Life After Law Quotes

“For Mary-Alice Brady, an ex-lawyer who started an online community for entrepreneurs, using a career coach made a big difference in her transition. She found a coach by interviewing a few candidates, whom she had found through recommendations from friends, and choosing the one she liked best. Working with a coach taught her to be proactive in her job search, rather than simply reacting to the many opportunities presented to her. One of the most useful parts of working with a coach, she found, was doing homework. Her coach asked her to answer this question in writing every day: “What did I enjoy today and what was a challenge to me?” Her written responses gave her fodder to discuss with her coach during the talks they scheduled every few weeks. Having someone else hold her accountable for her progress on a regular basis also helped her develop better career search habits.”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“Directed writing can also help you sort out the skills you have enjoyed using. It can be surprisingly helpful to sit down with pen and paper, or keyboard and screen, and write a few paragraphs about past experiences you have found personally rewarding. Write out as many of these experiences as you can remember. Before”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“Identifying the skills you enjoy using is the first step in finding work you love. It’s often surprisingly hard to do this, especially if you haven’t liked your work in a long time. Many lawyers have trouble remembering what they enjoy, aside from distracting themselves. Depression, which affects lawyers disproportionately, can exacerbate this problem. Friends and selected relatives can help with this process. When you ask people who are close to you what they think you’re good at, you may be surprised at their responses.”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“Finding a good career coach takes some sifting. Marcie Schorr Hirsch, a principal with Hirsch/Hills Associates, recommends looking for a coach with four different qualities: 1. A regular habit of gathering new information from disparate sources to maintain a broad awareness about what is going on in the world; 2. The ability to see patterns and find trends in large, complex data sets; 3. The creative ability to predict how your talents and values might translate into existing positions and jobs that could be created; and 4. A personal chemistry that engenders trust, since outcomes are usually better when the client enjoys the coach’s style and company. Getting”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“Other ex-lawyers become advocates in entirely different fields. Jen Atkins went from law to nursing, spending several years at home in between careers. As a cardiology nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital, she now advocates for the youngest patients at a critical time. One of her long-term goals is to become an advocate for improving health care on a national level. Counseling”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“The turning point came when I started to think in detail about what I had liked and disliked about my work throughout my career. With help from Richard Bolles’s What Color Is Your Parachute?, I realized that the parts of my law career I had liked best could point me toward my next career. Skimming the book had done little for me, but completing Bolles’s flower diagram, or what he refers to as “that one piece of paper,” made all the difference. Then”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“You can use your skills to do any number of things, as long as you can talk other people into it. As part 2 of this book explains, what you’ve enjoyed doing in the past can be the starting point for an entirely different career. I thought that my experience counseling clients might lead to a successful career in development. My experience organizing networks of women lawyers helped me qualify for a job organizing networks of largely female angel investors. My love of talking in courtrooms translated to a love of teaching in classrooms. But I had to reframe those skills and make those connections before I could convince anyone else to do so. If I can do it, you can too.”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“You don’t need to know where you are going to end up at the right place. When I started my search, I cast a wide net for potential new jobs. I asked for a lot of interviews. Then I headed for development. I spent a year managing an angel network before deciding to switch into academia full time. Every step led me to the next one, but I couldn’t see the whole path at any point in the process. 2.”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“I should point out that I made virtually no money teaching those courses. It was, for all purposes, a barely paid internship, and I made the most of it. I threw myself into every extracurricular activity that might help me make connections. I volunteered to organize the regional conference of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business. One of the first people I met at my first conference is still one of my most valued mentors. I wrote papers and presented research that wasn’t required of me as an adjunct. At”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have

“When I applied to law school, I thought I might keep working on family policy issues, with the greater credibility a law degree confers, but I wasn’t sure. Law school was a socially acceptable way to defer a more detailed career decision that I lacked the self-knowledge to make. Lacking a lodestar, I wanted to keep my options as wide open as possible. I”
― Liz Brown, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have