'If you work with your mind, rest with your hands.'

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By Emily Kelchen | Raise the Bar

Taking a job in the construction industry is not what most lawyers do to launch their legal careers, but Michael Austin is not your typical attorney. While Austin is now a managing partner at Conte, Clayton & Austin, a business, real estate, litigation, estate planning, and probate law firm with offices in New Jersey and Florida, he has discovered that stepping away from the office and working with his hands makes him a better advocate for his clients. –Emily Kelchen

Your path from law student to managing partner was not as straightforward as most people would imagine. Explain how you went from building homes to building a law practice. 

Construction started as a summer job for me in high school when I was hired as a laborer by a local site work contractor. I really enjoyed it and continued working there during summers and on breaks during college. After law school, while my classmates were chasing clerkships and entry-level jobs, I took a different path and worked as a project engineer (just by title—I don’t have an engineering degree) for one of the largest heavy construction companies in my area. I had the opportunity to work on some interesting projects while working there.

After a while, though, I felt like I was missing out on something, so I got a job at a [law] firm handling business and real estate transactions. A few years later, I realized that to be a well-rounded, effective advocate for my clients, I needed to switch firms to get litigation experience. Now I maintain a practice balancing both transactional and litigation work focused primarily on business matters, commercial real estate and estate disputes. 

Do you see any crossover between the two industries? 

Construction is a very logical, step-by-step vocation. Every step and every move matters in terms of timing of events, delivery of materials, scheduling and then ensuring that every step is executed correctly. I’ve adopted some elements of this approach in my law practice. I like to make checklists of the major and minor milestones. I then carefully plan strategies and contingencies from the beginning of our cases and revisit those plans to make “field adjustments” as the matters progress. This sort of attention to detail and flexibility is important in both industries because an error or miscalculation in the early stage might not be immediately obvious, but might be catastrophic in the end. 

It seems like you have found a mixture of activities that keep you balanced.

A while back I heard a quote that really stuck with me. It goes something like, “if you work with your mind, rest with your hands.” I have found that I do my best legal work when I make time to practice my hobbies or try something new. 

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