Lawyers: Do you have a 10 year career plan?

[Anonymous]

I have been a lawyer for about 10 years. I didn't have a plan when I left law school, and I have been lucky enough to have a few different kinds of positions (BigLaw associate, adjunct professor, agency lawyer, AUSA) that I have enjoyed and found interesting over my career. The problem is that I still don't really know what I want to be when I grow up. In ten years, when my kids are teenagers, where do I want to be? In house, a law firm partner, something else? I just don't know. What should I be doing now to position myself for where I ultimately hope to be?

Is this something that a career counselor could be useful for? Are there career counselors just for lawyers? Do you have a ten year plan or do you think it's better to just take career changes as they come?

[Anonymous]

I wish I did a 10-year plan my 1st year of law school. Then I would have quit.

[Anonymous]

My ten year career plan began four years ago when I decided to have a job instead of a career and work to live instead of living to work.

[Anonymous]

My 10 yr plan in law school would have been to become an AUSA and eventually a judge. Now, 7 years into a federal career, I have been an agency lawyer, federal clerk, and now doing administrative appeals, I just want to be home at 4 to get my kids from school and dont care if I ever advance.

[Anonymous]

OP, I can't tell where you are now and you say you don't know where you want to be in 10 years. I don't see how you can make a plan to get there if you don't know where you want to be (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I think one the best things about being a lawyer (at least where I work in the govt) is you can have interesting work without having to supervise anybody, so my 10 year career "plan" is to try to keep having interesting work, and if I still get antsy, then maybe I'll look for a manager job.

[Anonymous]

I've been practicing 22 years, so my 15 year plan is to retire Started in Big Law, went in house, never looked back. Hopefully I'll be promoted one more time, but I plan to stay in house for the rest of my career. Good luck deciding what suits you best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I can't tell where you are now and you say you don't know where you want to be in 10 years. I don't see how you can make a plan to get there if you don't know where you want to be (not that there's anything wrong with that).

OP here. This is absolutely true. I guess I wonder if it would be smart to do more now to try to figure out where I might want to be, understanding that it's subject to change, so I could work toward it. I don't want to say where I am currently, but I think it's unlikely it's where I want to be for the rest of my career, even though I'm enjoying it now. Has anybody ever used a career counselor for long-term goal setting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I did a 10-year plan my 1st year of law school. Then I would have quit.

+1!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ten year career plan began four years ago when I decided to have a job instead of a career and work to live instead of living to work.

That's about where I am now. My quality of life at home is more important. I work hard and am good at my job (federal agency) but I work reasonable hours and I'd like to keep it that way.

[Anonymous]

I have no plan.

[Anonymous]

I have a five year plan. I made partner last year at a mid-size firm (around 150 attys). In the next five years I want to have another kid, continue to work hard, implement a business development plan, pay off debt, and save money. In five years I will reassess and, if i am unhappy or my kids are not doing well, consider leaving the firm.

Personally, I think it is better to have a plan than not to, but as you can tell from what I wrote above, I like planning. I find a sense of comfort in it. The key is to make a plan that builds in some flexibility, or a "tentative plan". Not for everyone, but it works for me.

Yes, there are career counselors and life coaches for lawyers. A good mentor might be better.

[Anonymous]

The greatest 10 year plan ever by a lawyer is David Lat's.

YLS->WLRK -> USAO(NJ) -> full time blogger -> Editor for a family of blogs.

Winner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I did a 10-year plan my 1st year of law school. Then I would have quit.

+1!

+2. Le sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I did a 10-year plan my 1st year of law school. Then I would have quit.

+1!

+2. Le sigh.

I don't mean to hijack, but I don't understand the number of lawyers who are unhappy, but act as if they can do nothing about it. I have a friend who hates being a lawyer, but claims she can't quit and do something else because of loans. But then she lives in a big house in Bethesda, drives a fancy car, goes on expensive vacations, and has a nanny for her daughter, even though her husband works from home and they could easily use much less expensive daycare instead. Stop bitching and make a plan, people. This is your life. If you're miserable, do something about it.

[Anonymous]

I don't mean to hijack, but I don't understand the number of lawyers who are unhappy, but act as if they can do nothing about it. I have a friend who hates being a lawyer, but claims she can't quit and do something else because of loans. But then she lives in a big house in Bethesda, drives a fancy car, goes on expensive vacations, and has a nanny for her daughter, even though her husband works from home and they could easily use much less expensive daycare instead. Stop bitching and make a plan, people. This is your life. If you're miserable, do something about it.

I'm not unhappy all of the time, just about 50 percent of it, so perhaps I am not your target. I do think about wanting to do something else, or being better suited to something else. I don't have a big expensive house, I don't have a lot of loans. I just have no idea what else I want to do, and many lawyers don't really have skills that would be easily trasferrable to another field. I can absolutely earn less money, but I cannot earn no money, and I can't invest in additoinal education at this point. But again, I am not miserable and like what I do some of the time.