. If you have a real interest in both, PR can be a really fun and lucrative profession with fewer hours than BigLaw would demand but ample opportunity to be involved with legal issues (if only in a support function). For me, I don't have either passion for dealing with media or appreciation for the role of media... which is why I went to law school to get a job that deals with the substance of issues I currently just talk (BS?) about.
I can't believe the anger and bitterness in the comments on this blog. How did a valuable discussion of alternatives to the law get subsumed by insults and the irrelevant discussion of law school rankings?
Question: if one is trying to get out of BigLaw, is it better to look at public relations agencies or apply to corporate affairs or corporate communications departments within a company? Is there a difference in salaries?
11:00 PM - b/c junior associates & students tend to read this blog. but i'm sure Cerberus will care.
anyone care to comment more on salaries in the PR world?