In Spanish, the word for retirement is jubilación — a term that connotes joy and celebration. It’s a reminder that retirement can be a gratifying and inspiring transition.
Unfortunately, not everyone shares this feeling of excited anticipation, especially those in high-stress, high-impact careers. For attorneys, whose work is intellectually demanding and often deeply tied with their personal identity, it can be daunting to think about life after all that is over.
Yet we need not approach this transition with trepidation. With a wealth of experience and discipline honed by the rigors of law, attorneys are uniquely equipped to make the most of their next chapter. Here are some thoughts on how to design a post-practice life that’s fulfilling and impactful.
Approaching Retirement with Intention
After years of advising professionals on how to build meaningful lives beyond their careers, one truth has remained consistent: the most successful transitions are anchored in perspective, purpose and enthusiasm.
Perspective helps you acknowledge your enormous accomplishments but also ensures that you hold space for new challenges. Purpose motivates you to shape a meaningful next chapter – one in which your experience and wisdom translate into continued relevance. Enthusiasm gives you the drive and energy to create the masterpiece of a life you’ve been working for.
The key to maintaining all three is to stop thinking of retirement as a conclusion, but instead as a new chapter in which you can explore, grow and contribute — on your own terms. Here are three potential pathways particularly suited to the legal mind:
-
Build Your Legal Legacy
The legal profession is inherently collaborative and generational. Throughout your career, you likely benefited from the insights of senior colleagues. Now, you have the opportunity to pass that knowledge forward.
Informal mentorship remains one of the most effective mechanisms for professional development in the legal profession. According to one study, 95% of lawyers believe informal mentorships are extremely beneficial. Your guidance can help shape the ethical judgment, professional discipline and courtroom strategy of the next generation of lawyers.
Beyond mentorship, many retired attorneys find renewed purpose serving on judicial ethics boards, bar association committees, or nominating commissions. These roles allow you to uphold and influence the integrity of the legal system long after you’ve stepped away from active practice.
Additionally, nonprofit organizations — particularly those focused on social justice, governance, or civic engagement — often need board members with legal experience. Your skills in fiduciary oversight, compliance and risk management are invaluable in these settings.
-
Define Justice on Your Terms
The need for legal services continues to outpace available resources. Across the globe, an estimated 5 billion people face unmet justice needs. In the United States:
- Only about 18% of immigrants who naturalized in 2024 received assistance from an attorney.
- Roughly 88% of domestic violence survivors lack adequate legal representation.
Retirement offers a flexibility that most practicing attorneys simply don’t have. You can now choose the cases, causes or communities you wish to serve. Whether advocating for tenant rights, supporting asylum seekers or helping clients expunge their records, your legal skills remain a powerful force for good. Pro bono work in retirement is more than charitable — it’s an opportunity to reconnect with the reasons you entered the profession in the first place.
-
Channel Your Expertise into New Creative Outlets
The analytical skills, precision, and narrative structure developed over a legal career can translate beautifully into creative and intellectual endeavors.
Consider Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout, who began her professional life in legal services. Or Henri Matisse, once a law clerk, and even John Cleese, who has said that his law degree shaped the logic behind his comedy. Legal training instills discipline and perspective — traits that enrich writing, painting, teaching, and public speaking alike.
Whether you choose to write, lecture, volunteer or simply study a new subject in depth, retirement offers the freedom to explore these interests on your own timeline and in your own way.
This Is Not Retirement. It’s a Graduation.
The concept of jubilación invites us to view retirement not as an exit, but as a reinvention or even another graduation — a moment of new opportunity. For lawyers, this transition holds extraordinary potential. You’ve spent your career solving complex problems, advocating for others and interpreting systems of power. Now, you have the opportunity to apply those same talents toward new, self-defined goals.
With the right perspective and purposeful engagement with your interests, the next chapter can be as meaningful — if not more so — than the one you’re leaving behind.
