All posts tagged: Alternative legal careers

Sela Cowger at the White House

Learning to be Bored: How Law School Prepared Me for an Unconventional Legal Career

I did not come to law school to become a litigator or to work in private practice. Rather, I wanted to learn the law so I could implement big, systemic policy changes. But focusing on the long-term made staying engaged with the “now” a challenge. By learning to focus on the smallest details, I began to change my frame of thinking and value the ways in which lawyers are taught to make thoughtful and deliberate choices.

Temple Law Library

My Path to Law Librarianship

My path to law librarianship was a circuitous one. I always loved reading, writing, and arguing about the law, so I was sure I would spend my legal career litigating cases for several decades. After three years as an associate in a large law firm, however, I was ready for a change. I took a position in a smaller, thirty-lawyer family law firm in order to have more client contact and more time in the courtroom. It was a decision that would change my life in ways I never expected. While at my second firm, I worked on a very contentious, high-asset divorce case. The case went to trial and resulted in a significant “permanent maintenance” (alimony) award for our client, which was affirmed on appeal. The permanent maintenance award stemmed from the fact that, decades earlier, our client left the workforce to raise the parties’ three children and manage their household, thus severely limiting her earning potential and employment opportunities. As part of his case, the opposing spouse argued that our client should return …