TO LEAVE LAW OR NOT TO LEAVE: WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?
16 April 2009
I know I don’t really enjoy what I am doing as a lawyer but, like many people, I don’t have a firm idea of what to do next. To give me some direction I decide to seek careers counselling, both with a professional and in the form of a self-help book. Going into the self-help section of the book shop to buy the book feels a bit Bridget Jones, but I decide against getting it sent to my office as I normally do with books, in case it is seen by anyone. This whole leaving law business is a bit of a covert operation: you need to be careful who you confide in. I am also careful about the websites I check at work, so no vanity searching for this blog at my desk! Probably paranoia on my part but there is no point in burning my bridges at this stage.
In the spirit of keeping an open mind about my legal career I am taking on new work and focusing on all the jobs in hand, however I am always trying to evaluate the things I enjoy (client contact, occasional camaraderie, being busy, novelty) versus the things I don’t (monotonous work, unpredictable partners, the obsession with billable hours). Work seems more bearable when I can see that there is a way out, and exploring other opportunities definitely makes me feel less trapped: I would recommend it to anyone who is feeling that their work is constraining them.
So back to the book, which is written specifically for lawyers who are seeking a career change, either within or outside law. It contains, encouragingly, a list of people who abandoned their legal careers for pastures new: Franz Kafka; Henry Fielding; Peter Tchaikovsky; Mahatma Gandhi and the co-creator of LA Law! There are also several quizzes, the results of which all, overwhelmingly, suggest that I am making the right choice by exploring alternatives.
The book’s suggestions for alternative careers ranges from managerial roles within law firms and contract legal work to completely different roles such as psychologist, journalist and entrepreneur. Naturally, the list outside of law is a lot longer and contains several non sequitors: I doubt many people have ever given up their legal career to be a ballet dancer or jazz musician, as is suggested here!
I book a careers counselling session with a professional, which promises to give me guidance and clarity, to take place at the end of April.
At the same time, I also undergo the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test to find out my personality type and see whether this gives me any inspiration. I am apparently ENFP (Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving), and the description is spookily accurate. Apparently we ENFP types can go through several careers in a lifetime and can sometimes seem directionless but thrive in jobs with interaction with people, flexibility and a subject matter which excites and interests us. ENFP types hate strict schedules and mundane tasks. Apart from the fact that I could probably apply this description to most people, I do agree that the things about my job which I dislike the most are the mundane tasks and lack of flexibility.
The jobs which come up as suitable for me are writer/ journalist; broadcaster; psychologist; detective; teacher, all jobs I have thought about, so maybe these tests do work after all.
Buoyed by this insight, I also apply this week for a television industry networking convention for which competition for places is fierce. As someone in their mid to late twenties, an application form which has room for candidates to list their term time address does not fill me with encouragement, however I fill out the questions to make myself sound as youthful as possible.
It suddenly hits me that not only will I have to possibly start at the bottom, along with all of these people with term time addresses, but that I might be rejected. As someone who was fortunate enough to sail through everything in life except my driving test, this prospect is slightly alarming.
However, the next day when I arrive at work and survey the contents of my inbox and To Do list, the idea of rejection does not seem so bad after all!
MTL Blogger read The Lawyer's Career Change Handbook by Hindi Greenberg.
To read about the Myers-Briggs test, click here and here.
For a free test that gives you an idea of your type, click here.
To contact the MTL blogger, email
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