Learn How Considering Your Career Alternatives Can Unlock New Opportunities Most attorneys have one thing in common - they don't want to be attorneys. Is the unhappiness that is rampant throughout the profession due to the profession itself or the attorneys getting in the wrong situations? (56 views)
Your Introductory Letter Should Elucidate Why You Want To Switch To Non–Legal Jobs: Here’s How? Whilst resume are important, most interviewers consider the introductory letters more important. It doesn't take long and the letter tells you more about the person than the resume. Letters are personal. Resumes are cookbooks. The cover letter tells how badly the applicant wants the job by how much effort they put into the letter. If they work hard to get the job, they... (55 views)
Alternative Legal Careers: Identifying the Right Resources You may find it difficult to discover what resources are appropriate for your non-legal career search. The best way to begin is to think about all of the possible ways you might approach a specific career area and all of the groups, agencies, individuals, and written materials that could possibly have information about the area. (49 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)
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)
Are You Entrepreneur Material? So you've had it with your job, and you want to be an entrepreneur. It's a glamorous idea, for sure, but lurking behind the pretty picture is a long-term investment of your blood, sweat, and tears. Hopefully, the yield will be high. But before you sacrifice your time, energy, and financial resources, it's a good idea to do some research to find out just what exactly makes... (39 views)
Evaluating Your Abilities Before a Career Shift There are a variety of elements that need to be taken into consideration in conducting the self-assessment aspect of the career search. You may wish to consider some of the following: (39 views)
Setting Priorities: Your Ideal, Alternative Legal Job Setting The "where" has to do with more than simple geography. It may include the types of knowledge one would expect to use in the job hunt, the people internal to the organization and those served by it, as well as the everyday working conditions. "Where" would also include the level or salary you would expect if you worked in this particular organization. (39 views)
Know Whether You Really Want To Switch: After All You Always Wanted To Be A Lawyer While intensely concentrating on getting through the law program, many law students effectively put blinders on themselves. They focus day-to-day, rather than on the future. This myopic, near-trance is what most call the legal mindset. Since they have joined law school of their own choice, knowing full well its notoriety for being tough, unforgiving and demanding, one can... (38 views)
How To Turn Your Hobby Into A Profit Making Endeavor There are hundreds of people who have a leisure time activity and spend all their free time indulging in these fun-filled fulfilling activities. But these activities need not be over once the leisure time is over, with a little experience and confidence and faith in your ability, you can actually turn your hobby into a successful money making endeavour. (37 views)
How to Leave Your Legal Position with Class Once You Know It's Over What do you do when your current job or career becomes a nightmare? Your crystal ball sees another round of downsizing around the corner? Or you're offered your dream job at twice the salary? (Okay, that one's easy: Take it!) (36 views)
Before You Embark on an Alternative Legal Career, Define Your Goals There are three essential parts of the career planning process. They are the What, the Where, and the How of the career search. (35 views)
On The Hunt: How To Spot a Legal Job Using Twitter It’s easy to see Twitter as merely a source of amusement—especially if your feed is bogged down with inane, minute-by-minute updates from friends and celebrities. After all, who cares what Nick Nolte had for breakfast or that your cousin lost her keys again? (35 views)
How to Leave Your Law Firm on Good Terms: Tips for a Smooth Transition Leaving on your own terms is always more pleasant than being forced out of your position. While it is inherently risky to leave any job, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it that will prevent any hard feelings. (34 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)
How Nicole Paquette worked hard with animal advocay group and furthered her career to become General Counsel ... (30 views)
Legal Career-Options In The Non-Government Sectors A legal degree prepares you for jobs not only in the legal sector but also for jobs in the non-legal sector. But student who are willing to undergo the rigors of law school, eventually want to end up as lawyers or at least use their degrees as a passport to a job in the legal profession. Here are some career-options available to law-school graduates in the private legal... (27 views)
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)
Dissatisfaction Levels for Women in Law Alternatives to careers in law become sought after options for women lawyers. One may become a career counselor, one may become a vice-president in a bank; one may take an entry-level career in advertising; another may go back to school for a masters in teaching and later become a high-school English teacher; one may become a writer. Now, at the age that we would rightly... (23 views)
Charting the Financial Needs of Those in a Law Job For most attorneys considering leaving the profession, the burning question is this: How much will you earn in a career outside of law? According to a recent Labor Department study of 65,000 households reported in The New York Times, lawyers are the highest paid workers in America today With the exception of top corporate executives, lawyers are paid, on average, more than... (23 views)
How LeHocky got a job in a legal firm through LexisNexis Mark LeHocky, the current Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Holdings, Inc., started his career the same way most law school students do—as a summer clerk. (21 views)
How Judge Elizabeth White Got Her Job This week, LawCrossing speaks with the Hon. Elizabeth White, a judge with the Superior Court of California. White, who started out her legal career as a paralegal, landed her first job through a temporary position indexing documents at Loeb & Loeb. When her assignment was up, she approached a partner at the firm about staying on permanently. (21 views)
Alternative Legal Career Profile Checklist You should now begin to focus in more tightly on the ideal position for you. Review the list describing your ideal position and the notes you have taken on your potential career areas. You should also have completed more extensive research and possibly some additional informational interviews before you complete the career profile list. (21 views)
Alternative Legal Careers: Chart Your Professional and Social Networks In order to begin developing a referral list, or a chart of your network, you may wish to complete the following worksheet. This should help you get organized. Consider this form as something that will continually be expanded as you consider referral sources— (21 views)
Opportunities in IT Field No other field offers the range and number of opportunities to be found in information technology. And no area is so change-driven. The pace of technology and the rush of all types of businesses to keep up with it mean that job definitions are being reformulated every day. The key to success in your job search is staying ahead of the curve, knowing how generational changes... (19 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)
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)
Entrepreneurs, Inventors, and People Who Turn Blue With apologies to author Barbara Paul, who creates extraordinary stories in the world of fiction, this article is dedicated to the entrepreneurs and inventors who create extraordinary opportunities in the world of business. (17 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)