Vicki Huebner leaves litigation for law school career services and ultimately her own dog training company

Vicki Huebner is the Director of Online Legal Programs and an Adjunct Professor at Santa Clara University School of law. She is also the founder of Upskilled Canines, a dog training business. Vicki spent a number of years in litigation, from a clerkship, to a big firm, to a smaller firm. She realized that practice did not light her up the way she saw it do for some people she worked with. On somewhat of a whim, she took an opportunity to work in career services at a law school. 25 years later, she’s still working in higher education. But, she has simultaneously pursued her real passion for dog training and started her own business. She figured why wait until retirement to start doing what she really loves.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Vicki’s parents had pushed her towards law as a stable and lucrative career

• Vicki’s practice ranged from a clerkship, to BigLaw litigation, to small firm litigation

• Vicki saw the partners at the small firm be so passionate about the work and having fun

• That’s when she realized law practice was probably just not her thing

• Somewhat serendipitously, Vicki came across a job in law school career services 

• Although it was a bit of an impulsive move and Vicki thought she might return to practice in some form, she’s now 25 years into higher education

• She enjoys the scholarly environment

• At some point, Vicki felt she was outgrowing career services, but was able to pivot to a more strategic area of the law school in online program development

• Vicki realized she liked the business strategy and operations, which is what she’d liked from the small firm

• Higher education can be very slow to evolve and bureaucratic 

• Vicki followed her passion for dogs and started training them and volunteering at the humane society

• Her natural talent for dog training came through, and she now has a small side business

Lawyer’s Escape Plan Quiz: http://bit.ly/lawyersescaperoutequiz

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