Choosing between legal careers as a young graduate!
I can’t forget my frustrating days at the age of 23 as a new graduate from a top-rank university in my country. I wasn’t sure about my future career path in law, nor was I sure about my intention to continue working in this field. I didn’t know about various legal careers, which is why I felt so disappointed (At that age, I hadn’t heard about career mentorship).
What did I do? After being advised by my professors and seniors in law school, I began with a very traditional path. Studying hard for a year to get my bar license, working two years as a legal trainee in a reputable law firm, and being offered many legal jobs in different companies are the memories of those days. Good ones? I am still not sure.
I have always been interested in technology and innovation, so I chose intellectual property laws for my first and second L.L.Ms. But after graduation, I could not find a job fitting my interests.
I was so lucky to be offered a job as a part-time legal advisor in an incubation center at a university—such an eye-opening experience. I found myself among young students passionate about starting a new business based on tech. They were facing many legal challenges, including but not limited to drafting contracts, getting permission to produce their innovative product, and protecting their innovation while sharing it with their investors. They made me expand my knowledge about startup legal issues, a new world I had rarely heard about it before. Day by day, I worked so hard to know this new world and become a professional legal advisor in this field.
But those wonderful and challenging days were just a beginning, not an easy and happy ending ones! I didn’t know that I would change my legal career and start a new job position in another field of law after two years.
Let’s continue this story in the next post.
