Ever heard of the famous phrase,’ You can do anything with a law degree”?
Law practitioners are known to be able to develop skills that can be applied to several jobs. With your law degree, you can be able to secure a job in many industries. Therefore, if you are looking to make extra money or are trying to venture into a new career path outside law offices (ways for lawyers to make extra money), then you are in luck because there are several opportunities available.
Moonlighting Jobs for Attorneys
Start a Business
A quick chat with any entrepreneur will make you aware of the fact that starting a business is not an easy task. However, if you are willing and ready to put in the work, you can be able to develop your amazing idea into a successful business.
As an attorney, chances are that you have in the course of your career had the opportunity to work with business people. This, therefore, makes you well equipped with the intellect and expertise that a business would demand from you.
With the skills acquired in your law profession, you can learn how to leverage them to the advantage of your business.
Public Relations Officer
The role of a Public Relations Officer differs from one organization to another. In some companies, the role of a PR officer is mainly to market and organization while in others, they are involved in representing the organization to the public. (How to make money as an attorney)
Whichever the case, the role can be summarized as using media to communicate, build and maintain a relationship with clients. This means that you need to be able to network with people as well as to conduct research and investigations. These are skills that you have probably acquired working as an attorney.
Freelance Attorney
Working from home as an attorney was unheard of in the past. These days, thanks to the internet, there are a bunch of online sites available for attorneys to work online. The advantage of working as a freelance attorney is that it offers great flexibility.
You are at liberty to choose the clients you want to work with, the type of projects you want to work on and some even allow you to set your rates. Freelancing offers you an easy transition if you are looking to venture into private practice in the future. (best practice area for solo lawyers)
Journalism
Journalism requires someone who is quite keen on interviewing people to understand their point of view to be able to tell compelling stories about them. This is not different from what you already do as an attorney for your clients therefore a job in journalism would be a perfect fit.
Also going hand in hand with journalism is writing which has been made an easy job opportunity thanks to social media platforms that are slowly becoming mainstream media. Anyone with a social media platform can create informative posts for their followers.
Therefore, as an attorney, you can work on having followers who relate with your area of interest and dedicate yourself to educating them through short online posts, blogs, podcasts or even video content.
Teaching
Do you have a passion for instilling knowledge to young, aspiring attorneys pursuing their law degree? If yes, then a job as a law teacher or tutor at your former campus or a local college is a good option.
There are several teaching and tutoring opportunities available. Some of them will however require you to have a Master’s degree or higher qualification to get started. Therefore, do your research and find out which options are suitable for your level of qualification.
Director of Ethics
Ethics regulation is an important aspect of any organization that has several employees.
As a director of ethics, your main role will be to oversee the enforcement of the code of ethics laid down for each member of the organization you are working for. Skills required for this job include analytical, interpersonal, leadership and integrity skills all of which are skills that an attorney has gathered in their line of work.
Real Estate Broker
All you need to start on this venture is a real estate agent license.
Seeing to it that the role of a broker is to negotiate with clients and see to it that they draft and analyze a lease contract, it makes an attorney, someone with a law background, the best fit for this job.
With great interpersonal and networking skills, and an attorney can be able to turn this into a highly profitable business venture.
Mediator
The purpose of meditation is to find a common ground between clients who are undergoing certain disputes. This is common in practices such as personal injury, divorce law and consumer law amongst many others.
Therefore, with your skills and expertise as an attorney, you are well suited to work as a mediator for clients.
Private Equity
This is a great option for a business-minded individual who enjoys working under pressure and in a highly competitive environment. Not only does this offer a great opportunity to tap into your skills and expertise as a legal practitioner but it is also a highly lucrative business opportunity.
This role majorly involves managing deals for private equity firms. Having experience in this line of work increases your chances of landing such a job. This is not necessary since different firms run their affairs differently hence you are likely to learn on the job.
Other possible moonlighting jobs for attorneys include;
- Human Resource and Recruitment
- Project Management
- Business Development Management
- Bail Bondsman
- Policy Analyst
In Conclusion
It sometimes gets to a point where you might need to venture into new career paths outside of legal offices. Knowing your options is a great way of weighing your options and helping you make informed choices. Your passion and skills should work as guiding factors to help you determine your passion. This will help you find a job that you enjoy doing.
The above are just but a few alternative ideas we have offered. There has got to be many more others you will come across when doing your research.
Moonlighting Jobs for Attorneys
- Start a Business
- Public Relations Officer
- Freelance Attorney
- Journalism
- Teaching
- Director of Ethics
- Real Estate Broker
- Mediator
- Private Equity
- Human Resource and Recruitment
- Project Management
- Business Development Management
- Bail Bondsman
- Policy Analyst
References
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/alternative-jobs-for-lawyers
https://www.beyondbillables.com/post/leaving-the-law-24-realistic-alternative-careers-for-lawyers