Jonathan Laubinger has no regrets about leaving practice before he even started for a career as an actuary

Jonathan Laubinger is an actuary at Argonaut Insurance Company. Jon earned his JD/MBA thinking he’d go into politics or antitrust law. But before he ever even practiced law, his path took a turn towards insurance and the actuarial field. I think Jon has a really interesting perspective. For him, leaving the practice of law wasn’t wasting all the effort he put into earning his degree. It was just part of an ongoing learning journey. Mindset and perspective matter so much in how we experience our situation.

We discussed:

• Why going straight to law school after undergrad is a bad idea
• The difficulty of navigating a career so young, with so much debt
• An initial interest in politics was derailed by the need to get a higher paying job
• Coming out of JD/MBA program meaning to practice law, but never actually doing so
• Being open to learning new things and following your interests
• How there is time to pursue even a credential-intensive career after law school
• Sometimes a fulfilling career path is found in unexpected places 
• Leaving practice isn’t failing; it’s just moving on to learn something new
• It isn’t self-indulgent to keep reaching for something that brings you fulfillment 
• Take a sabbatical; write a screenplay 
• Embrace your creativity 
• Remember how lucky we are to have choices; you do have freedom

Website: www.thelawyersescapepod.com 

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