Albert Tawil ’17, Founder and CEO, Lateral Hub
What made you decide to pursue a career in entrepreneurship/venture capital/startups after NYU Law?
After making a lateral job change from one Big Law associate job to another, and speaking with friends over the years to help them with their job searches, I realized the process to find and apply to jobs at top-tier law firms was too fragmented and outdated. From there, I came up with the idea for Lateral Hub, an online job board platform exclusively for top-tier large, midsize, and boutique law firms (lateralhub.com). After months of research and speaking with law firm recruiting managers, fellow associates, and others, I decided to take the leap and launch the company.
How did NYU Law prepare you for this career?
My interactions with the NYU Law Office of Career Services (OCS) both as a student and alum prepared me the most for this career. Over the course of the 1L and 2L recruiting process, I was able to learn from OCS about what different law firms look for in applicants. As a 3L, I attended multiple events organized by OCS about alternative legal careers, which opened my eyes that there is a very wide range of careers available with a law degree, not just being a traditional law firm or in-house attorney. That stuck in my mind and made me more comfortable moving from law firm associate to full-time entrepreneur.
As a recent graduate, I decided to look for a new job and returned to OCS for assistance. My meetings with OCS were invaluable, providing perspective on the lateral recruiting process, the benefits and downsides to using external recruiters, ideas for possible firms, and other things. That meeting set the tone for my job search, and much of the insight during that meeting was the precursor for launching Lateral Hub to make the lateral recruiting process easier. I appreciate OCS's thoughtful advice and programs over the years to help students and alums, and I've actually been able to give back to help current NYU Law students through OCS.
Why do you think lawyers find success in this career path?
First and foremost, lawyers are very smart and have an incredible work ethic. Not being fazed by a challenge or long hours is key for an entrepreneur. Second, lawyers are trained to have a critical eye and to poke holes in things—whether it's due diligence for a transaction or preparing arguments for a case. Being critical and challenging the status quo with "Why is it done this way?" makes it easier to identify business opportunities that solve a real need.
What was the biggest challenge you faced as a lawyer in this career path?
The biggest challenge I faced as a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur was the learning curve and change in perspective. In a short time, I was forced to learn key skills for sales, marketing, operations, web design, and other items. I don't think this is unique to lawyers—many entrepreneurs are forced to learn a lot of new things—but the day-to-day experience as a lawyer can be very different from that of a business owner.
In addition, although lawyers should always put themselves in the shoes of the client and think accordingly, there is a different calculus as a business owner—and often legal considerations and extreme attention to detail needs to compete with the overall business opportunity at hand and other non-legal considerations.
What is the most important thing students should do while they are still in law school to prepare themselves for a career in entrepreneurship, venture capital or at a startup?
Students should seek out networking opportunities outside of traditional law firm events—for example, through the NYU Law Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Program. Find reading materials or newsletters in the business or start-up world to stay up to date; over time, you end up absorbing a lot of knowledge without even noticing.
Students should also keep an open mind about the classes they take. It is a great idea to take a course if the subject matter is interesting to you, even if it is not directly related to the career that you (think you) are going into. Taking courses cross-listed with NYU Stern School of Business is a great example of this—the start-up/VC course I took at Stern was a highlight of my law school curriculum even though I had no immediate plans to start a company.
What was the most important lesson you learned in your career thus far?
There is a lot to learn from other people, even if it is not obvious—keeping an open ear and creating relationships goes a long way. Some of our best ideas have come from conversations at conferences, ideas from those outside the legal recruiting industry, or from just listening to our clients. Especially for a new entrepreneur, new ideas, advice, insights, and relationships go a long way.