Stell: Create Your Own Satisfying Career Journey

“Choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” 

Some version of this quote has been attributed to such intellectual giants as Confucius and Mark Twain. The idea behind the words does not remove the toil of work, but having a positive emotional response to your work makes it feel more like a choice than a sentence.

How do you attain satisfaction in your career journey? Is satisfaction based on finding a dream job? Do dream jobs exist? Or does mindset and personality match allow for a positive emotional response that can be called passion?

Can questioning your path and your values and who you are make for a more enjoyable work experience?

Pivot

Wake County Bar Association member and Campbell Law School graduate, Alexandra Macey Davis, released a book in late 2023, Pivot: The Nontraditional J.D. Careers Handbook.

In her book, Alex describes the pivot she underwent in her career as she began to identify her personal strengths and interests, along with those she had honed in law school.

Alex says she loved studying the law, reading the law, discussing it with others, breaking down important issues, and doing research. Even though Alex no longer practices law, she feels her time spent in law school, studying for the Bar exam, and working in a civil litigation law firm were all important components of a career path that ultimately led her to a non-traditional law career.

As Alex says in her book, “Though our professions are not the core of our identity, our daily work truly does deeply affect every other aspect of our lives. Finding a work situation that does not send us into a constant fight-flight-freeze state is not evidence of the entitlement that millennials are so often castigated for: it is absolutely essential to ensuring that we’re positioned to grow in strength, character, and virtue, and to contribute meaningfully to society.”

Alex began her legal career as an associate in a civil litigation practice. Many people had offered the advice that if she enjoyed writing, she should explore litigation practice. When Alex joined her law firm, she liked the people, she enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of the work, but she often felt her work was misaligned with who she was. The antagonism of civil litigation combined with her desire to write and nurture a more creative existence led her to the exploration that resulted in multiple career stops, and ultimately writing a book that helps other lawyers figure out their own career journey. How did she get there?

The Journey

After two years as a litigation associate, Alex began to explore her options. She decided to take on a document review job that would pay the bills while allowing her to start a freelance writing business. Within eight months, Alex was making enough money through her business as a ghostwriter for law firms, to quit the document review job and focus full time on the writing business. This is the career stop where I met Alex, she joined the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) to connect with professionals who were doing creative work in law firms. 

As Alex developed relationships with other professionals in her industry niche, her business grew as did her confidence that her career journey was moving forward in a positive direction. Not only did Alex find freelance work with the LMA networking group, she also received advice and counsel, countless referrals, as well as new mentors and friends.

After five years running her own business, Alex’s next pivot led her to her current position as managing editor of an online public policy journal, while continuing to write articles and essays for various online and print publications. She also took the time to write her book as a way of providing guidance
and insight to others who wanted help navigating their career path.

Professional Excellence

Greensboro Bar Association member, Jennifer Mencarini, followed her own journey of discovery to career satisfaction. Jennifer’s time in law practice saw her litigating medical malpractice cases. During her 10+ years in practice, she was selected six times as a Rising Star in Super Lawyers. Yet, no matter how much success she had, her misery only grew. “I could never figure out why I was so good at being an attorney, but it was so bad for me.”

After years of trying to force herself to enjoy her career, Jennifer chose to pursue a master’s degree in human rights and social justice, a move that better aligned with her personal and professional interests. As part of her studies, she went on a civil rights pilgrimage and met a well-known activist in Selma, Alabama. Jennifer’s passion for DEI work was ignited and she felt called to learn more about patterns of injustice in her community.

Jennifer’s next stop was a job at Elon Law School that ultimately included serving as Director of Career Development and working with the law school’s DEI programming. Jennifer is currently serving as the Director of Diversity & Inclusion at Fox Rothschild, LLP, a position she was even more prepared for because of her time in academia.

Jennifer shares this advice, “Lawyers are always told to fake it till you make it, that you must portray that you know what you’re talking about, even if you don’t. But that’s a mistake. There is no shame in saying “I don’t know”. It’s worse to fake it because this is not authentic
or true.”

Jennifer’s path to professional excellence involved not only choosing a career path in law where she can excel, but he also found a way to pair this work with her personal passion for being a DEI change agent. Jennifer continues to hone the skills that lead to extreme career satisfaction such as managing new challenges, networking, relationship building, and developing creative solutions to problem solving.

My Career Satisfaction

My own career has meandered from law firms to a national recruiting firm to working with North Carolina’s largest malpractice insurance company, Lawyers Mutual. While I have loved all my career stops, work certainly has hard days. And there have been parts of my various jobs I loved less than others.

However, my career has brought me immense joy and satisfaction. From intellectually stimulating work, to building long lasting relationships, each stop along the way made me more well-rounded, less startled by change and better equipped to view “no” as “not yet”. 

Good luck as you continue to develop your own law life and enjoy each detour and destination along the way.

Camille Stell is the President of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services and the co-author of “RESPECT – An Insight to Attorney Compensation Plans” published in December 2022. Continue this conversation by contacting Camille at camille@lawyersmutualconsulting.com or 919.677.8900