Sometimes there's not an easy answer when the question is, “What do I do now?”

For Steve, practicing in a law firm environment wasn't working. He enjoyed the cases and formulating defenses for his insurance clients, but he knew that his creative spirit wasn't being tapped. He wanted to find something that would allow him to think outside the box.

“Advertising was always something that interested me — the thought of building a unique campaign that could influence people,” Steve said. “But after investing so much in my legal career and putting in several years of work, it didn't seem like a logical thing to abandon. It wasn't like I hated practicing law or anything like that.

“It didn't turn out to be as tough a decision as I thought it would be — I know I made the right choice.”

The ‘right choice' for Steve was to enroll in The Creative Circus, an advertising portfolio program in Atlanta. It meant leaving the law firm in Philadelphia, moving to a new city and trying to figure out how he was going to make ends meet for two years while he was in school. That's when he found Counsel On Call.

“It's been absolutely perfect for me,” said Steve, who goes to school three days a week. “I've been able to work on my legal assignments in the afternoons and evenings, so it really fits my schedule. I'm able to work from home, too, which is very convenient.

“I told Counsel On Call what kind of work situation I needed, and they found it for me.”

As it turns out, Steve is a natural-born ad man. In his first year at The Creative Circus, a radio campaign he and two classmates developed as a class project won the Mercury Award, a very competitive national honor. It confirmed that he's made the right choices for his career.

“It was completely unexpected to win the award — we had so much fun making the ad, accolades were the furthest things from our minds,” he said. “But there's a measure of validation that comes with it, too. I'm very happy with the decisions I've made, and that certainly includes working with Counsel On Call as I've gone through this transition.”