I was heartened to see that the cover subject of the most
recent edition of my law school’s alumni magazine is someone who pursued an
alternative path. Savannah Guthrie, Georgetown University Law Center class of
2002, opted out of law review and big-firm life to pursue her broadcasting
career. Now the co-anchor of the Today show, she still remembers her gig
answering phones in the dean’s office while she was in school.
At a moment when law schools are under fire for, possibly,
fudging the post-employment statistics of their graduates, and in an era when
big law is facing some big struggles, remembering the versatility of a law
degree seems especially opportune. Not everyone has to march from associate to
partner or counsel. Nontraditional paths abound.
Some lawyers ditched their day jobs back when the economy
was good to become investors and financial advisors on their own; they realized
they could make a lot more money if they were doing more than the paperwork on
any transaction. The analytical and decision-making skills learned during law
school certainly bode well for leaders in the business world. Any number of
legal marketing folks, both in-house and out-, have J.D.s in their pockets.
In D.C., the federal government beckons; plenty of policy
makers don’t practice law but are admitted to the bar. Publishing, P.R., small
business—any arena where the ability to research, reason, and think are
especially useful—all provide viable avenues for a lawyer longing to leave the
legal biz. The only time my J.D. held me back was when I was trying to break
into publishing. Having moved from D.C. to New York, I was told by one
interviewer that he worried about giving me a job for fear that I would stay
just long enough to pass the bar in a new state. I’d been surprised at the
time; back in Washington, plenty of people at the federal agency at which I had
worked had law degrees and no intention of practicing. I persisted and became a
writer and editor and have never begrudged my legal education. Habits I picked
up during my own years at the Georgetown University Law Center, my reading and
research skills, my tenacity, have only helped me over the years. J.D.s can
help any number of people in any number of fields nowadays, too.
—Lori Tripoli
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