INFJs as Lawyers

[Introvert]

Hi everybody, I am new here....after finding out I was an INFJ I lurked these forums a few times and today I finally decided to make an account.

I am studying for a law degree and my default plan is to become a lawyer... maybe family/immigration/personal injury, definitely not corporate law.

I am a very laid-back, introverted, creative type of person. I don't think there are many introverts or INFJ types in the legal profession... even in fields of law like personal injury that are not as cut-throat as corporate. I do find law very interesting though... not as much as English literature... but it is ok. I am doing pretty well on my course so far. However, I am worried that my personality type is not compatible with the career I have chosen for myself.

So my question is....are there any INFJs here who used to work, currently work in or plan to work in the legal profession as lawyers, paralegals etc?

Do you find that there is a conflict between being a lawyer and your personality?
How do you deal with it?

Just looking for some career advice I guess... lol... thank you

 

[wonkavision]

My mom is an INFJ and a lawyer.

She found law school to be pretty difficult, I think. Also failed the bar exam about 5 or 6 times before finally passing.

But she loves her job. Has her own practice.

She does child custody/welfare/advocacy. Some pro bono, some sliding scale, but still makes a ton of money.

It's heartbreaking for her at times, but I don't think there's anything she'd rather be doing.

Not sure what advice to give, except that what seems to have kept my mom going all the way through school and now in her career is that she is "doing good in the world."

It's probably a good idea for you, as an INFJ persuing a career in law, to focus on the activism/advocacy aspects of law. Your natural idealism and goal-orientation should carry you a long way.

 

[Nixie]

I agree with wonkavision, I would stick to some kind of advocacy law..perhaps human rights.

 

[Mary Shelley]

I have been told many times since I was little that I would make a good lawyer. My normal mode of operation is to pick things apart, find loopholes, and hack the system. Unfortunately, I'm more of a greyhat lifehacker so I'm more likely to say, "Hey, this probably isn't going to work because..." rather than just exploit it. And there's the problem that sounds like maybe something other INFJs have... a stronger need to feel like what you're doing is sincerely the best for everyone. I can even be ok at sales if it's something I really think is a good product, good for the client, and a good value. When those things are lacking, that's when we need sales guys. I've always felt a love/hate relationship with both legal and sales. We watch what they do, shake our heads in disbelief, and then say something like, "Well, at least they're OUR sharks." But the association and that I'm still benefiting from it can still feel kind-of gross.

If I were in sales, I would want to only sell things worth buying. And that's not good business. If I were a lawyer, I would only want to defend the innocent and prosecute the guilty of just laws. And that's just not even living in the real world.

One thing I have found, though, is that morality seems to scale with the size of the business. Most people who advertise something on Craig's List would feel like they had to divulge whatever was wrong with whatever $20 item being sold for cash to another individual. Things get more grey when it's something the size of a car. When it's a car being sold to a car lot, people feel even less guilty about misrepresenting the product. There is an assumption that, "The other guys are doing it too." In enormous business to business software and service sales, I see things like million dollar contracts sold for altering one table in the database with "display only" data. But when you know that the other guys got away with murder on previous contracts, you start to see the back and forth and understand that a rather large margin of dishonesty is built in.

In this same way, I imagine that as a lawyer, it would be easier to live with breaching the borders of your own moral framework if you knew that only corporations were being harmed. While the ultimate victim may be a relatively innocent stakeholder, you know that anyone who bought stock did so to profit from a system that empowers symbolic financial sociopaths. In this world, every business has an obligation to their shareholders to do everything within its legal power to increase profits. If lawsuits are won due to exploitative software patents or other bad precedence, that's just part of the game. It is ultimately a battle of one sociopaths entity vs the other in which whoever has the better legal and best resources wins. Even people with a rigid moral framework can justify their participation in this.

I'm not sure where the breakdown occurs, though, when it's something that obviously physically hurts and endangers the lives of innocent people. How does one live with defending a pharmaceutical company who turns blind eye to studies telling them how high the risk of death and serious physical damage were? Does Monsanto have the best paid lawyers in the world or can the even the average lawyer simply ignore the seeds they sew?

I have always imagined that it would not be very hard to be extremely wealthy and successful if you didn't care about how much you hurt others. Perhaps it is really instead some combination of talent, skill, timing, innovation, and hard work that yields great success and I only tell myself that I could be like them if only I were so willing to sacrifice my self-respect. But if so, the delusion is complete, and it really is the way I see it. I could not personally be a business lawyer any easier than I could be in sales, addictive street drug manufacturing, or assassination.

 

[Faye]

I avoided the legal profession because I am an INFJ. Very little about the profession is INFJ friendly, and from what I've read on the subject, INFJ lawyers tend to be miserable people.

I think an INFJ might do well in certain areas. From what I know of immigration law, it would be one of the better areas.

The problem with most areas of law is that you are not helping people- you're doing the opposite. INFJs tend to have strong values, which they often will have to sideline to do their jobs as lawyers. Finally, the profession can be very confrontational or otherwise interpersonally unpleasant. It is the reason why lawyers have such high rates of mental illness (that and because they probably avoid treatment out of fear of being debarred or being denied by the bar if their diagnosis is discovered). It is easier to not seek help than to have to take the risk of passing the bar association's mental health litmus test. The result is that conditions that could be handled much earlier (which needs to include alcoholism) are neglected and worsen as people strive to make associate or, as many are doing now, fail to find a job and are crushed by the enormous mountain of debt.

 

[coffeeandbooks]

I am third year law student and an INFJ. I have found law school itself to be relatively easy, interesting and as enjoyable as law school can be. My biggest gripe with school are my classmates. If you ever want to know where lawyers' get their reps for money hungry, sleazy, a*sholes, just attend law school in California..but with that said, there are a handful of people who are in it for the right reasons.

I have been working in Family Law (child custody, domestic violence, divorce, etc.) for the past 5 years and working in this area is actually what solidified my desire to attend law school in the first place. Family law is A LOT to deal with and a highly emotional area but I love it - mainly because I do feel like I am helping others and doing something meaningful. This is also an area of law where almost always, the “right” and moral thing is what wins. When you are arguing or fighting for it on someone's behalf it can be very rewarding. I have run into my fair share of clients who want to lie or are out for vengeance but I have found it pretty easy to reign them in, especially when you explain the consequences (losing your children for example) of doing so. We also joke that working in Family Law you double as a therapist because your client can and will expect you to sit there and listen to their problems and then tell them what they should do. I think this is where being an INFJ is actually an advantage. We are natural listeners, nurturers and have a way with understanding people that I think most would not get from an everyday lawyer. Plus we actually care!

I work at a pretty small firm, 15 people total, that has a family feel instead of a big corporate office and am also able to do a lot of independent work which I appreciate tremendously as an INFJ. We also do a lot of pro bono work which is probably my favorite.

As the others have said, I think it's possible for INFJs to be successful and 'happy' in the legal field if you can get yourself into an area where you are advocating and personally feel like you are making some kind of difference. I may have gotten lucky with where I am currently working and I am not a lawyer yet but I feel confident in my choice to attend law school and am looking forward to being an attorney in this area.

Good luck!

 

[WellNoWonder]

I work for a personal injury/mass tort firm, and I find that most of the staff is very advocacy minded. I would have never dreamed of this being a career path for me, but law is open to great interpretation. Also, there's lots of introvert lawyers; I was genuinely surprised.

There's a math guy at our firm who develops and applies formula based on damages, and he rarely steps foot in the court room.

There's some who work in subro, evaluating contracts, etc and it's very independent work, except of course, gathering opinions from others.

I work in eliminating liens and collections against liability awards, and it's all investigative. I spend time finding loopholes in insurance (car/health) and also researching case law to argue against claims (My title is "Analyst"). Most of my work is written. I'm not a lawyer, but my degree is in health care with some master's work in health care policy.

If you find your niche, I'm sure your introversion (along with intuition) will be an advantage to you and your clients.

 

[yepunsarang]

*Raises hand* I am another INFJ looking into the law! Just graduated last May and am working at a large corporate firm. Although I don't see myself working in such a place for a long time, I see it as probably something inevitable at least for a little while until I pay off my loans. Down the road, I see myself going into something human rights/international/civil rights law. Everything is so ambiguous right now, but I see law school as a stepping stone in the direction I may want to be.

 

[Guesthouse]

I'm currently a lawyer in a family law practice. I liked the academic side of my law degree but disliked the type of people it attracted - lots of people who seemed to think they were better than everyone else and very image-conscious. I was miserable throughout law school but academically did reasonably well. The practice I work in specialises in helping victims of domestic violence. I'm leaving my work in a few weeks (been there almost a year). I resigned. I didn't mind the work itself but my boss made my work a stressful place and she said some horrible things about me to other co-workers and I overheard. I also found the work exhausting emotionally. The people coming through the office would offload their anger about their ruined relationships and battles over contact with the children onto us. It was also exhausting dealing with other lawyers who were constantly in 'fight mode' trying to get one up on us or playing games. I also dislike the court work and have no wish to appear at anymore hearings.

I'm very glad to be out of there, but do wish that I had followed my heart in my early twenties and become a counselor/psychologist/English or religious teacher instead. There is still time though. My Mum is also an INFJ and she owned her own property law business, which is the least litigious area of law. She did quite well and liked it at the end of her career when she was running her own business.

I think that when choosing a career you should follow your intuition/heart, find something that makes you feel extremely excited and energised at the thought of doing it, and choose something in line with your values and caters to your strengths. If you choose that way then you will find something that you will do well at because you have the passion and determination to pursue it and to succeed.

 

[PintoBean]

I was a lawyer and opted to become a law librarian. Neither gave me any joy. For me, the issue is how heavy on the I part is your INFJ? Be warned, if you are very introverted, law is often all about dealing with people and putting yourself out there in a certain type of way that can be very uncomfortable for INFJs. There are exceptions. People who work in house and do work similar to say actuaries etc, but I've found these areas are the exception to the rule. I think many lawyers are actually Introverts, but it gets nasty when shadow E behavior comes out under duress inherent in the profession. I know more than a few lawyers who are likely INTJs and they have problems with depression and alcoholism relating to the anxiety their work provokes.But just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't work for you. Choose your are of practice carefully, make sure it's what you really want. I mean take the time to figure it out for sure before you sink that time and money into it. Let yourself feel free to question everything about it first. Good luck with your endeavors!

 

[RavenSky]

I would totally be a good lawyer if I were supporting and defending a cause I felt passionately about. I think an infj would probably make an amazing lawyer once all is said and done. I'm not sure if the schooling would be easy. Though I think the education system entirely is not very intuitive friendly.