13 Jul
Leaving Law Without A Dream Job with Lauren Bernadett [TFLP 048]
Leaving law without a dream job can be scary. So many lawyers reach out to me wanting to leave law, but not knowing what to do next.
(Worried that you’ll regret leaving the law? I talk all about that right here.)
“I just don’t have that one thing I’ve always wanted to do,” they tell me. “I don’t have a dream job.”
That’s why I’m so excited for you to hear the second half of my conversation with Lauren Bernadett in this podcast episode. (The first half of our conversation is right here!)
Lauren has been through the experience of leaving law without a dream job, and she’s sharing her experience with us.
Lauren’s approach to leaving law without a dream job
Lauren shares so many important lessons that she learned in making her own decision to leave her law firm, and how she overcame a bunch of the mindset issues that plague lawyers considering leaving.
Even after she made the decision to leave her job in private practice and take a non-lawyer job at a conservation non-profit, she couldn’t completely shake the fear that she could be making a mistake.
Part of this was due to the fact that there’s a persistent myth that you have to find your “dream job” in order to be making a career change—especially if you’re leaving legal practice.
As many other guests on the podcast have shared, she was putting a ton of pressure on herself to have picked the “perfect” next job that would be a guaranteed good fit. The “dream job” that would never let her down.
It was around the time that she gave notice that Lauren found and started listening to this podcast!
Why leaving law without a dream job isn’t wrong
Lauren shared that listening to the podcast made her realize that she didn’t have to have a dream job, and her next job didn’t have to be perfect.
Instead, she could trust that “the road keeps going.” Her confidence in her decision increased, and her experience since then has proved her right.
Since our conversation, she made the jump to another non-profit that specializes in water, her particular area of interest. Making her first move opened the door for her next move.
The truth is, more people than not who leave end up leaving law without a “dream job”. They don’t need a “dream job”. They just need the next right step for them.
Lauren has no regrets
Lauren shares that, while she gave up a higher salary for a lower one in order to move into the non-profit world, her life has changed for the better.
She has more time for the people and things that she loves, and she also doesn’t spend as much money as she did previously when her life was wrapped up in her work. (She calls this “apology spending”!)
As Lauren shares, what she has gained completely overshadows what she gave up when she left legal practice.
In this episode, Lauren shares about:
- Getting hassled about not making her hours, even though she was the second most productive associate at the firm in revenue collected;
- Realizing that she had a fundamental issue with the way law firms were structured;
- The importance of knowing your numbers when you want to leave your law firm job, especially as a single person without the safety net of a partner;
- Why lawyers who said, “Nothing will challenge you like private practice,” were wrong;
- How the amount of joy she’s experienced after leaving the law was has been even more than she expected;
- Why she laughs now at how hesitant she was to leave;
- Getting to spend quality time with her friends, and not just “leftover time;”
- Why she has no regrets about leaving the law; and
- much more!
Connect with Lauren:
- On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenbernadett/
- On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motherofcattledogs/
- By email: click here to email Lauren
