Sarah Sowell
Rice University 
Houston (29.7° N, 95.3° W)

featuring Daniel Cohen, Associate, K&L Gates, Washington, D.C. (38.9° N, 77.0° W)

The reasons many undergraduates plan to go to law school following graduation are numerous; to avoid entering the workplace, to appease their parents who want them to have a second degree, or due to the cultural impacts of the movie Legally Blonde. Whatever the reason, around 15% of college students plan to go to law school. However, many of them are unaware of the nature of the profession and are unsatisfied with their jobs and the momentous student loans that often accompany a law degree. In my interview with Daniel Cohen, I quickly realized that law is not what I expected, but for the right kind of student, it can be the path to a fulfilling career.

Daniel Cohen is an associate at K&L Gates in Washington, D.C., where he works in regulatory compliance for banking institutions and trust companies, digital asset regulation, and public policy counseling. Before starting at K&L Gates, Mr. Cohen attended Rice University where he studied political science and economics and then attended the University of Virginia School of Law. He began his career in law as a legal intern at the Legal Aid Justice Center before interning for the Attorney General of Virginia: Consumer Protection Section. In addition to his work in law, Daniel has also volunteered on the Making Justice Real Campaign for the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia and is an advisory board member of Longitude.site.

The first thing that struck me during my interview with Mr. Cohen is how he viewed his education and childhood affecting his current work. He describes how his cultural background encouraged him to work hard in school, stating “many Jewish Americans, my family included, are very keyed in on education early on,” leading him to study hard and have “a lot of opportunities once we thought about college.” Once at Rice University, Mr. Cohen focused on political science and economics, which he feels pointed him towards the legal field.

Once in law school at the University of Virginia, Mr. Cohen focused on the financial services law, a specialization many undergraduates might not consider, despite the abundance of passion for finance among many college students. However, it was not an instant decision. By exploring public policy and economic policy, and “through different things I did at Rice and at UVA and then at K&L Gates, I had different opportunities that have led me to being a financial services and financial technology lawyer.” This role means working with banks, payment apps, cryptocurrency platforms, and other industries at the intersection of finance and technology to help them “think through how they can provide services and products in a way that complies with federal and state laws.” To me, this seems like a perfect niche for anyone interested in law, finance, and technology.

Another important part of our interview was when Mr. Cohen detailed what skills a prospective lawyer should have. One skill Mr. Cohen recommended was communication, a skill necessary to be able to specifically explain complex ideas and strategies to a client. While communication is an important part of the legal field, Mr. Cohen also noted that lawyers spend ample time alone. He describes the field as “a hybrid industry with respect to teamwork,” stating that his diverse work experience in legal aid societies and his private firm among others has showed him how to “spend a lot of time on your own thinking through a problem and a question, doing research, drafting an answer, getting back to the client”, and that pre-law undergraduates should prepare for some solitary work. Still, that does not mean that teamwork is not crucial to success. Mr. Cohen detailed how, after you have figured out a problem by yourself, communicating and perfecting that idea are built around crucial cooperation. Teamwork not only helps solve a problem, but also allows all lawyers to take their individual takes on an issue to synthesize and explain a complex, multifaceted solution to the client with clarity.

For students who think that this career suits their aspirations, Mr. Cohen offered some inner-industry advice on how to enter the field. First, he warns that law school is not the only path to law-adjacent careers, like public policy or business, but is one of the most expensive paths; so, he recommends pondering this decision greatly. For those still excited about law school, choosing the right school, at the right price point, is critical. However, before all this, Cohen reminds students to reach out, to use opportunities like Longitude.site or other resources to connect with industry professionals and build a network. That does not have to be transactional, but it allows experienced professionals to assist newer ones as a way of paying it forward. No matter what career or educational path one takes, “do whatever makes you happy, particularly when it comes to giving back to the community,” look for ways to give back, and “follow that passion throughout your life.”

Highlights from the interview

How did your childhood or cultural background and values affect your career path?

I’m a third generation American on my mom’s side and fourth generation on my dad’s side. In some ways, we have an American immigrants’ story, focusing on hard work and education. Many Jewish Americans, my family included, are very keyed in on education early on. So, my older brother and I learned to study hard, did our homework, and always made sure to be really engaged with our classes, to prioritize that above all other things, and to do as well as we could. That gave us a lot of opportunities once we thought about college. I wanted to go to a school that was engaging, that had a lot of opportunities, particularly in public policy; so, the Baker Institute at Rice University really caught my eye. I wanted to go to a place where kids were smart and serious. So, I think Rice fit that mold well and into this career of being a lawyer and policy advisor. I was always interested in government growing up. At Rice, I focused on political science and economics, and it was a natural lead into a legal career. At the University of Virginia [UVA] School of Law, which has a great access to the DC market, I decided I wanted to be a financial services lawyer. I wanted to work in public policy and also found economic policy interesting. Through different things I did at Rice and at UVA and then at K&L Gates, I had different opportunities that have led me to being a financial services and financial technology lawyer. So, that’s where I am now.

In your time at Rice or even at law school, were there any specific organizations or experiences that shaped your career path?

The Baker Institute, particularly the Baker Institute Student Forum, played a big role in my development at Rice. When I was a freshman, I joined the group and volunteered to organize events. I brought an activist minister named Jim Wallis to campus at the beginning of my sophomore year. That was my first introduction into fundraising, networking, public policy forums, and realizing how hard it could be to make the ideas happen. So, that event turned out to be very successful. We had hundreds of people come, it was a good dialogue. That got me excited about public policy and social thought, and I stuck with the organization. I was president for a couple of years. Also, at Lovett College, where I was a student, and president in my senior year, I was always involved in government and went to events and met people. It was great to meet students from every grade, every major, every background. It really changed the way I think. One of my best friends who I still talk with, and some of my colleagues who I work with in the legal sphere or in related business ventures are from college. And then going to law school was critical to what I do now. Law is a very prestige-oriented field. There are tiers; where you go to school and how well you do at that school don’t dictate but help inform what firms you can go to and what opportunities you have. Going to the UVA helped me start working at [K&L Gates], and being at this firm has given me a lot of opportunities in my career early on.

Could you give an example of the type of projects you work on? And maybe a quick rundown of your typical day?

I have a wide portfolio that focuses mostly on what we call financial services. My clients range from big banks to financial technology companies such as payments apps, and cryptocurrency platforms like Coinbase that help you buy bitcoin and other digital assets. I advise those companies on their regulatory compliance and risk, help them think through how they can provide services and products in a way that complies with federal and state laws. I also work with cannabis trade associations to help promote normalization of cannabis federal policy, particularly in banking. In most states, medical marijuana is legal, and a lot of companies are licensed and registered to provide those products, but they can’t access banks because marijuana is still illegal federally; so, I work with them on lobbying Congress. I also work with a wide range of food companies on insurance claims; whenever they have a problem with their product, like a recall, I help them recover funds so that they can keep operating, keep people employed, and stay in business. So, it’s a wide range of things, and as a result, I don’t have a typical day. But some of the things I generally do are conference calls with clients to help them reach out to a member of Congress or their staff, draft a comment letter if a federal agency is proposing a rule to govern how the client operates, or answer questions about what a certain regulation requires the client to do. I also advise them on what’s happening in Congress, and I draft contracts and settlement agreements.

What skills do you think are important to your job?

Communication. Fundamentally, written and verbal communication, trying to take complex, ambiguous, confusing or incomplete concepts in law or politics, and helping clients (a) understand them, and (b) apply some strategies to overcome them. Sometimes, it’s advising the client on options of how to provide a product; for example, if you want to provide product A, then we need to get you a license, or if you want to provide product B, you can partner with someone who already has that license, or you can offer this product by actually providing a supplementary kind of service and letting someone else provide the product itself.

Would you say that teamwork is very important to your job? And what kind of dynamics do you try to foster on any team you are in?

Lawyering is a hybrid industry with respect to teamwork. Private practice is the only private sector experience I have had. I’ve not worked for a company other than my law firm or in a non-legal setting. In college and law school, I did internships in a wide range of things, in legal aid societies, at the Virginia Attorney General’s office, different government agencies, and a think tank. My experience is not completely limited to the law, but internships only tell you so much. And I say that as a preface because in law, you spend a lot of time on your own thinking through a problem and a question, doing research, drafting an answer, getting back to the client. But once you’ve done that, teamwork is critical, especially in the public policy realm. Because you have to convince a lot of people on what to do. So, we often have internal calls and get on the same page about strategy. Because when we talk to the client, we have to be uniform. Because if we share disjointed perspectives, then the client will be confused. As an example, I work with several trade associations that represent lots of individual companies, and their goal is to get all those companies on board with a particular message. Our job is getting the trade association and its members on board, and it takes a lot of effort to communicate on calls, in emails, texts, and just to be ready to answer questions whenever needed.

What changes or challenges do you foresee in your industry?

There are more firms and entities that are trying to get into the legal field, and that creates competition for business, competition on pricing within industries to respond to what new rules are happening or to shape them. So, there are more voices coming up to advise and put forth ideas.

I think, in this remote era, there’s going to be a lot of conversation about how much can we really work from home after the pandemic, and how much do we need to be in person. So there’s going to be pressure on reducing real estate holdings and new office space and things. I hope we don’t go too far. That’s one risk I foresee because [legal] work in a sense can be done from anywhere. Because what I do is what we’re doing now. I get on a Zoom call, and I talk to you, I write a memo at my desk, on my laptop. But I think something is lost if you completely lose the element of the physical coming together. So I do see a pressure there, of too much focus on remote work, and that puts a lot of stress on people’s time, because it’s much harder to unplug. And I think it puts a lot of dependency on technology. You know, laptops always got to be up, the programs you use always have to be working really well. And as we know, like, Zoom for business, or WebEx, or other things don’t always work great. Whereas if we’re in person, I can always just walk to your office and have a conversation. I think [another] risk is overly siloing people, especially for work from home, it’s just too easy to just work with people you always work with, because you don’t see other people, right? It’s out of sight, out of mind. And you don’t think to yourself, even though we have email, and I could email anyone, there’s just too much going on in your [own] silo [and] [in] your own home. I think gets people thinking let me just rely on the people I already work with. So I figured a way of actually discourages outreach and connectivity and synergy with other employees. Even though, you could theoretically talk to anyone anywhere in the world via zoom and via email, so I think it’s a careful balance of those two.

How do you think that your volunteering or experience at internships has affected your outlook on your industry?

I think the most relevant experiences, as for my outlook on the industry, is working with the legal aid organizations. Cumulatively, I worked for a year and a half with the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville. I also worked for a semester at the Virginia Attorney General’s office. Neither of those are private entities or businesses competing for profits, but they are entities that shape what the private sector can do. The Attorney General brings different cases against certain businesses or entities creating the need for defense attorneys, and legal aid provides certain services to low income communities and people who need legal aid. That creates opportunities for private law firms to assist. We have an ethical duty as lawyers to do pro bono work, but it’s very helpful to partner with a legal aid attorney for doing pro bono work because they have the expertise, they have connections with the community, they have their trust. So, working there helped inform my view of pro bono work and why it’s so important. In my own practice, I have worked with a bunch of organizations, such as Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). Having worked with those organizations directly helped me appreciate the importance of letting them take the lead, but also the importance of helping them because they are so overworked and they need so much more aid.

What advice would you give students looking to go into your field?

Really think about whether you want to practice law or do something that’s law related such as public policy, social work, community organizing, strategy. Strategy can be in the private sector, in the philanthropic sector, or government sector. A lot of people think that just having a law degree is inherently good. And there’s some truth to that. But as the world becomes more competitive, and school continues to be more expensive, just being credentialed for the sake of credential is not necessarily the best idea. You should be strategic. I’m a big fan of higher education. I think advanced degrees can be good. But you should get it because it makes sense. Law is a protected industry; you need to pass a bar exam to be able to practice law. And to do that in almost every state, you have to go to law school. So, if you’re going to go to law school, you should practice law in some form, at least for a while, and really learn a field, learn the skills, understand how to think in practice, like a lawyer, and then go do something else. But if you just want to go to law school, and then start a business, then go to business school, or do something else. You want to go to the best school you can because it opens the most doors. But you don’t want to create an unsustainable amount of debt for yourself, especially if you don’t want to do private practice. So, think about the finances. Think about what you like to do. Do you like to be around people? Or do you like to mostly think and write on your own? For the latter, there are some law practices that you can go into. Think about your personality. Do you like to fight? Do you like to argue, do you like to be right? Then litigation might be good for you. If you’re conflict averse and you’d rather people get along, there are fields of law that are useful for that, but law is at least tacitly aggressive in all fields. So, if you really don’t like fighting, then this is probably not the field for you.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention before we leave?

I encourage students to do what you’re doing, to reach out to professionals. Use Rice, use Longitude.site, and the Houston area connections to your benefit. There are great opportunities. You need to have the goods, but you also need to be networking with people so that people know who you are. There are so many people out there in a position of power, but if they don’t know who you are, they can’t give you a job or an opportunity. So, meet people, stay on good terms with people. It doesn’t mean you have to be best friends with everyone. But check in with people every couple of months and keep relationships alive. When people need help, help them. When it’s your turn, they’ll help you. I think a lot of people are concerned that they’ll be too transactional. Don’t view people as tools, but view the situation as an opportunity to help others and opportunity for them to help you. When you’re in a position of power, make sure that you’re looking out for other people, someone that you can give a chance to. And do whatever makes you happy, particularly when it comes to giving back to the community whether that means political campaigns, social activism, or volunteering, social work. Definitely follow that passion throughout your life because there’s always going to be plenty of work to do whatever your employer is; there’s always going to be something to do. It’s too easy to let those opportunities to go by until it’s too late. So, stay anchored in that.

Interview excerpts have been lightly edited for clarity and readability and approved by the interviewee. This article only aims to share personal opinions and learnings and does not constitute the interviewee’s current or former employer(s)’ position on any of the topics discussed.