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Passion or stability? Finding both in the legal profession

Rather than pursuing her dream of journalism, this new lawyer followed stability and her parent’s wishes into the legal profession. Although at the time it meant sacrificing one passion for another, her blossoming legal career eventually found its way back to somewhere in the middle where writing is not just an extra hobby.

user iconNaomi Neilson 01 November 2021 NewLaw
Stefanie Costi
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Frequent Lawyers Weekly contributor and new lawyer Stefanie Costi made her debut on The Protégé Podcast to discuss the tough decision to switch out her budding journalism career for one in law. By choosing the legal profession, Ms Costi not only found the stability she craved but a way to continue her passion for writing.

“I really wanted stability, and I wanted to create a good life for myself,” Ms Costi shared. “It was the hardest thing I ever did, but I knew deeply that I wanted to make the best of my future and took the plunge. I would soon find out that your occupation is not always meant to be your singular passion. Purpose comes in many forms.”

Recently, Ms Costi had the incredible opportunity to share her story from journalism to law and back to somewhere in the middle for the sixth volume of Changemakers, a book series that detailed the transformational stories of women making an impact. For Ms Costi, this meant exploring how a career does not need to be one thing.

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In explaining how she found a way to keep both writing and law, Ms Costi said it was not something she set out to do. Instead, law firm partner Cassandra Kalpaxis said she could hire Ms Costi as a lawyer, but a better fit would be a legal copywriter. From there, Ms Costi emailed law firms and started doing more and more copywriting.

“I considered it a sign from the universe to marry my two passions. When I recognised I was good at legal copywriting, Costi Copywriting was born,” she said.

In addition, Ms Costi has written a number of articles for different publications, including for Lawyers Weekly. On top of interviewing inspiring lawyers like barrister Emma Fitzgerald, Ms Costi has provided an honest look into how universities are setting law graduates up for disaster and the professions’ own mistakes.

In discussing the links between her journalism and legal passions, Ms Costi said that there have been four major transferrable skills. The first relates to critical thinking, which, particularly in law school, means “crafting the best argument in your favour, understanding the opposition’s arguments and articulating those arguments”. Writing is the second transferrable skill, followed by work ethic and resilience.

“Both industries are competitive and can be thankless at times,” Ms Costi said. “It is essential for lawyers and journalists to rise above critics and perform at their best.”

Listeners of The Protégé Podcast can expect to hear more from Ms Costi from now on as she joins as a frequent guest to discuss topics like how the legal profession may be letting down new lawyers – and much more!

Listen to her debut episode here!

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