Matching your personality with your legal practice is essential to becoming successful and passionate about your work. When your personality and job position are incompatible, you are susceptible to fatigue and burnout because you aren’t passionate about your work. Conversely, when your personality meshes perfectly with your job position, passion and zeal can innovate and challenge you to achieve greater success and impact.
Prior to pursuing a legal career, I was an elementary school teacher teaching kindergarten, first, and second grades. My career choice fit my personality perfectly as an ambivert, someone who exhibits nearly equal qualities of an introvert and an extrovert. I shared my “bubbly” and extroverted personality when presenting lessons for the class and experienced quiet and reflective periods of introversion when planning lessons and analyzing student work. When I made the transition into the legal field, I worried that I would not find a career that fit my personality and education. I was afraid I wouldn’t find a position that allowed me to showcase both my extroverted and introverted qualities.
This fear grew when observing the types of legal opportunities my peers received throughout law school. Trial attorney positions seemed exclusive to extroverts, whereas research-heavy positions such as an appellate judge’s research assistant seemed exclusively tailored to introverts. I expressed interest in both types of positions as a law student, but I knew that my ambivert personality could not thrive without the equal opportunity to express both personality types.
However, as a working attorney, I now recognize that some positions seemingly exclusive for extroverts or exclusive for introverts often require expressing both personality types, like being an educator.
Several attorneys go through a revolving door of job positions before finding the right fit for their personality type. However, I am one of the lucky ones who found a career that matched their personality right out of law school. As a Title IX and Equal Employment Opportunity Investigator, my role requires a nearly equal amount of extroverted and introverted qualities to balance the many responsibilities of the job. However, regardless of job title, there are many ways to assess the duties of a position and determine whether it matches your personality.
An extrovert’s tendencies will likely thrive in roles that require client meetings, conducting interviews for investigations, teaching trainings, giving presentations, and arguing in the courtroom. These traditionally extroverted tasks allow for natural adaptability and empathy in any situation and for an attorney to feel more comfortable making difficult decisions and asking difficult questions in social settings. If you are an extrovert who thrives on social interactions, you should shy away from roles where most of your daily interactions are limited.
On the other hand, introverted tendencies may thrive in roles that focus on research, writing, planning, investigation, and discovery. These traditionally introverted tasks typically do not require socialization with many people for extended periods on a day-to-day basis. They require an attorney’s sharp skills for analysis and strategy. If you are an introvert, you should probably steer clear of roles where most of your day is filled with social interaction, leaving you no time to recharge.
Many job positions in the legal field require both extroverted and introverted tasks, allowing for the development of many of the qualities necessary to become a great attorney. For ambiverts like me, you can seek a role where the expression of equal amounts of extroverted and introverted tendencies are required on its face.
Finding a role that fits your personality helps alleviate burnout and allows you to say “yes” to other projects and volunteer opportunities outside of work. Everyone deserves to feel excited, confident, authentic, and able to push themselves to achieve a more successful impact. To achieve this goal, it is imperative to understand your personality and career goals to ensure they are compatible.
Take the time to reflect on your personality type and consider how your traits might fit with your career. Resources such as the American Bar Association’s career center and online personality assessments can be valuable tools in this process. The extra effort to match your personality and your career will have long-lasting effects that can bring joy to your work and prevent future career fatigue.
