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Looking for Alternative Work? Expect a Pay Cut, Experts Say

Posted Apr 1, 2009 2:13 PM CST
By Martha Neil

More than 100 lawyers thinking about leaving the law packed a meeting of the New York City Bar Association last night.

Panelists offered helpful suggestions about building up alternative skills that could lead to careers outside of law practice. But career-switchers should expect to make significantly less money, at least at first, the panelists said. And, they advised, those looking for alternative work shouldn't give up their day jobs until they find it, reports the Am Law Daily.

Melissa McClenaghan Martin, who is now a career coach, previously worked as an associate at Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson before founding Career Women's Initiative. She remembers feeling sick when she looked at her first post-practice tax return, the law blog recounts.

Because the job market is flooded with applicants right now, both within the legal profession and generally, attorneys should think carefully before making a move to an entirely different career—especially if it involves giving up a lucrative job, she and other consultants advise. Another option is to develop a sideline business or work on alternative skills while retaining one's current position.

Related coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "Gloomy Times for NY Lawyers and the Recruiters Who Want to Help"

Comments

1.

B. McLeod
Apr 1, 2009 3:31 PM CST

A group of 100 lawyers strikes me as shockingly small for a bar the size New York City’s would have to be.  Maybe I am misreading the story.  Was the 100 number just the lawyers who were thinking about leaving practice?  Or, do New Your City lawyers not attend bar functions?

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2.

NEWS FLASH
Apr 1, 2009 9:42 PM CST

If you leave your big firm job (or any legal job for that matter) for a career at McDonalds, you should expect to take a pay cut.  My consulting firm also thinks that it might be substantial. 

That is all

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3.

Michael
Apr 2, 2009 10:25 AM CST

I’ve always created legal expert systems and hire (and work with) a lot of lawyers.  I was sent to law school by one of the larger legal services companies years ago though never really practiced (only occasional pro-bono cases).  Despite that I’ve always been 95% business person/engineer, with a law degree to keep my clients (lawyers) happy: I went to school with that intention and have never had any interest in full-time practice.

Having worked with many lawyers who want to transition to a non-legal job here’s some advice, based on the many I’ve worked with.  Some might even work for lawyers still in practice:
* Give up thinking in terms of hours, except when billing.  Output is what matters.  If a task takes five minutes and generates lots of value it’s worth more than a task that takes six months of non-stop work and generates no value.
* Results are all that matter, as long as you don’t pull an Enron.  Lawyers do their best but, at the end of the day, an outcome is whatever it is.  Not so in business: if something doesn’t work you haven’t helped.  On the “don’t pull an Enron” also don’t get too preachy: business ethics are important (really, they are) but don’t make everybody crazy unless you see a real issue.
* Don’t marginalize what others do.  Lawyers, for some reason, see changing a computer program or business model as easy as changing a brief.  It isn’t but that doesn’t really matter; what matters is listening to experts in their field, not arguing with them.
* Remember that business is often not a zero-sum game: the best businesses work to the benefit of many parties.

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