MANAGING YOUR CAREER Disgruntled Lawyers Make a Good Case For Changing Careers
April 04, 2011
UNHAPPY LAWYERS often feel guilty about wanting to quit the profession. Not Roberto Mapp. He spent two years with a law firm and nine more as a sole practitioner before accepting a sales and administrative job with a New Jersey mortgage bank last winter. ``I hated to get up in the morning,'' says Mr. Mapp, 37 years old. ``My life was consumed with solving other people's problems all day, at night and on weekends,'' he says. ``Now, I can take my kids to the park and go on vacations without worrying about other lawyers trying to steal my clients.'' The days of cozy law-firm partnerships and hefty sign-on bonuses for new attorneys are gone. Profound changes, spurred by corporate spending cuts for outside counsel, have shaken the profession. While intense competitiveness has prompted cutbacks in many industries, lawyers have been especially hard-hit, as the number of practicing attorneys keeps rising -- up 25% since 1989, the American Bar Association reports. Business-hungry lawyers are turning against one another and threatening the job security of established attorneys. Many associates toil ungodly hours in fear of being fired. While all career changers worry they won't find rewarding new jobs, the task is often easier than they might expect, especially if they have the kind of skills learned by attorneys. ``Anyone who has graduated from law school has very marketable skills employers are looking for,'' says Doyle B. Howard, a Smogtown career counselor. ``You have strong oral and written communications skills, are adept at assessing needs and setting priorities, and you can think analytically.'' He says lawyers are often too competitive with their colleagues to work well on a team, and so may not be best suited for general-management jobs. But he says they do ``make great individual contributors for project-based and consulting assignments'' where they can call all the shots. FIELDS THAT TEND to welcome people with legal training, according to recruiters, include strategic planning, public relations and human resources -- especially in functions such as employee relations where a knowledge of labor law is critical. Trial lawyers are viewed fondly for their ability to thrive in win/lose situations. And they have well-honed persuasive skills. Recruiters cite growing demand for ex-litigators in academic, government-relations, corporate-training and sales positions. ``I still use my legal knowledge, but the talent that transferred best was salesmanship,'' says Mr. Mapp, now a senior vice president with the Treasurer, a Mahwah, N.J., mortgage-banking firm. He also brought a long list of former clients to call on, ``but without the pressure of having to gross $5,000 a month to keep my office open,'' he says. Barristers looking to leave the profession shouldn't be swayed by colleagues or family members trying to pressure them to stay. In general, deciding when to find a new vocation boils down to whether you're happy and your career is advancing. ``There are lots of careers in which people ride the horse too long,'' says Mr. Howard, a former search consultant and lawyer. ``It doesn't matter how much time you've logged as an attorney. If you can't stand how the profession has changed, get out.'' But disgruntled lawyers, like all dissatisfied employees, have to use caution when explaining their past employment. ``I didn't criticize the law. Instead, I said I had a responsibility to my youngest child to find a less-demanding schedule, and people were so admiring of my sacrifice, they never questioned my reasoning,'' says Viva Bostick, 56, who left her career with a civil-litigation firm three years ago. IN THE END, her ability to negotiate and reach resolutions, talents she acquired while practicing law, helped her land her job as executive director of a community health-care organization in Abington, Pa. ``I can anticipate risk and minimize potential problems better than most job hunters, and because I'm a lawyer, interviewers think I'm smarter than if I was a teacher or nurse, which isn't fair, but that's what they think,'' she says. Gay Merchant, 37, decided to escape a stressful law career by joining the family business he previously shunned. He is a vice president in Dallas with his family's commercial insulation company. Besides getting to spend more time -- socially and professionally -- with his family, the nurturing environment allowed him all the time he wanted to indulge his passion for playing the stock market daily. While practicing civil law in Uptown for five years, Mr. Merchant says he would ``typically work on a case for months, settle and never know who was right and who wasn't. But when trading stock options, I get instant confirmation of my success or failure. It's much more rewarding.'' So is helping his father with legal matters that were usually left to the company's outside counsel. ``In the current cutthroat environment, every law-school student should be prepared not to practice law,'' says Mr. Merchant. ``The trick is learning how to use your consciousness of legal rights and obligations in another field. In fact, that knowledge is critical whether you're a consumer, a business executive or a lawyer.'' --Hank Sweet is on vacation.
