What Can You Do With a Law Degree?: A Lawyers' Guide to Career Alternatives Inside, Outside & Around the Law (Paperback)

~ Deborah Arron (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Take it from someone who has been there - Arron knows her stuff." -- Women's Bar Association of DC Newsletter

"Well-written, well-organized, optimistic and completely updated. An easy-to-follow travel guide for any attorney questioning career choices." -- Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

"When those dark nights of the soul arise, this book is the beginning of the solution. Every lawyer, law student or aspiring law student will find this book useful." -- ABA's Law Practice Management Magazine

Product Description

Do you know: how to tell if you're better suited to the law or to some other field? how to determine when to make the big break? how to analyze and overcome your barriers to change? how to transfer your legal skills to other professions? how to implement an effective job-finding campaign? You must be able to answer these five questions if you want to develop a satisfying, long-lasting career, in or beyond the law. Here's the best resource to help you. Whether you're a veteran practitioner or a new law grad, this expanded 4th edition of Deborah Arron's career guide for lawyers will challenge and provoke you, while preparing you to move into any of the following fields: ADR, Arts & Entertainment, Bar Association Management, Business, Communications, Consulting, Counseling, Education, Entrepreneurial Ventures, Environmental, Ethics, Foundations & Nonprofits, Government, Healthcare, Information Science, International, Labor Unions, Law Enforcement, Lobbying & Public Affairs, Private Law Practice, Real Estate, Sports, Technology and the Judiciary. The 4th edition includes more than 700 job and career suggestions, web addresses for over 1,000 resources, extensive self-assessment exercises, profiles of law school graduates who moved into popular fields and a new test to determine the right fit for you within the practice of law. With more than 50,000 copies of Arron's law career classic in print, you'll understand why the book has received rave views from critics, career counselors, lawyers and law students alike.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 373 pages
• Publisher: Niche Press (WA); 4th edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940675463
• ISBN-13: 978-0940675469
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #370,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars You can be a (fill in blank), BUT WITH A LAW DEGREE, April 17, 2002

By A Customer

This book was almost completely worthless.
Basically, the author's suggestions are along the lines of "With a law degree, you can be a doctor!!! Of course, you will have to go to med school first..."; "with a law degree, you can be a chemist!!! But you may have to go back to school and pick up some of those science and math courses you skipped in undergrad because you knew you were going to law school..."
I mean, yes, I already KNEW I could go and be WHATEVER, given the proper additional training and/or sufficiently low expectations ("a drug dealer...WITH A LAW DEGREE!!!"). What this book's title suggests is an anlysis of alternative career paths utilizing a law degree, and what it delivers is a worthless list of random jobs that you are at least not banned from by virtue of having a law degree. I admire the author for tapping into what is an almost genetic yearning in the legal profession to GET OUT (and thereby getting out herself), but as a useful tool, the book fails miserably.

49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book of its kind out there, February 10, 2000

By A Customer

I have looked through practically every book on career change/transition for lawyers, and generally found them totally lacking in concrete advice as to lawyer-specific issues, self-assessment and options. This book not only hits the nail on the head as to reasons for dissatisfaction with the law, but offers sound ways to evaluate possibilities for change, both inside and outside the law, in terms of one's personal interests. And the examples of people who did make changes are very inspirational. The resources offered are the most comprehensive I've seen. Very valuable. If, as a lawyer, you question the path you are pursuing, this book will make you feel less alone in the process.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An information-packed tome written for only for lawyers., July 5, 1999

By A Customer

Deborah Arron covers career assessement, career change, issues and concerns unique to lawyers. I read her book and didn't feel so alone when I finally admitted to myself I didn't want to practice law after three years of law school and $X in student loans. After thoroughly covering psychological issues specific to attorneys considering transitions to non-traditional careers, Arron provides effective assessments to determine a new direction. The final chapters teach exactly how to obtain that new career, including cover letter and resume tips. Arron's book also helps attorneys who want to continue to practice law, but in a different way. Buying "What Can You Do With A Law Degree" is among the best investments I've made.