<p>greybeard,</p>
<p>which area of law did u used to do and which area of law did you change to? what was the reason behind the change? how is the new area of law different from the previous one?</p>
<p>thanks :)</p>
<p>For the first twelve years of my career, I worked in small firms, doing a variety of things, but focusing on personal injury and landlord-tenant litigation; I also spent a lot of time moonlighting as a professional musician in those days. I had grown bored with the day-job when a friend alerted me to a job opportunity negotiating in-bound software license agreements in the procurement department of a Fortune 500 company. Two years later, I became an licensing attorney for a small software company; a year after that, I moved to a larger software company, where my job focus has shifted from drafting and negotiating consulting agreements, to drafting and complex licensing deals, to managing our legal affairs in Asia, and now, to managing litigation matters.</p>
<p>It would be something of an understatement to describe this career path as unusual. The seismic change in the focus of my practice was made possible by my presence in Silicon Valley right at the time that the business frenzy was reaching critical mass, and there was such a shortage of people with relevant experience that it was possible to convince the people who were hiring that they could make do with a fast-talking quick study like myself. Alas, those days have passed, but not until after I had morphed into an experienced licensing attorney.</p>