Michelle Obama: Why I Left BigLaw

Working as an associate on the 47th floor of a Chicago BigLaw firm's offices, Michelle Obama initially thought she had gotten where she wanted to be in life.

But her father's death, as well as the death of a young friend, made her rethink her career priorities, the First Lady told about 250 employees at the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that oversees public service programs.

At that point in her life, Obama asked herself an important question, recounts the Associated Press: If she were suddenly to die, what did she want to be remembered for?

The answer wasn't practicing corporate law. Although colleagues urged her to stay and make partner first, she decided to quit her BigLaw job and pursue her dreams. "I knew in my heart that I was making the right decision to leave," she told the federal workers today.

Among those covering the First Lady's comments was Washington, D.C., bureau chief Lynn Sweet, whose column in the Chicago Sun-Times recounts much of what Obama said verbatim.