LIFE’S LESSONS AT LAW SCHOOL
Many say their experience proved useful as they took non-traditional pathways, writes Julius Melnitzer.
With some 7,500 of Ontario’s licensed lawyers employed in other occupations, it’s fair to ask whether their investment in law school, articling and practising helped prepare them for their current careers.
Many of the 7,500 — who represent more than 17 per cent of the 43,500 lawyers employed in the province in 2016 — have enjoyed measurable success in a diverse range of industries. Many say what they learned in law school, or when articling or practising, proved very useful as they followed their non-traditional pathways.
Michael Rubinoff, the man behind the hit Broadway show Come From Away, is a highprofile example of a lawyer who has changed careers. The former real estate and entertainment lawyer, who is also now associate dean of Sheridan College’s Visual and Performing Arts programs in Oakville, caught the theatre bug as a youngster and ended up directing Blood Brothers while in law school at Western University.
He described his legal experience as “invaluable.”
“Law school taught you to think critically, to research and to problem solve, all at a very high level,” he said. “The way in which these skills were taught in law school makes them useful in whatever path you take.”
Articling and practising, Rubinoff said, were equally useful because they provided an education in learning how to convey an argument. “A lot of what we think about when we’re doing a deal in the entertainment business is how do you form the deal, rationalize it and use some diplomacy around it to achieve your objectives,” he said. “Law school and practising law served me very well in that way, and I don’t have a single regret about going that route first.”
Dealing with contracts, Rubinoff said, is a staple of his work in both arts and academia, and he said his legal background gives him a leg up in this arena.
“The first production agreement I ever saw was put in front of me and the expectation was that I would just sign it,” he said. “But I didn’t and instead I said, ‘Well, no, I’m a lawyer and I’m going to read it first.’”
Other notable lawyers in nontraditional pursuits include Rob MacIsaac, CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences Hospital and previously president of Mohawk College; Michael Medline, the former Canadian Tire CEO who is now CEO of Empire Co., which numbers Sobeys among its subsidiaries; and Ivan Schneeberg, co-president of Temple Street Productions, the creators of the hit TV series Orphan Black.
Those possessed of an entrepreneurial spirit have found law school, articling and practising useful in their new careers.
Martin Perelmuter, for example, is president and cofounder of Speakers’ Spotlight, an agency that represents more than 600 speakers including Justin Trudeau, Pamela Wallin and Adrienne Clarkson. Before that, Perelmuter articled with and worked at Goodmans LLP in Toronto for six months as a corporate commercial and securities lawyer.
Perelmuter and his wife started the speakers agency in 1995.
“Law school and working at Goodmans gave me a framework for solving problems and a context for looking at the world,” he said. “Whether it was contracts or constitutional or criminal or family law, they all gave me a sense of how things work.”
Legal experience also taught Perelmuter that dedication was the key to success. “I saw people at law school who were not only smarter than me, but incredibly dedicated and extremely hard workers, so I realized that I had to pick up my game,” he said. “Articling confirmed that I had to raise my level if I wanted to succeed at anything.”
Randi Bean, a non-practising lawyer who is president of LifeAfterLaw.com, a Torontobased recruitment firm that places lawyers in non-traditional careers, believes that law schools are increasingly opening students’ eyes to the potential of non-traditional careers. “Today’s law school courses don’t have any more focus on non-traditional careers than they ever did,” she said. “But the schools do spend quite a bit more time and resources on educating students early on about the non-traditional options available to them.”
If their websites are any indication, Canada’s law schools seem quite prepared to take some of the credit for the success of their graduates in other fields. The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, for example, soothes potential candidates who are not sure they want to practice law with the message: “Fear not. The options are limitless.”
For its part, McGill University has a non-exhaustive list of 15 non-traditional jobs for law graduates, among them commercial loan administrators to legal technology consultants to ethics officers.
Janet Mucalov, a Vancouverbased non-practising lawyer who has become a legal and travel writer, has a list of nontraditional careers that includes education and academic administration, banking and finance, and human resources. In an article written for the Canadian Bar Association, she enumerates no less than 45 transferable legal skills, including brainstorming, counselling, discipline, multitasking, persuasion, presentation, sales, teamwork and troubleshooting.
Of course, not all skills learned in the study or practice of law are transferable. Mucalov cites the case of a young vegan chef from Montreal who had earlier practised law for five years.
“I doubt that her legal training has really helped her cooking career,” Mucalov said. “If you’re not sure you want to work in a legal-related field, I don’t think I’d recommend going to law school hoping the skills learned would be useful for getting some other job.”
Still, Mucalov said that articling or even better, practising for some time, enhances opportunities for success in nontraditional fields. “Practising law is quite different from the study of law,” she said. “I don’t think practising is essential for nonlegal careers, but by doing it you will learn that the law is just one element of working in the real world, along with other things like managing work-life balance, dealing with clients and figuring out office politics.”
Bean is of similar mind. “It’s true that a law school curriculum teaches you how to think like a lawyer, but the practical experiences like summering and articling teach you a whole bunch of other skills,” she said. “All these skills, wherever learned, are real and they are very different from the types of skills learned in other fields, like music or medicine.”
According to Bean, skill sets are even trumping direct experience when employers assess potential candidates. “For example, the ability to get the job done and to learn new things are definitely skills you can get from practising law,” she said. “The key is to identify what the applicable skills are and how to transfer them to your intended career.”
The way in which these skills were taught in law school makes them useful in whatever path you take.