Your career goals will change, and what you thought was important often becomes insignificant.
During law school, my wife and I kept a folder of every internship, clerkship, and baby-lawyer rejection letter we received. Allegedly, a local tavern would give students a free pint of beer for every rejection letter. I could have hosted an entire happy hour with our stack.
There was a firm or two I really coveted - one of which was a labor and employment firm. My undergraduate degree was in business, and I thought that would be an exciting fit. I remember going to a presentation by one of the firm's partners - sweating with legitimate fever from a cold/flu - just so I could shake his hand and introduce myself.
That firm sent me another rejection letter to add to the stack.
Today, I am grateful I didn't get any of those positions. The ones I wanted would have been a bad fit. Instead, I got a job I did not expect from a firm I didn't know about before the interview. The folks at that firm mentored me and made me into the lawyer I am today.
There's a lot to be said for the Yiddish expression “Der Mensch Tracht, Un Gott Lacht," which means "man plans and God laughs."
To the younger lawyers, don't get hung up on what could have been. Make the best of your blessings today, and the more fitting opportunities to advance will find you tomorrow.
#litigation #Louisiana #insurance
Partner and Co-Chair of the New York Real Estate Group at Allen Matkins
1moWe are looking forward to our first summer associate class in the New York office.