"Alternative" Alternative Careers for Lawyers

Two stories about former lawyers caught my eye recently. Suffice it to say that these are not what I would call useful models for alternative careers for lawyers! It was the facts in both cases that I found interesting. 

In the first, a two-year-old story I came across recently details the move of former legal academic Clare Dalton from law teaching to acupuncture, of the "Five Element" school. (From the story: "If I’m treating a patient with a migraine whose home element is fire I might choose different points than someone with a migraine whose home element is water.’") Dalton's name may ring bells for fewer people today, but at one time she was quite the cause celebre in the legal academy. 

The second story comes from that classic running inventory of hilarious stories about dubious trends, the New York Times style section. It involves so-called "space clearers," whose work purports to consist of clearing the bad vibes from a space--a service for which, apparently, some people are actually willing to pay decent money. One of the stars of the story, Bhakti Sondra Shaye, describes herself as a former corporate lawyer.  

Both interesting, if fairly inconsequential, stories. For my money, Shaye's new profession is less harmful than Dalton's, although opinions doubtless will vary. Obviously, the punchlines about whether either of these new professions are less harmful than practicing or teaching law write themselves, so don't bother.