Customer Reviews

Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

(I think three and a half stars would be a more accurate rating, but it's not an option.)
I am currently a third-year law student, in debt up to my eyballs, and after spending two summers clerking at small law firms, I realized that I do not want to become a lawyer. So how am I going to pay off my student loans??
This book was a good resource to get my mind in gear, to organize my priorities, and to begin thinking about what kind of job I'd like to have.
As it turns out, many of the careers profiled in this book are as uninteresting to me as the practice of law. Nevertheless, by the time I finished reading the book, I had a list of quite a few options to consider.
I bought this book along with another one, "The Lawyer's Career Change Handbook," which has more of a hands-on approach. Together, these books have been an invaluable resource for plotting the direction of my post-law-school life. After some background information on how to conduct a job search, how to assess one's skills, etc., "Nonlegal Careers" hightlights different types of careers, and includes little stories about people who were lawyers and ended up changing their jobs - either within the practice of law, or finding fulfilling careers outside of the law. While these little stories were cute, and a real-life application of the concepts set forth in the book, they sometimes seemed a bit fanciful, impractical, or unrealistic to me.
Other reviewers of this book and other books about non-legal careers seemed frustrated that the books don't say, "Here, Kathy, disgruntled law student, we think that you should become a teacher - and guess what? We're going to tell you how to do that without needing to get a teaching certificate, or any additional education." Of course the books don't give that kind of advice. What they are good for is making the reader think about potential options - other career paths within the law, career paths related to the law, and career paths that have nothing to do with the law. John Grisham is always listed in these books - he is an attorney, but gave up the practice of law to become an incredibly successful author. Readers of "Nonlegal Careers" need to understand that reading this book is not going to turn you into the next John Grisham. But maybe, if you are already a talented creative writer (which I most definietly am not!), the book will encourage you to investigate a career as a writer.
This book is great as a way to begin thinking about alternative careers - but it is just a begining. (And, really, it doesn't claim to be any more than that.) No book written by someone you have never met is going to be able to tell you what to do with your life! Take this book for what it is - a step in the right direction toward a fulfilling career.
"Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers" is a wondeful guide, but it might be just as useful to check it out of the library as to have it on your shelf.

This might be a good book if you are still in law school or only a few years out. However, if you have significant experience and are looking for a new career path, this book offers very little in practical advice. Additionally, for something that is addressed to lawyers (or law students) this book borders on overly simplistic reading that would not be much different than any other "how-to" guide about getting your first job. As mine arrived from Amazon damaged, it was returned the same day it came.

I am a lawyer considering other career options so I purchased this book based on its title. There are no practical solutions nor is the advice specific. If I needed someone to tell me to become a ballerina or firefighter, I would ask my 3rd grade teacher. I am not a child, these are silly suggestions. What upsets me most is that I know many dissatisfied lawyers and/or people who simply wish to make a career change, and this author is making money from a book which offers no practical guidance whatsoever, no links to find the jobs it suggests and no references to help professionals find realisitic paths to pursue. And the writing is pathetic. I understand why this author never made it as a lawyer. The only thing I gathered from this book is that I could become an author and write almost anything so long as I choose the right title to lure a large population of dissatisfied professionals in. Good idea for the author, I'm sure it's a big money maker. Terrible book. I felt insulted reading such nonsense. If I could return it, I would. It's good to buy books from book stores so you can peruse them before buying.

If you need to organize your thinking about why practicing law may be so disappointing for you and how the career path in which you have so much invested may not give you the meaning you want in your work, this is a good place to start. The book also helps to identify which skills that you possess as an attorney are applicable to other jobs and how to describe and packsge those skills on a resume. If you have no idea of what alternatives exist to lawyering, there is a good basic list of suggestions.

I was very disappointed after reading this book. All the information contained in this book was something that anyone could gather if they had the ability to think a little, and I think if the book was targeted to law students/lawyers, it's safe to assume that they all can.
The first part of the book mainly defined what a lawyer is and provided general guidance about how to find a job, which doesn't differ from any other job book. The second part of the book listed alternate careers, and they are just that: a list of careers with a short description. I found the little personal stories included in the book very unrealistic and atypical, hence offer no inspiration. I did not relate to any one of them, personally.
In sum, if you can think of where you've worked at and what type of work experience you have had, try to find a position in that field/industry, and use your law degree to your advantage. That's pretty much the usefulness of the book.

I bought this when I was smack in the middle of that hell-week that lasts three years known as law school. It seems like most law students become miserable and regret their decision to attend law school at some point in their law school career. During my low point, I bought this book, thinking it would have good suggestions for careers available to those with a JD that didn't want to actually practice law. I was wrong.

One of the main reasons I went to law school was because many top 100 ranking law schools advertised the versatility of a law degree. After three years of law school and two years of actual practice, however, it saddens me to say that, while there are plenty of lawyers who are successfully pursuing non-legal careers, they make up a miniscule portion of the hordes of JDs out there practicing law. While I thought this book would help and open my eyes to those non-lawyer career paths available for someone with a law degree, it didn't. This book offers tons of careers for people with a JD, but they all involve the actual practice of law. So while it does offer plenty of areas of law in which to practice, it does not offer "Non-legal Careers" as the title promises. Perhaps a change of title would be appropriate.

I could have written this book. There was only general information about alternative careers and no specific information at all. Totally useless.

This book is helpful as a career counselor but it is geared toward law students and not lawyers.

The book was very helpful and gave lots of
"buzz words" that can be used on a resume. It also gave great suggestions for alternate careers.