Career Alternatives, Job Searches

alt.legal: Leaving Law Behind. Sort Of.

You can be both a lawyer and something else, as columnist Leigh McMullan Abramson explains -- and in balancing two career tracks, you may find ways to harmonize your passions and your legal career that will surprise you.

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So, you’ve decided you don’t want to be a lawyer any more, you’ve identified your dream profession, and you’re ready to start your new life. Now what? Once you’ve done the difficult work of figuring out what you want to do with your post-law self, then comes the next question: how do I transition?

For most of us, quitting our law firm the moment we hear our true calling is not an option. And getting a job in our fantasy field may require a substantial amount of work. As a result, there is often a period of overlap when we are still employed in Biglaw while concurrently working at another profession.

Finding hours in the day to both competently do your law job and break into a new field is daunting. Obviously, juggling two careers results in an unfortunate reduction in downtime. In my experience, trying to be a writer while practicing law came at the expense of my relationships with sleep, Physique 57, and look-up-your-symptoms medical websites. (Check back in five years and I’ll let you know if it was worth it).

“If you want to change you have to be willing to take risks, maximize time, and prepare to do many things simultaneously,” says Eileen Wolkstein, a New York City-based career counselor. Wolkstein has worked with several clients who’ve kept their day jobs while using nights and weekends to pursue other passions.

In addition to making time to moonlight, there can also be sensitivity around how much you want your law firm to know about your non-lawyer life.

When I had my first piece – an essay I wrote about growing up downtown – accepted, my excitement at being published was tempered by my hope fear that my firm would fire me. Because obviously everyone was going to read it and it was going to be a huge deal.

That no one would notice was not a possibility that occurred to me. But that’s pretty much what happened. As far as I know, only one partner at the firm even read the piece, and he told me “good job” before asking when that brief was going to be ready. For better or worse, not much changed; I was still the same fourth-year associate. (Though I had learned an important lesson in publishing – no one will ever care as much as you do.)

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As much they can feel like the ultimate big brother, law firms probably don’t actually have Google alerts on their associates and might be more tolerant of extracurricular activities that don’t impinge on firm work.

“I was a little nervous,” says Matt Ritter, a former Biglaw attorney, of performing stand-up comedy while still at a firm. “But I wasn’t talking about the pros and cons of the billion-dollar acquisition I was working on; I was telling jokes about my girlfriend and my dog.”

Still, keeping your extra-legal ambitions quiet is an understandable goal. Adopting a separate professional identity is one option. Publishing under nom de plume has worked for writers from Lewis Carroll to Dr. Seuss, as well as Above the Law founder David Lat and another one of my colleagues at this site, who has found time to write for ATL once a week while working as a Biglaw associate. While not every publication will allow it, a pseudonym gives the freedom to write what you want without worrying about what your boss or your clients will think. (That is, if they read it all. See supra.)

Once you leave Biglaw behind, you may be surprised that there’s a way to merge your legal skills and your passions. When I quit my firm job, I thought writing about anything even remotely law-related would give me PTSD. But I’ve found that there’s still a big part of me that connects with being a lawyer and my legal background makes me unique from other writers, so why not use it?

Ritter has found a similar happy combination. After leaving his firm, he went on to become a recruiter for Lateral Link, where he’s able to put to use his legal and comedic backgrounds. “I find the comedy chops come in handy in legal recruiting because I spend most of my day talking to lawyers and trying to make their day a little more enjoyable.” He’s also able to carve out time for his troupe, Comedians at Law, and finds that having to fit comedy into his busy professional life only makes him more productive. “When I have downtime, I write,” he says. “It makes me more focused knowing I have time constraints.”

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While it isn’t easy, staying in Biglaw doesn’t have to be a roadblock to starting a new career. I always thought it was either be a lawyer or not be a lawyer, but it may not be so black and white. You can be both a lawyer and something else. And in balancing two career tracks, you may find ways to harmonize your passions and your legal career that will surprise you.

Leigh McMullan Abramson is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Town & Country, Real Simple, and Tablet Magazine. She attended Penn Law before working for several years in Biglaw and clerking in the Southern District of New York. Leigh is currently toiling away on a novel set in — you guessed it — a law firm. She can be reached at [email protected].

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