More Alternative Career Choices for Lawyers The foregoing areas are the ones in which most legally trained persons are currently filling non-legal positions. However, anyone contemplating a business management career should be aware that this is far from a complete roster of the possibilities. An active imagination can easily expand the number of opportunities. Just a few examples of positions currently filled by... (25 views)
Selling Yourself and Your Legal Skills To a Potential Employer Applicants for positions often feel that the qualities the employer is looking for represent some sort of an impenetrable mystery. This simply is not so. Rather, there is a formula by which the qualifications required for any position can be determined. With a little imagination and some practice you should be able to analyze the requirements for any position in which you... (72 views)
Beginning Your Search for a Career in a Non-Legal Field By now you probably have a feeling that obtaining a non-legal position that will allow you to utilize the skills you have acquired in law school is going to require a different approach than you would use if you were seeking a position in legal practice. You are right. However, in both areas, more positions are probably lost through failure to do adequate homework than for... (6 views)
Researching Your New Career in a Non-Legal Field One of the goals of your research program was the development of your own listing of potential employers. Names and addresses alone, however, will not be enough for an effective job search. What you will require is a system for organizing the information you will be acquiring. (86 views)
Lawyers Choose Non-Legal Careers In most large corporations the number of legally trained persons employed in management and administrative posts far exceeds that of the legal department. (17 views)
Lawyers Finding Jobs as Coporate Secretaries Long before legally trained persons were working in the regulatory compliance area, lawyers were involved in the corporate secretarial area. Indeed, it is not uncommon that the title "Secretary" is also held by the "General Counsel." Thus, this area was one of the first to demonstrate that non-legal positions within a corporation could benefit from the attention of legally... (2 views)
Purchasing and Contract Administration Jobs for Lawyers It may seem a little odd to join purchasing, which is concerned with the assembling of supplies, equipment and services essential to the company's production, and contract administration, which is concerned essentially with the sale of products, in a single category. Yet in reality they are closely related inasmuch as both are primarily concerned with the developing and... (121 views)
Lawyers Finding Jobs in the Marketing Industry This area is the cornerstone upon which the company bases its whole existence. Without the sale of its products or services, the very reason for the existence of the company, profits, disappears. (33 views)
Lawyers Finding Jobs in the Security Industry If the word "security" conjures up a picture of a lonely guard at a plant gate, you are undoubtedly wondering why this category has been included in material on non-legal positions for legally trained persons. Actually, the plant guard is only one visible evidence of the vast area of responsibility of the security department, which must develop and monitor a program that... (33 views)
Back to School As a Teacher? Have you ever thought about how a vacation rejuvenates a person and his/her career? I am sure you have. But have you, as an attorney, thought of going back to school for anything else rather than for higher studies? Like joining as a teacher perhaps? (5 views)
Academic Careers for JDs With the notoriously difficult legal market nowadays, a lot of JDs are considering what alternatives they have to finding something in Big Law. One of the options worth considering is working in Academia. Are you in love with the bountiful books in the libraries, the youthful enthusiasm of the students, and the wizened widely-read discussions of professors? You might make... (199 views)
Why Go For a Non-Lawyer Career with a JD With one lawyer in every 247 citizens in U.S., going for a non-lawyer career with a JD is a question that crosses the minds of many law students and attorneys, quite frequently and quite logically. To establish success in a career, besides the obvious formulae of hard work, time management, acquiring effective habits and other essential strategies, market positioning is... (1765 views)
Challenges of Shifting In-House From a Law Firm As an attorney in private practice, it might seem that an in-house job may be preferable to the billable hours’ sweatshop environment in private law firms. Sometimes it may be true, but otherwise the only shift that happens is a change in work environment. It does not relieve you from carrying your work home, even if it is only in your mind, but you can carry it... (352 views)
Are You Mistaking a Comfort Zone for Job-satisfaction? Attorneys, like others in institutionalized professions, become accustomed to surroundings, develop patterns and habits of work, and create comfort zones that they subconsciously refuse to leave. Some are truly satisfied, and seem to have found their place in life, while others are just kidding themselves and killing their careers, just because they are afraid to leave... (40 views)
Attorneys: Alternative Career, Anyone? In the recent nationaljurist.com article, ''More lawyers seeking alternative careers'', former attorney and author Hillary Mantis discusses the fact that about seventy percent of the law graduates from 2010 are employed at jobs for which passing the bar is a requirement, according to the National Association for Law Placement employment report. Since NALP began collecting... (43 views)
In-House v. BigLaw In the world of law, the position of in-house counsel is vastly different than working as an attorney in BigLaw and making the decision to commit to either one can be tough. However, while a graduate with a law degree seems to have countless options for the future and may be deciding between whether a law firm or a corporation is right from them, the choice may not... (2296 views)
Going In house Thinking about going in house? There's a lot to be said for working as in house counsel. No billable hours, a full night's sleep every night, stock options, and more job security. At least, you hope it’s more job security. (18 views)
What Counsel Jobs Entail Counsel jobs are generally among the highest paid at a law firm, as this is the senior attorney at a law firm. As a result, you will not be able to walk right into one of these jobs, as you must first prove yourself to be a good lawyer with skills in a number of areas. Counsel work is given to those with years of professional experience and a great deal of knowledge, as... (3 views)
He Left: Was He Right? We watch our colleagues and people we know, change jobs, change firms, change practice areas, or even go to the extreme of changing careers and leaving law practice altogether. Every time I hear such a story about somebody I knew, I wonder about the reasons, and I wonder how it will work out for the person. While leaving a job or changing firms is understandable for many... (7 views)
Where to Start When Searching for Alternative Careers for an Attorney? It's perfectly normal in the 20th century to find people who shift fields in the middle of their careers, and it is as much true for attorneys as for other professionals. In particular, attorneys have a greater number of alternatives than professionals from other fields, because practicing as an attorney has its inherent advantages including the creation of a powerful... (148 views)
How to Move from Public Interest into Private Law Practice Many of the professionals involved in law jobs desire to move from public service into private law practice. It may either be to look for law firm jobs or to become an independent law practitioner. (2734 views)
Becoming a Best Legal Recruiter Thousands of law graduates who graduate from the law school look for legal jobs every year. The article discusses the qualities of a good legal recruiter who can help them get a job. Also those who want to be a legal recruiter will get an insight about the qualities they need to have to be a legal recruiter. (1950 views)
How to Become a Judge As many know, judges are crucial to our country�s legal system. Judges carry a huge responsibility upon their shoulders. But many are unaware as to how judges actually enter this field. Read on to learn more. (153 views)
How to Be a District Attorney Becoming an attorney takes a lot of work and dedication. The truth is that the path to obtaining your law degree is not necessarily an easy one, but it can lead to a fulfilling and wonderful career. In fact, there are few fields that are as widely respected as the field of law, and the career of a district attorney is no exception. The high-profile, appointed position of a... (965 views)
How to Find Alternative Uses for a Law Degree There are several reasons that a person with a law degree will decide to turn away from the legal profession. Sometimes they realize once they begin to practice law that the endless research and mountains of paperwork aren't for them. Other times, they may simply decide that the legal profession is not a good fit for them. Or, they may have ventured out, intending to... (2100 views)
How to Reinvent Your Career If you work long enough, something along the way will probably happen to you. You will work with a co�worker who drives you crazy, a boss that doesn't get you, or an employee that keeps you up at night. (110 views)
Transitioning from Solo Practice to a Law Firm Coming from law school, the first question most attorneys ask is how to find a good job. All law schools have alumni associations and job placement programs; it is an excellent idea to take advantage of both of these, especially if you intend to work for a government agency or the district attorney's office once you've passed the local bar exam for the state in which you... (2379 views)
How Can General Counsel Make Career Switches? Follow General Counsel Donald B. Mitchell's Example. If you're an attorney interested in switching from an in-house position to a law firm position (or vice versa), then read on. Below you will discover how one man made the switch, then switched back, and continues to thrive in the field today. (16 views)
Multifarious career opportunites within legal jobs The oil crisis of 1987 eliminated many oil-related jobs in the United States. The advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s changed the business outlook for many job sectors including IT and the media. 9/11 affected the financial industry in 2001, and the real estate sector is feeling the pain now as lending institutions struggle to stay afloat. (18 views)
The transition from the world of fashion to legal career by Rory Brewton Have shows like Project Runway and America's Next Top Model got you itching to jump up off your thrift store couch and strut your stuff? Do you often feel like your own little version of Stacy London and Clinton Kelly walking around telling everyone what not to wear? Why not take a hint from Baylor Law School's Rory Brewton and stage your very own law school fashion show? (108 views)