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Yes, You Can Still Help People as a Non-Practicing Lawyer in a Law Firm

Many law firms hire non-practicing lawyers, placing them in managerial roles for various departments. Zinda Law Group, for example, knows that many law school students graduate with the intent of never practicing law. They may already have an established a career as a banker or engineering consultant and decided to seek further education to better their job performance.

Perhaps they entered law school with a strong sense of advocacy but with no interest in pleading clients’ cases in the court room. Maybe they even changed their mind halfway through law school as their interests evolved, and now they prefer a totally different career path that still involves the legal field. Alternatively, maybe someone who has been practicing law wants a change of pace. Whatever the reason, non-practicing lawyers are here and so are the jobs for which law firms want to hire them.

What Can Non-Practicing Lawyers Do in a Law Firm?

Non-practicing lawyers may be the best connectors between practicing lawyers and the other teams in the firm. They aid everyone in the firm by filling administrative, managerial roles in marketing, communications, electronic discovery…pretty much anywhere they can make the firm run more efficiently. They establish themselves as the heads of these teams or as crucial concentrators on litigation efforts. There are countless ways that firms can and do integrate non-practicing lawyers into their mission.

Why Hire a Lawyer Instead of a Non-Lawyer?

Non-practicing lawyers can give a firm the best of both worlds. They understand how to practice law, so they can relate to practicing attorneys and communicate with them on that level. But they can also focus on heading specific departments and accomplishing tasks within them. By translating legal language into something more palatable for non-lawyers, bridges are built to more swiftly get the work done.

Lawyers are, on the whole, detail-oriented and passionate people. It naturally follows that a law firm would want to fill certain non-litigating positions with fellow lawyers.

Mentorship is for All Lawyers

Practicing and non-practicing lawyers alike need mentors to thrive in their careers. While mentorship is important in every profession, the legal profession can especially benefit from good mentors. Whether the mentor takes a rite-of-passage approach or lends learn-from-my-mistakes leadership, their guidance can be instrumental to up-and-coming lawyers.

Every attorney has something to offer and something to learn. At the heart of mentorship is the ability to maintain relationships. Our relationships with coworkers and clients and even family members can benefit from the help of a good mentor.

Relationships with Coworkers

When you start any new job, it is helpful to fly for a while under the wing of someone who has been there, done that, and knows the lay of the land. They can let you know if one of your coworkers has a particular pet peeve (she hates when someone emails personality quizzes to the entire office) or if you might have a shared interest with another coworker (finally, someone else who also enjoys Nickelback). It also feels good to be that guide for someone else.

Relationships with Clients

Even if you’re not practicing law, there is a good chance you’ll communicate with clients in some capacity. As a trained advocate, you certainly care about their goals. If you’re new to the legal field, you’ll probably appreciate mentorship here as well. If you’ve been around, you can help someone new to the firm learn how to conduct both direct and indirect client interactions. (With indirect client interactions, think of marketing as an example.)

Work-Life Balance

Some firms like to emphasize the work portion of the work-life balance mantra; then there are firms like Zinda that recognize the importance of the life and balance portions. As a mentor, you can help someone who has not quite mastered the ability to work diligently while at work then compartmentalize work while at home. Conversely, maybe this is something you also need to work on, and you could use a mentor to remind you —and perhaps even show you how—it can be done.

Helping People: The Big Picture

As long as you are working at a firm, you know that you are helping people. Whether you communicate directly or indirectly with clients or are taking the burden off some of your coworkers, your effort helps propel the entire firm towards its goals. Those goals are of course to achieve the goals of clients.

You can play a crucial role in the maintenance of good ethics and the reputation of your workplace as a non-practicing lawyer. If you had not considered what a non-practicing job at a firm might look like, hopefully now you have a glimpse of the difference you could make at a law firm like ours.