How Alix Devendra Went From Biglaw To Legal Design Consultant

There’s a whole world of possibilities outside of Biglaw, and you can find a perfect career for you by following your curiosity.

Alix Davendra

Alix Devendra

I often get questions on finding alternative careers from readers. Just because you have a J.D. doesn’t mean you only have to be a lawyer. I met Alexandra “Alix” Devendra on Twitter, and since then, we’ve started to collaborate and started Shape the Law. There’s a whole world of possibilities, and as you’ll see from Alix’s story, you can find a perfect career for you by following your curiosity.

If you’re curious about design thinking, you can check out her upcoming building your brand webinar, this Wednesday.

Tell me about your experience in Biglaw. What type of work did you do? What did you like about it? What did you dislike?

I was a labor & employment associate at a firm in San Francisco. I certainly enjoyed some aspects of the work, such as researching and writing. I especially loved getting my head around a complex legal issue and then figuring out how to explain it succinctly and clearly in a memo or brief. I also loved to fiddle around with the formatting of my documents, trying to make my memos look like professional print jobs and always making sure my text lined up with the pleading paper.

What is “legal design”? How did you get introduced to it?

When I was a first-year associate, I picked up the book Typography for Lawyers and it blew me away. As I mentioned, I loved playing around with the formatting of my documents and this book gave me a justification for doing just that; it explained how things like font and page layout affect the reader and why that matters.

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The book got me thinking about how other aspects of graphic design could also improve legal communications. So I took these two disciplines that were swirling around in my head — law and design — and I typed them into Google to see if “legal design” was a thing.

It turns out that there is a small community of professionals sprinkled all around the world who are using this term. One of the people I connected with was Margaret Hagan at Stanford; through her, I learned how the design-thinking methodology can be applied to challenges in the legal profession on a much broader scale that just document design.

What type of exploration or planning did you do before quitting your Biglaw job?

Early in my Biglaw career I had the opportunity to participate in a trial externship program at the DA’s office, which was a great opportunity to try out a different legal career, but I discovered that it wasn’t a great fit for me. After that I was actually glad to return to the firm, but gradually I started having doubts about whether Biglaw was something I wanted to do long term.

I stumbled across Casey Berman’s blog, Leave Law Behind, and eventually I engaged his consulting services. Having a coach to talk to was a big help in figuring out what I wanted to do. Casey also suggested keeping a journal, which was also a key to uncovering my hidden passions and interests.

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How did motherhood change how you related to your career? Did it feel more important to find meaningful work after becoming a mother?

Being a mother is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. I thought to myself, “If I can do that, I can do anything.” It helped me shed some of the fear I had about making a career transition.

It deepened my frustration with the billable hour. Parenthood made me want to do my work efficiently so I could spend more time with my daughter. But when you have a billable hour target, there is no way to get your work done efficiently and go home early!

Who do you help/what do you do as a legal design consultant?

I work with a variety of clients — lawyers in private practice, legal-tech startups, and even nonprofit organizations. My work generally falls into three categories.

First, I help with document design. That ranges from improving the typography of pleadings to overhauling PowerPoint decks. Paying attention to the design of the document improves its content as well. I see where clients need to explain something more clearly or tighten up their language.

Second, I help with service innovation. This is why a lot of legal-tech companies come to me. They’re positioning themselves as an alternative to traditional law firms, and they want to design their communications and user experience to reflect that.

Third, I facilitate workshops on design thinking. For example, a legal nonprofit hired me to facilitate an international meeting at which a group of diverse stakeholders was going to tackle a thorny multi-jurisdictional issue. This is where my legal background comes in handy; I can get up to speed quickly on the jargon and special constraints that the organization is facing.

What advice would you offer for someone who is considering an alternative law career?

I think that for a lot of folks in Biglaw, they are led to believe that it is the one true path and that something bad will happen to them if they stray from that path. The funny thing is, that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are so many former Biglaw people doing a multitude of interesting things.

For me, it took a leap of faith. As soon as I made the jump, it was like the blinders fell away — all of the sudden, I saw all of the opportunities around me that I somehow couldn’t imagine when I was in Biglaw. The community of people out there doing alternative legal jobs is amazing and very welcoming.

If you’re curious about design thinking or learning more about Alix’s work, you can visit her at devendra.design


Jeena Cho HeadshotJeena Cho is the author of The Anxious Lawyer: An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation (affiliate link). She regularly speaks and offers training on mindfulness and meditation. You can reach her at hello@jeenacho.com or @jeena_cho on Twitter.