(This is Part Two of a two-part series on transitioning out of the legal profession.  For nonlawyers:  as I said in Part One, although this post is about transitioning out of the law, I suspect you’ll see many themes and ideas in it that bring clarity to your own situation.)

In Part One of this article, I talked about the anxieties and limiting beliefs that tend to get in the way of lawyers interested in a career transition.  In this article, I’m going to describe the specific strategies I and others have used to exit legal careers in a way that has had us both survive and thrive.  Before I start my list, bear in mind that addressing the beliefs that tend to prevent us from creating change in our lives is just as important as, or more important than, the specific bullet points in our plans for a career transition.

For example, if you’re identified with the prestige of your law career, and would see yourself as a “loser” if you entered a field that didn’t require a graduate degree, no amount of advice about financially preparing for a transition is going to have you feel comfortable with making one.  To take the steps I discuss below, I had to deeply believe in myself and my business ideas, and be able to continue respecting myself even if things didn’t go exactly as I wanted.

With that in mind, here are four of the key actions I, and other ex-lawyers I know, have taken in making successful transitions out of the law.

1. Start thinking long-term about your finances.  I don’t need to tell you that law can be a stressful profession, and that many attorneys see constantly acquiring more stuff as the only way to make their jobs livable.  Although we’re generally a stuff-obsessed society, lawyers can become particularly addicted to constantly upgrading their cars, remodeling their houses, souping up their stereo systems, and so on.  Legal employers encourage attorneys to develop this habit, in the hope that their employees will accumulate debt and thus shackle themselves to their jobs with “golden handcuffs.”

I’m assuming that, in whatever you plan to do after you leave the law, you can expect to be paid less than what you received as an attorney, at least in the short term.  Thus, if you’re planning to leave the legal profession, you will probably need to start weaning yourself off any stuff addiction you may have, and saving where you can, at least a few months before your departure.

I recognize that it won’t motivate you for me to just tell you to start saving money.  I think it will help inspire you, though, to constantly keep in mind how fulfilled you’re going to be when you enter your new career with some extra money to invest in your business and your new life.  Every dollar you don’t spend on landscaping and plasma TVs today is another that can contribute to your new venture’s success in the long term.

Here are the specific steps I took to maximize the size of my financial cushion.  I rented out my condo at $2,000 per month, and moved into a studio apartment that rented for slightly over $1,000.  I sold my second computer (I really only need one), my stereo (I can play CDs and MP3s on my desktop), and my TV (I don’t watch TV anyway—having one was just a way of “looking normal,” which I’m no longer concerned about).  I canceled my magazine subscriptions and nearly anything—except my car insurance and gym membership—with a monthly recurring charge.  I stopped buying books and CDs for a few months.

You may also find encouragement in some of the things I didn’t need to do to become self-supporting once I left my law firm.  I was able to keep my car, as I paid off my car loan before I left.  I completed the last several months of a year-long coach training program, for which I was paying $500 per month.  I didn’t have to cook all of my meals—I could eat out occasionally.  Leaving my firm to start a business didn’t mean starvation or even a big drop in my quality of life—though, admittedly, I’ve never had expensive tastes.

2. Explore contract legal work.  Contract work is one way to make ends meet in the midst of a transition out of a conventional law job.  Many attorneys fear working on a part-time or contract basis—either because it’s considered less prestigious than working in a firm or corporation, or because they have nightmare visions of reviewing documents sixteen hours a day in a warehouse with hundreds of embittered out-of-work lawyers.  I did a few contract projects to pay the bills after I left my firm, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I’ll make three observations here about contract legal work that may encourage you.

First, I was surprised to learn that there are contract projects out there that allow you to work from home without setting foot in an office.  I worked on one project that solely consisted of doing legal research on the Internet and summarizing what I found.  I never met any of the people who worked with me in person.  This may sound a little isolated, but in fact it simply allowed me to interact with people on my own terms.  I could call friends or go outside if I wanted, and I didn’t have to explain myself to a supervisor.

Second, as I alluded to, not all contract work consists of reviewing documents.  As I mentioned, one type of contract work I did involved research and writing.  I know several other lawyers who previously worked at firms and now draft agreements or motion papers for other attorneys on a contract basis.  Some have even gone to court and argued motions and attended conferences.  So don’t be discouraged from making a transition out of fear that you’ll have to do document review to make ends meet.

Third, despite what I said in my second point, I have worked on document review projects, and they really aren’t as bad as some make them out to be.  At first, I imagined that, as a “temp,” I’d be treated rudely and condescendingly, I’d be on call 24-7 to meet my temporary employer’s review needs, and I would have no access to the Internet outside of the web-based document review software.

None of these proved to be true.  Everyone, including the partners at the firms I worked at, was decent to me, I worked regular, predictable hours (with optional overtime), and I was allowed to check my business e-mail and such on the computers I used.  Granted, document review probably isn’t anyone’s idea of ideal work, but in my experience it’s really quite tolerable.

To me, the main drawback of doing contract-based legal work is that it pays me on an hourly basis, as opposed to compensating me based on the quantity or quality of my work.  But that, for better or worse, is no different from the pay structure at most jobs, including law firms, in that most employees are paid a straight salary regardless of their performance or productivity.  (That, of course, is one of the reasons I became an entrepreneur.)

3. Leverage your legal experience.  Back in law school, many of us heard that a law degree would help us no matter what we ended up doing, and I suspect many of us doubted that advice.  However, in my experience, it’s actually true—letting others know you’ve been a lawyer can open doors in terms of finding a job and growing your business.  After all, most people know that lawyers are generally hardworking, intelligent people who pay close attention to detail.

In my own case, my legal experience has been helpful to me in finding coaching clients—some of the people I’ve worked with have been attorneys seeking a career change, and it’s comforting to them to know they’re working with someone who’s actually been through the process they’re seeking to enter.  In another project I’m working on where I’ve been seeking investors, prospective investors have told me that, in determining whether I could run a company, they felt encouraged by my experience as a lawyer.

Another great example is an attorney I knew who harbored a lifelong dream of being a professor.  What made his path a little rockier was that he was interested in becoming a philosophy professor, rather than teaching law, and he didn’t have an advanced degree in philosophy.  But on the strength of his legal credentials and publications, and a few philosophical writings he’d done, he was able to land a teaching job at a college, and eventually move into a tenure-track position.

What’s more, if you’re an attorney and you’re interested in entrepreneurship, you likely have a lot of knowledge about going into business that many first-time entrepreneurs lack, and you can probably save a substantial amount of money by using that knowledge.  For instance, if you start a business, you’ll probably be able to do at least the first draft of the related legal documents without hiring an attorney.  You’ll also be well-equipped to research the regulations that apply to your business, and avoid violating them and paying fines.

Even if you were a litigator, as I was, you’ve still probably read a heck of a lot more agreements and corporate statutes than the average person striking out on their own.  Based on my legal experience, I drafted the operating agreement and certificate of formation of a limited liability company I’m starting, the legal disclaimers for this site and my products, and the lease on a property I own.  I’ve yet to hire a lawyer for business purposes.  (I’m keeping my fingers crossed.)

Bottom line:  don’t underestimate how much your legal experience and credentials can benefit you, even if you’re transitioning into a career that on the surface doesn’t look law-related.

4. Consult your colleagues.  Some lawyers I know, particularly those looking for jobs as opposed to starting their own businesses, benefited greatly in their searches by reaching out to people at their law firms or whatever organizations they planned to transition out of.  I know a few attorneys, for instance, who wanted to go into consulting or finance, and ended up finding positions through connections at their law firms. 

I also know a few lawyers who received some friendly advice from their colleagues—sometimes from partners—that helped them start their own non-law businesses.  This advice touched on issues like which business form to use, where to incorporate, and how to find investors.

Some attorneys I know have felt reluctant to reach out to their colleagues, particularly while they were still at the firms they planned to leave.  They feared that their colleagues would get angry if they raised the possibility that they might do something else, and even that the senior lawyers in their organizations would somehow “blackball” them and make sure they didn’t succeed in the field they were interested in.

I’ve never heard of either of these scenarios happening, and I now know a number of people who have successfully transitioned out of the legal profession.  Both in my own experience and based on what I’ve heard, other lawyers tend to be supportive and sometimes provide valuable information to people who express interest in making a change.  If you’re thinking about leaving the law, your colleagues and other lawyers you know will likely be invaluable in helping you with the logistics of your transition.

I hope you’ve found these ideas helpful, and if you’re transitioning out of the law or any other field I wish you the best of luck.

Related posts:

1. Career Transitions For Lawyers (Part One)
2. Do You Have The “Personality” For The Career You Want?
3. The Conventional Career “Wisdom” Isn’t So Wise
4. Would You “Survive” A Career Change?
5. Does The Career You Want “Make You Uncomfortable”?