Article July 23, 2012 ISSUE

Planted in a new path

Dorothy H. Thomson

After 29 rewarding years of working for the same legal firm, in the spring of 2008 it became clear to me that I needed to “repot”—expand my opportunities in a new position. While I was deeply grateful for the professional growth I had gained over many years in a warm, family-like atmosphere, the business I was working at had been downsizing, and when the economic recession of 2008–2009 hit, the existing legal staff could no longer be fully supported.

It was daunting to think of restarting my career, since I saw myself as an already mature attorney with expertise in only one legal area. I knew that the kind of work I did, and that I genuinely enjoyed doing, was research and writing—not the general practice of law or legal work in a particular subject, such as personal injury, business, or insurance. It seemed unlikely that I could find a suitable position with a salary close to what I was making. And as I undertook the process of preparing a résumé and searching the Web for possible positions in my area, I knew that the other attorneys on the staff were doing the same thing.