Thinking about leaving the law, but not sure where to begin?

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Three simple things you can do right now to help you begin to quit BigLaw

March 21, 2013

Just thinking about change can stress us lawyers out. We counsel clients to avoid risk, and we ourselves often also are inclined to avoid risk in our own lives. And change is often equated as risk. And making a career change, or making a change like leaving the law (BigLaw or otherwise) . . . [...]

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The Second Step in Leaving Law Behind – Cut Your Losses

March 15, 2013

This article originally appeared on Above the Law. As we discussed in the first article of this series, through Leave Law Behind, I work with many intelligent attorneys who nonetheless are unhappy and want to leave the law behind and do something else. They want to change their life and their work and their focus with [...]

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How to remove the risk from leaving law behind

March 11, 2013

 I’m going in. I spoke with an attorney recently, and we had a great conversation about the issues she faces with the BigLaw firm at which she works. The lack of female attorneys for mentoring. The long hours. The dwindling chances of becoming a partner. Her mild depression as a lawyer. Her unhappiness as a [...]

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How a lost dog can teach you to leave law behind

February 25, 2013

We see “Lost Pet” posters all the time.  Grainy pictures usually of sweet looking dogs or cats pasted into a Word document, printed up and duct-taped to neighborhood telephone poles.  Usually there is a big headline (“LOST DOG” or “HAVE YOU SEEN ME?”), a physical description of the pet (Male, 2 years old, Rottweiler mix), [...]

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What if you found out that you were about to get laid off

February 8, 2013

If you’d like to leave the law, but are not making it a priority to do so, then you may need to artificially stimulate your motivation.  A good way to do that is to imagine what you would do if a trusted fortune teller (ala Nate Silver) confirmed that, yep, you’re going to be laid [...]

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The main reason why you are not leaving law behind right now

February 1, 2013

You simply have not made it a priority. When I ask an attorney what his or her priorities are, he or she will inevitably say family, friends, happiness, peace, health, and stimulating career. But when you look at what attorneys spend most of their day doing, it becomes clear that their job is their priority. [...]

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A proven guide to landing that first side gig

January 22, 2013

[EDITOR'S NOTE:  The following is another guest post by a current criminal defense attorney, and frequent guest blogger on Leave Law Behind, as he details his ongoing experience in leaving law behind.  Last time, he talked about identifying those skills and strengths at which he excels and enjoys, what we call one’s Unique Genius.  This [...]

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Posted Today on AboveTheLaw.com – From the Career Files: The First Step in Leaving Law Behind — It’s the Money, Stupid

January 18, 2013

As a contributing writer to Above the Law’s Career Center, today they published part I of a five part series I’m writing on how to leave the law. In  “From the Career Files: The First Step in Leaving Law Behind — It’s the Money, Stupid“, we explore why the first step in properly leaving the law [...]

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Why leaving law behind is like studying for a law school final exam

January 11, 2013

1.   You need to do it yourself.  While preparing for finals, I often deceived myself into thinking that I was actually studying, when all I really was doing was sitting through a study group or copying someone else’s notes or buying packaged outlines.  While I thought I was doing the work for the exam, I [...]

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How any cliff, fiscal or otherwise, can be avoided

January 2, 2013

So the fiscal cliff has been averted.  The sky has not fallen.  The news channels will now look for the next breaking news to cover. For everything that it is not, the fiscal cliff actually did cause Congress to act.  It actually did trigger a deal to get done.  It actually was able to (ultimately) [...]

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