Boston Jobs for someone with a law degree?

Submitted by Barred4Life t3_yilgnh in boston

Hi everyone, I have a law degree but after working as a prosecutor for about a year, I'm a bit disillusioned. The constant grind was something I could never get used to, and no matter how much work you did, there was always more.

That said, I'm trying to find something else I can do. My wife just moved us up here because she began her medical residency at Boston Children's and I really don't want to let her down. She's so happy to be up here but I can tell she's stressed about me not working. Any suggestions would be amazing, because the 2-3 months of searching online haven't helped much at all.

Skill-wise, I'm young, have about a year and a half of legal experience, I've taught myself Japanese, and I'm pretty outgoing/personable. Not sure how many of those are skills, but whatever helps, and to be clear: I'm not trying to sell myself on here, just looking for suggestions from people who know better than I do. Thanks again for any suggestions!

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AnonAPros t1_iujbdrn wrote

You’ll likely get more useful advice on /r/Lawyers or Fishbowl.

I was a prosecutor for a bit; currently a litigator in big law. The grind will follow you to almost all lit jobs. Something in local government might suit you better if you don’t want the churn of a caseload.

You can search for legal jobs with the city here, and more broadly with other MA government agencies here.

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Barred4Life OP t1_iujfcoi wrote

Those two links for MA government agencies were really helpful. already sent out two applications through them. Not sure if anything will turn up, but I really appreciate you taking the time to provide them.

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crebscycle t1_iuj9okn wrote

What type of law would you want to practice? You could do patent law in one of the hundreds of biotechs around the Boston/Cambridge area.

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Barred4Life OP t1_iuj9w9b wrote

Appreciate the suggestion! I'm really into foreign policy and affairs, but there aren't many jobs that exist for that. Patent law doesn't sound terrible, but I've heard you have to pass a special patent law exam among other things to work in that field.

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crebscycle t1_iuja5ng wrote

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know. I just work with lawyers everyday on patents. I would still look into biotech. Most have a regulatory affairs division and many work with Japanese teams as they're a major world health authority. I would recommend looking into it more, maybe you can find a niche for yourself!

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Barred4Life OP t1_iujf8w0 wrote

Again, much appreciated! It's a new option and that's more than I had before. Really appreciate you taking the time to help.

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scrappychemist t1_iuk5atl wrote

This was going to be my rec. Lots of legal jobs in Biotech that are not just patient law.

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man2010 t1_iujjpf5 wrote

FYI, without a science background you won't be able to get into patent law. I'm not an attorney but I'm familiar with the field and you're right that there is a separate licensing exam through the USPTO, in addition to needing a science/engineering degree. There are other areas of IP law where you don't necessarily need that science/engineering background, but you might struggle to break into them in Boston. The common path for patent attorneys is science/engineering first, and then using that knowledge to practice law rather than the other way around. Trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and transactions would be your avenues into IP.

And if you have a bachelor's or higher in a science or engineering field then you can ignore this entire comment and look into patents

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Barred4Life OP t1_iujmz71 wrote

That sounds about right from what I've heard. I was a criminal justice/legal studies major, so I don't think that science backgrounds exists for me unless through osmosis I can grab it from my wife.

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man2010 t1_iujp1uj wrote

Unfortunately I don't think the USPTO accepts osmosis as the basis for a science background, but if your wife wants an equally grueling but higher paying job than a medical residency she could always look into it. Of course the pay tips back to favor doctors after residency, and she has probably spent close to a decade working towards just her residency, but I guess it's an option nonetheless

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angelmichelle13 t1_iujf2i8 wrote

Your law school career office can also help you out (I work at one).

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Barred4Life OP t1_iujfe32 wrote

Do you think my office will be able to help even though they're in florida?

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angelmichelle13 t1_iujfxnn wrote

Yes. At least they should. It’s the law school’s benefit that you’re happily employed. Be sure to ask about reciprocity with a Boston area law school, which can grant you access to local legal listings via a local law school’s job board: https://www.nalp.org/reciprocitypolicies.

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evilphish t1_iujhu23 wrote

I’m sure you already looked into this but is there Bar reciprocity for you to work in MA without taking the exam? I know Florida doesn’t have it for MA (or really anywhere, they are sticklers). Caveat is my knowledge is dated, as I took the MA bar before it moved to the UBE.

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Barred4Life OP t1_iujm2xl wrote

Typically you have to practice for at least 5 years to waive into the Bar in Boston, but I just took the exam and passed thankfully!

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tandemtuna t1_iuk0cgl wrote

You might look into things that are law-adjacent; I'm thinking particularly of "compliance" work. There's quite a lot of that in both universities (research) and finance and I know some non-practicing lawyers who are happy in the niche.

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dee_ta1 t1_iuk9l3u wrote

seconded, i have a JD and work in compliance (in the financial industry). it's not nearly as well paying as biglaw obviously but it's a solid and growing industry!

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ieleiat_hogwarts_edu t1_iuk96bm wrote

Was going to add this. A bonus of working in higher ed is there are often tuition benefits. If you end up wanting to do a complete career change, you can take advantage of free (or subsidized) classes.

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echocomplex t1_iujquic wrote

Probably not the most high paying option but I've seen former attorneys, mostly women who want to exit big law and have better work like balance, become sales/demonstration reps for attorney software like westlaw. In Massachusetts you can also obtain a real estate brokers license if you are licensed to practice law, that might be another avenue to explore.

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potus1001 t1_iujufjo wrote

I would look at being a City/Town Solicitor for a Municipality. Great work/life balance and pension.

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