Career Change

I have major personal news: March 18 was my last day of practicing law! As of yesterday, I am now a Legal Engineer at Ironclad, the leading digital contracting and contract lifecycle management platform. I’m really excited about the platform, the people, the culture, and the wonderful opportunity to fully utilize my backgrounds in software development and in law!

I’ve been an attorney since 2008, and I first started thinking about law school in early 2004, so a huge percentage of my adult life has centered on the law. I’ve had a lot of great experiences studying law, becoming an attorney, and being an attorney. Many of the cases I’ve worked on have been extremely important and deeply satisfying. Many of the people I’ve worked with are warm, kind, brilliant, and incredibly talented people whom I call mentors and friends to this day. And being an attorney has profoundly shaped how I think and live in the world; many of those changes are good.

Unfortunately, I also found the practice of law very draining. Many cases are not ultimately terribly satisfying, and much of the work is not fulfilling. The always-on nature of firm practice, the fact that the standard for literally everything that goes “out the door” is perfection, and the realities of how the profession operates have been mentally and emotionally exhausting. For all the good experiences I had in my thirteen-year-plus legal career, I also had many negative experiences with frankly toxic personalities and environments. It was not healthy for me physically or mentally, and it was time for a change.

I’m very excited about this next step in my career.