11/29/22

I think if I told my past self what job I have now, my past self probably wouldn’t believe me. I have known I wanted to go to law school since probably high school. my mom is a career-prosecutor, so I think I naturally just gravitated to criminal law. I interned at two different district attorney’s offices, worked in the juvenile court for a summer, spent a semester working at my school’s criminal justice clinic, took classes like “prosecution law and ethics” and “trial advocacy,” and spent two years working at a criminal defense firm. all for me to end up doing contract law and civil work.

a few weeks after the bar exam I was sitting at my desk at the criminal defense firm when I had an identity crisis. well, I say identity crisis, but my boss at the time said it was just me growing up. all I’d done was criminal law, and a part of me was worried that I was going to wake up twenty years down the road having never tried anything else. I figured that with all my various criminal law experiences on my resume, if I was going to love it, I would have loved it already. that, and irate defendants calling the firm telling me to “slit my throat and die” just was not the vibe I was going for (disclaimer: not all our clients were like that, and my old defense firm holds such an important spot in my heart and my law school career).

that being said, I did not know what I wanted to do. I had never really even considered doing anything besides being a prosecutor or a defense attorney, and now I didn’t want to do either. somewhere in that confusing time I thought that maybe I wanted to work in academia, so I crossed my fingers, sent off my applications, and hoped for the best. I’m really proud of myself for getting the job I have now – no connections, no real background experience in the particular field, just a lot of heart and a desire to learn got me in the door.

now I spend my days negotiating contracts for the university. essentially, anytime a professor wants to engage in some type of research project with another entity – whether that be another university, a business or industry, a foundation, or a governmental organization – they have to have a contract negotiated ensuring that whatever they are doing complies with university standards. I’m part of a team that prepares these contracts, redlines contracts we receive from other parties, and negotiates terms until we reach a favorable conclusion. I honestly really enjoy it. there’s always something new to work on or research, the professors are nice, I like the university I’m working for, and so far no one has told me to “slit my throat and die,” which is a win in my book. I have my first performance review coming up, so hopefully that goes well.

I could have very easily stayed in a field of law that I was comfortable in. and that’s not to say that I might not return to criminal law one day down the road. but in the meantime, I’m proud of myself for having the guts to try something entirely out of my wheelhouse, the guts to bet on myself.

things I am grateful for: the opportunity to learn; cauliflower pizza; and front row parking at work.