As humans, seeking comfort is second nature because we are wired to seek security as a defense mechanism. However, while comfort comes with ease, it does not always mean being safe, and it might not be the best thing for you.
During this year’s Mental Health Awareness Month (May), we highlighted the benefits of learning something new, including research showing that novelty is good for you. If you missed that article, you can find it here.
Besides making learning more fun and engaging, an open mind also opens you to new possibilities beyond the scope of your environment, exposure, or even imagination. Take notes as our esteemed panelists from Kenya’s premiere law career fair highlight how having an open mind played a significant role in them becoming the exemplary lawyers we celebrate today.
Lesson 3: Always Be Open-minded
While exploring the diversity of the legal profession, most of the panelists highlighted the fact that while undertaking their LLBs, they were comfortable following the traditional route set up for lawyers. The expectation is that you complete your undergraduate studies, go for pupillage, and then become a lawyer in a law firm, open a law firm, or join someone else in practice. While Pat Mbugua and Rispah Simiyu refer to the above sequence of events as the ‘traditional’ path, it’s still the standard that even young lawyers to date hold themselves to.
Nonetheless, both ladies have traveled off the beaten path and have reaped the benefits of having an open mind.
Ms. Mbugua highlights that agility, albeit not one of her strong suits, is one factor that has shaped her career as it is today. Like most young lawyers in her time, Ms. Mbugua always saw herself pursuing a legal career in litigation; she longed to experience the thrill she read about in murder mysteries and saw on legal dramas airing on TV. However, when she joined Walker Kontos during pupillage, she was thrust into the corporate commercial department.
While she never appeared before a judge, she embraced the opportunity and progressed through the law firm until she became a partner. That was the first time having an open mind worked in her favor.
The next time Ms. Mbugua’s career benefited from an open mind was when she resigned from her position as a Partner to pursue a career in the banking sector. “Our journeys are not always vertical, so I’d like to touch on the idea of lateral moves and sometimes even downward moves.”
Ms. Mbugua thought she’d retire while at the law firm, but she boldly ventured out after hitting a glass ceiling. “I wanted to grow, and I went into a space where my title was mocking me because it didn’t have the word ‘legal’ anywhere in it.” Titles notwithstanding, Ms Mbugua was determined to understand the banking sector from within. While she admits that the move took immense courage, she credits that agility for who she is today, “a businesswoman in the law.”
Mary Njeri of UN Women also had to forsake the title ‘Wakili’ and her love for litigation to be the humanitarian she is today. According to Ms. Njeri, anyone seeking to work at the UN (or the multi-national organization sector) must consider that such organizations primarily hire lawyers to practice at their headquarters and not in their field offices.
However, while the title may evade you in the sector, your legal knowledge will be handy. She even went ahead and pursued an LLM in Constitutionalism and Human Rights Law. Mary Njeri highlights that her lawyering skills came in handy in numerous policy-making projects, including during the 2005 Kenya referendum. Therefore, she encourages anyone seeking a career in the NGO sector not to shy away from volunteering, even in positions that do not directly link to the law.
Besides a title with nothing to do with law, you may also need to be agile regarding your day-to-day activities. For instance, instead of wearing a suit to Court or a corporate meeting, you may end up casually dressed while sitting on the grass in a chief’s ‘baraza’ somewhere. However, numerous opportunities exist to grow your skills and complement your law degree.
Still on having an open mind, Rispah Simiyu’s journey into tax law started with an ounce of hesitation. Interestingly, her back story includes a career fair (like our recently concluded law career fair).
“Back in our day, companies would come to schools to talk about what they do and sometimes recruit students. Growing up, there was a company called Coopers (now CKL Africa) that sold pesticides. I had never heard of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) before, so I assumed it was the pesticide company and almost ignored their recruitment drive because I didn’t want to sell pesticides.”
However, on second thought (and after a rigorous screening process), she decided to join PwC since she was fresh off college and didn’t have a solid plan. PwC exposed her to the tax field and sponsored her to pursue professional accounting courses and become a certified accountant.
“When I got into PwC, I was focused; my intention was to go to court. However, I’ve joined this audit firm, which has tax law. Second, the audit firm has given me an opportunity to learn something else, and they’re paying for it. It was not easy, and I’d often ask myself, “What did I get myself into?!” but since I was there and the courses were paid for, I persisted.” Therefore, she concludes that you can only lose what you have, not what you don’t have. Whenever an opportunity arises, jump on it and figure things out as you go. Provided you have your basic infrastructure (your law degree), you will figure out the rest as you apply yourself.
Ayieta Lumbasyo, a fertility and euthanasia law expert, is all too familiar with resistance. Interestingly, she got into the legal field to avoid pursuing a career in medicine, yet today, she has a master’s degree in medicine.
Ms. Lumbasyo dabbled in litigation, as lawyers did at the time, only to discover it wasn’t her niche. “My seniors had to rescue me in court on many occasions.” She also dabbled in the humanitarian world, which took a toll on her wellbeing. It was then that her father, a medical doctor, encouraged her to consider pursuing medical law; he even introduced her to medical law practitioners in Kenya.
Her second brush with medical law came when she wandered into a bioethics conference while visiting South Africa. One of the conference organizers encouraged her to apply to medical school, which she did later. She completed the last two years of medical school and pursued a master’s in medicine to become a medical lawyer.
Ayieta’s willingness to step out of her comfort zone made her the medical lawyer she is today. She highlights that bioethics and medical fields are virgin law practice areas in Kenya and encourages anyone interested in the fields to reach out to her via her socials. So, by having an open mind and building on the law as your basic infrastructure, you can become more than you could ever imagine.
