Finding the Right Specialty

I was enthused to learn about a new online service, LawFit, that helps lawyers and law students identify where, or on what, in the field they would like to work. Using an online assessment, the service measures preferences, values, and interests to help currently practicing attorneys as well as those about to enter the workforce, find the right niche in the legal marketplace, whether that is in a law firm or elsewhere.

I haven’t tried LawFit, but I would likely be interested if I were less sure of where I was going. When I was a young associate, many of my colleagues seemed to fall into specialties by chance. Their firm had a need, and they followed. Some opted out of potentially vibrant practice areas because the group leaders were dour, or more than typically difficult. Others had goals in mind that didn’t quite seem in line with the firm they’d opted to work for. Want to help the poor? Working at a large law firm might not be the most direct route to do so, unless you’re planning on helping simply by writing big checks.

A career counselor can provide some validation. I sought one out after I ditched my big-firm existence. I’d been kicking around a dream of becoming a writer. All of the testing I did pointed to exactly that. I felt far more comfortable pursuing a writing track than I had when I was fresh out of law school and too timid to veer from the path seemingly set for me.

A service like that of LawFit, or of any career counselor, could be helpful even mid-career. People change. In my early 20s, I had no interest at all in being a litigator, wasn’t quick on my feet, and would not have enjoyed the pressure associated with courtroom performance. As I matured—and practiced—my speaking skills improved and I became more comfortable being on the spot. Judges and others are no longer quite so intimidating. I don’t stumble as much if I cannot quickly come up with an answer. By my early 40s, I’d found a different venue: teaching. I’ve been fortunate to combine my law background and my communications skills to introduce others to a vibrant field. I am grateful that way back when, a bunch of test results confirmed that I’d be well-suited to the me I had in mind rather than the me I was at the time.

—Lori Tripoli

 

The Versatility of a J.D.

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

Team Mary, Team Bobby, Teammate

The May suicide by hanging of Mary Richardson Kennedy, estranged wife of environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has been distracting me all week. The family lives in my area. I met Mary several times years ago. She seemed like a sweet soul. I interviewed RFK Jr. for a publication. He seemed committed to his cause. This was a prominent couple, one half of which had a prominent career and a prominent name. Things happened, time passed, they grew apart, and she pursued a very sad path.

Being involved in the publishing industry, and living in a small town, I’d heard the gossip. Their history is a reminder for any lawyer with a big career: Whether and to what extent does a big-dog lawyer want to create and maintain a satisfying home life? Should a cheerleader/caretaker life partner be selected, or someone with an equally prominent position? Either choice poses hazards: one spouse can be stuck at home while the other forges ahead; or both partners are gone every day while nannies tend the children. Finding the right balance is difficult even if one partner doesn’t have a great job. But Mary Kennedy’s suicide reminds us all to work as hard on our home lives as we do in our offices. Make use of down time. If a significant other is struggling, pay attention. Ratcheting back a big law career a notch or two might yield more satisfaction and a better life in the long run.