How to Determine if Leaving the Law is Right for You and What Best Next Steps You Can Take to Land Your Dream Career Out of the Law

We have dedicated ourselves to helping you leave the law. This page full of coaching and information is designed to inspire you, help you overcome your doubts and begin mapping your next steps out of the law.

As an unhappy attorney, miserable in your job, and feeling like you've lost all hope, it can seem like you've missed the boat on making a career switch to your dream job.

Can I really be happy in a career out of the law, or is that a pipe dream? All I feel I can do is be an lawyer - who would ever hire me? How can I make money if I'm not an attorney? How will I ever find where to start?

These are common worries. 

But let me tell you: you didn't miss the boat. Your skills and strengths are transferrable to a new, non-law job. There is a dream alternative career out there with your name on it. And it need not take that long to get there. We've helped attorneys land new jobs within 6 months.

My name is Casey Berman, and with my business partner (and fellow former attorney) Adam Ouellette, we've created Leave Law Behind, the leading career coaching community helping attorneys to leave the law. We've helped over 100 attorneys to find their dream non-law career and our advice and guidance has been featured in numerous publications, including: 

But it wasn't always like this. We both used to be attorneys just like you who hated our lawyer jobs. We felt miserable during our work day. We dreaded Mondays. Our health suffered.

Working as a lawyer felt like being locked in a prison cell with no key. We both felt that all hope was lost. We both felt that we would be relegated to doing this miserable work for another 20 or 30 years. 

I'm sure you have felt this way before. It's a horrible feeling. Just horrible. 

But you don't need to keep feeling that way. We didn't want to either. So we each spent over seven years figuring out how to leave the legal industry and create a new career that we are good at, that our skills fit with and that provides each of us with a good living, happiness and career satisfaction. We want the same for you and have taken all we have learned and packaged it for you in this Resource Library. 

I want you to know that all is not lost. Actually, your best years are ahead of you. Think of it as your Career v2.0! We are here to help you figure out how you can find your non law dream career. We are going to give you the key to unlock your prison cell. Then we’re going to hand you your very own GPS to find your dream non-law career.

What would it feel like to give notice to your law firm and have a new non-law, dream career lined up? Imagine that for a moment. Feels great, doesn't it?! This can be a reality for you. It really can. I know you may think leaving the law is possible for everyone else but you. That isn't true. Find your dream career is possible for you. It truly is. 


Once you leave the law, you'll say to yourself “I can’t believe I waited so long and dealt for so many years with a profession that just made me miserable.”

I know you’re afraid of change, and may think that change is bad. But at Leave Law Behind, change is good – it’s like losing weight or giving up smoking. You can change your life right now and have happiness. You’ve been unhappy for way too long. In fact, you deserve happiness. We will help you conquer your fears in making this change. We will get you started on your path out of the law. We will help you figure out what you want to do in your life. It’s time to put your professional talents and skills and strengths to good use. We want you to be appreciated and taken care of. You’ve suffered long enough.
 

We know you're a busy lawyer. You don't have that much free time - you're working 50 to 60 hours a week. That's why we put all of these leave the law resources in one place in this library to help you. We take you through the exact steps to leave in the above coaching video, or feel free to scroll down further below for coaching videos, articles, case studies and our course to help you leave the law. Let's get you started!

Click the below button to apply and see if you're a fit for our exclusive coaching program.

It turns out, most unhappy lawyers are looking at their situation all wrong. 

The only thing standing between you and your dream job out of the law is this set of myths, doubts, worries, and fears that are normal ... but crippling. And the good news is, totally avoidable.

Now, yes, for many people, switching jobs is tough, if not impossible if you do not have someone to guide you through the process.

While many professionals, and especially attorneys like you, may feel bored or frustrated or anxious with their current job, research shows they don't even know where to begin to find a career they love.

They may feel that their skills and strengths, what they know to do, won't be needed in their new job. In the seminal Harris Poll on career change, 40% of aspiring career shifters hesitated to make a change because they felt they did not know what career they would want to change to.

Or you may feel you'll have to start from scratch and take a pay cut in an entry level position. Or have to go back to school to get a new degree or certification. In that same Harris poll, 37% of aspiring career shifters hesitated to make a change due to perceived insufficient qualifications to change.

And you may struggle with the guilt that the work you've poured into your law degree and attorney career has all been for naught. Although the majority of workers polled by Harris said they had career plans when they were younger, 73% felt that they had not landed in the job they had expected.

For many people switching careers, this can be very, very hard.

But as an attorney looking to leave the law, this doesn't need to be difficult for you.

As a lawyer looking to leave the law, you're actually primed to move beyond these myths and worries and make an upwards move into other fields.

Let me tell you the three reasons why:

Reason #1: Your Skills Are In Demand Right Now

… among many other things. 

All of this is needed in the universe of "non-law" jobs. 

Jobs like Chief Operating Officer, and Account Manager, and Chief of Staff and Business Development, and Marketing and Sales Optimization, and Organizational Effectiveness and Chief Culture Officer are all roles that your skills can be a fit with.

Of course there may be more requirements, and they can vary from job to job … but when you match your skill set to this role, as an example, one message becomes resoundingly clear:

You can do this job! Your skills match this job.

Reason #2: What You Don't Know ... You Can Learn Very Quickly

Now, let's be real. If you were to leave your law practice for a new "non-law" job, you would not know everything for that job from Day 1. 

And that's fine, because as a lawyer, you can learn things very quickly.

This reminds me of a story of one of our grads who used Leave Law Behind to find his dream job, Gabe Rothman.

Gabe was in construction litigation in San Francisco and was not enjoying being a lawyer (read: he hated it!)

Through the Leave Law Behind course, he began to understand what he was really good at (what we call your "Unique Genius"): Gabe loved processes.

He loved sketching out the steps to achieve a result, mapping out all of the contingencies, getting clear on all of the "if X, then Y" steps.

With this in mind, he began to apply to software consulting roles, where this skill could be put to use. He interviewed with a company called BlueWolf that helped other organizations to launch their Salesforce.com implementation.

The BlueWolf hiring manager loved Gabe's personality, and really saw that his "lawyer" skills, as we discussed above, were transferable to this new consulting role. 

But his one objection was that Gabe knew nearly nothing about software, and in particular Salesforce.com technology.

Gabe responded that this was true (he did not have any recent Salesforce.com integration experience), but that he passed the California state bar exam with only two months of preparation, the most difficult bar exam in the country with a fail rate of over 60%. "I can learn Salesforce.com within 30 days, and be close to an expert in it in 3 months," he assured them.

Gabe was hired.

As a lawyer, you are constantly ramping up and becoming an expert on a new case or deal or transaction. You can learn any new industry and subject matter quickly.

Reason #3: Leaving the Law Has Been Done Before ... And We Have the Roadmap For You to Follow

There are many famous people who have left the law for successful "alternative" careers:

At Leave Law Behind, we've helped hundreds of attorneys just like you to leave the law behind for alternative careers they are good at and enjoy. Check out the roles and new careers many of them took on:

A 44-year-old mother of two left the federal prosecutor's office to become the Director of Operations and Vendor Management at a San Francisco public eCommerce technology company.

A BigLaw attorney left his litigation job after 12 years to become the editor and team leader of a leading intellectual property magazine in New York City.

A Boston-based Big Law litigator moved into a vice president of operations role for a Legal Tech startup.

A solo attorney left the law to become an executive recruiter in Los Angeles.

A business attorney moved into a project manager role at a San Francisco SaaS marketing start-up.

A mid-sized firm litigator moved into her dream career in library science.

A 55-year-old former family law attorney moved to Seattle from New York for a MarTech strategy and account manager role.

A criminal defense attorney became the editor of a major online publication based in Berkeley, California at 40 years old.

An Indiana-based criminal and family law attorney in Indiana left his practice of 30 years and became the head of operations and project manager at a medical services company at 57 years of age.

A BigLaw attorney left the firm grind behind to found his own cultural, legal and data-driven creative strategy practice for Hi-Tech companies.

A Philadelphia criminal defense attorney transitioned into a customer success career.

A 40-year-old trial attorney left the law to become a strategy consultant with a major professional services firm.

A death penalty appellate attorney of over 30 years left her practice to lead a governor-appointed commission to repair Idaho's social services infrastructure.

A data privacy attorney left to become an associate consultant for a major advisory firm specializing in pharma and biotech. 

A 42-year-old North Carolina attorney left corporate law and moved into asset management for a major US bank.

A Big Law corporate transactional attorney left the firm to follow his passion as an executive director of a Washington DC non-profit.

A Maryland city attorney became an investigator for the federal government.

A cyber-security lawyer left her job to start her own data privacy consulting business. 

A Utah-based natural resource attorney left his comprehensive acquisition, drilling, and division order title opinion practice to leverage his property title background and become the title and escrow manager of a tech-enabled title agency and closing firm.

A successful Los Angeles-based litigation attorney, first as a partner at a large national firm, then as senior counsel at one of California's preeminent healthcare finance litigation firms, left the law to found his own copywriting and content marketing agency serving B2B tech and SaaS clients in the fintech, healthtech and legal tech industries.

A BigLaw Antitrust & Competition litigator left his American Lawyer ​Top 15 firm to become the Compliance Senior Officer, Anticompetitive Behavior at a major global bank.

A Philadelphia-based zoning and land use attorney left the law to become a trust officer at a rising financial services firm.

A BigLaw attorney left his 30-year corporate practice to found his own business consulting firm that includes virtual GC opportunities with promising startups and matchmaking for M&A and financial transactions.

A Washington DC transactional attorney became the Senior Manager of Program Development for a highly respected, nationwide professional association, where he is responsible for developing world-class substantive in-person and online programming to educate, develop and connect their members at the various stages of their career cycle. 

A ten-year San Diego-based non-profit attorney who provides legal services for seniors moved from her frontline attorney role to become the organization's Director of Fund and Program Development. "I absolutely love my new position and look forward to work each day."

A Miami-based family law attorney left her practice to become an Account Manager for a rising LegalTech company.

A San Francisco-based, 6-year employment law attorney left her firm to become Head of People Operations for a very well funded climate tech startup.

A Utah based in-house counsel for an automotive retail software company who was the primary negotiator on complex enterprise, customer, and vendor contracts, as well as integration agreements with other software vendors, left his lawyer role to become Chief of Staff for a global real estate group, which also included overseeing the legal, insurance, financing, compliance, and risk management teams.

A Denver-based insurance defense and probate trial attorney left his practice to become an author, commentator and founder of an American policy & history blog and YouTube channel.

... and many more. And be sure to scroll down a bit more - three Leave Law Behind course graduates who left the law shot short videos below telling you more about their experience.

You have the skills, the intelligence and the precedent to leave the law for a "non-law" career. All you need is some guidance and the steps to take to get there. That's where Leave Law Behind comes in.