Chapter 10 Second-career Lawyers

• Library: Accelerating Lawyer Success: How to Make Partner, Stay Healthy, and Flourish in a Law Firm (ABA) (2015 Ed.)

Second-career lawyers who make partner . . .

• Have more informal mentors
• Flourish more
• Feel less micromanaged
• See the workplace as less political

Additionally, second-career lawyers, in general, tend to . . .

• Be less planful
• Enjoy difficult tasks
• Focus less on making work friends

Up to this point, our focus has been on people who took a traditional and straight path to becoming partner—from college straight to law school, and directly into a firm (possibly after a year or two clerking for a judge). But many lawyers didn't follow that traditional track. They decided later in life to switch careers after working and having nonlegal experiences that informed their thinking and behavior. We looked separately at the lawyers—whom we call "second-career lawyers"—who spent nine or more years before and/or during law school working in another career. We wanted to see if the perspectives, attitudes, and traits of these lawyers differ from those who followed a more traditional route.

And differ they do. David was a journalist before he became a lawyer. He fell into journalism during college. He was good at writing, so he followed his talent without setting a plan beyond the immediate future. After working as a journalist for a while, he realized it was not the job he wanted to do until he retired. So, he somehow convinced his wife (he's still not sure how) to relocate so he could pursue his law career. As he tells us, he just went on instinct. Despite his late start, he attained partnership. But his path to partnership, as you can see from this story and other stories about David in this chapter, looks a little different from the paths of partners for whom law was their first career.

Second-Career Partners

Making Partner a Second Time Around

Arnold Schwarzenegger explained his experience as a second-career actor and third-career politician by saying, "I didn't leave bodybuilding until I felt that I had gone as far as I could go. It will be the same with my film career. When I feel the time is right, I will then consider public service. I feel that the highest honor comes from serving people and your country." Lawyers are entering the workforce in much the same way—perhaps not after acclaimed bodybuilding and acting careers, but after careers in professional services, accounting, engineering, or other areas. Some second-career lawyers make partner, and, like lawyers who follow the traditional route, others do not. We found that, for the most part, lawyers who make it to partnership after first spending a great deal of time in another career have similar experiences as lawyers who make partner after pursuing law as a first career. They tend to...