Dream jobs: Lawyers who love what they do
March 31, 2008
Many of us have had childhood fantasies that stretched the imagination for what we wanted to become when all grown up: a professional athlete, a TV star, a chef, or even a video game wizard.
Somewhere along the way, you wound up becoming a lawyer. What could be the next best thing?
Some people like or even love their jobs, but often the reasons are specific to the individual. A select few, though, get to work in places that tickle most people’s fancy, akin to a 4-year-old wanting to manage a candy store.
For some, what makes a dream job is more a state of mind than a particular industry, but still one conducive to creating a special environment.
Chicago Lawyer sat down with four in-house lawyers who have leading roles in places where the nature of the business is the stuff that childhood dreams are made of — jobs that can send many other attorneys into a daydream about what it would be like to put their legal skills to work for a pro sports team, television celebrity, video game maker, or restaurateur.
Irwin Mandel, Chicago Bulls
To Irwin Mandel, pictured above, who is known as the salary cap guru to the Chicago Bulls, the immediate reaction of most people he meets when they find out what he does for a living makes perfect sense.
”If they ask me what I do and I tell them, immediately, their ears perk up,” Mandel said recently from his office at the United Center, where replica trophies from the Bulls’ six world championship wins in the 1990s are proudly displayed, alongside signed basketballs and photos of him and his sons with Bulls players.
”Believe me, if I didn’t have this job and I met an Irwin Mandel at a party or some place, I would take up his whole evening talking to him. Anybody who loves sports likes to talk to me. It’s very understandable.”
He’s also a hit at the home front.
”Most people, when they come home at night, their family probably isn’t that interested in their job,” Mandel said. ”My stories are interesting. My wife is a big sports fan; my sons are. They were always interested in what I had to say.”
Mandel, whose background is in law and accounting, is in his 36th season with the Bulls, where he serves as senior vice president of financial and legal operations. He wears many hats in his executive position, but his expertise in interpreting and applying the National Basketball Association’s complicated rules governing player acquisitions and limiting the amount of money teams can spend each season on player salaries is what makes his job all the more intriguing.
”Anybody that loves sports that has a legal background would kill for my job,” Mandel said. ”It’s fun to work for a sports team, and it’s especially fun if you get to work with the general manager and the basketball people, which is what I do because of the salary cap. If there wasn’t a salary cap, my job wouldn’t be as interesting, and I wouldn’t have as much contact with them.”
Because of that expertise, Mandel has the ear of Bulls General Manager John Paxson in negotiating trades and signing players.
”Irwin has the ability to come at me from a different perspective and is persistent in terms of looking at every angle,” Paxson said in an e-mail interview.
Paxson pointed to the deal to trade Eddy Curry to the New York Knicks in 2005.
”I really wanted to get two consecutive first-round picks in the deal, but the collective bargaining agreement doesn’t allow for that to happen,” Paxson said. ”Irwin’s thought was to get the first-round pick in the first year and then have the right to switch picks with New York in the second year.
”There was a small risk involved that New York would have a better record than us, but we were confident that wouldn’t happen,” Paxson said. ”We ended up getting the ninth pick in 2007 because of the right to switch picks and the Knicks ended up with our pick, which was the 22nd pick in the draft. In essence, we came out of that trade with their first-round pick in consecutive years and it turned out to be a real positive for us.”
Mandel approaches his job with the same spirit of competition displayed by athletes on the court.
”I’m a very competitive guy, and I will take it personally if the salary cap prevents the Bulls from doing something that the Bulls want to do basketball-wise,” Mandel said. ”I am always thinking: how can we apply the rules to help us — to give us an edge?”
Along with applying and interpreting the NBA’s salary cap, free agency, and other collective bargaining rules, Mandel’s job has him reviewing financial reports and preparing contracts with players and coaches.
On a wall above his desk is a framed photo of Mandel watching over Michael Jordan as the player signs a $30 million contract in his second-to-last year with the Bulls in 1996 — then the ”biggest single-season salary for any athlete in any team sport in history,” Mandel said.
Raised on the city’s North Side, Mandel said he remembers telling his uncle that he wanted to be a professional athlete when he grew up. His executive position with the Bulls, he said, is the next best thing.
It’s absolutely a dream job. That’s why I’ve been here for 35 years,” he said.
Mandel, who received both his undergraduate degree in accounting and his law degree from Northwestern University, worked in the tax department of Arthur Andersen for four years after graduating from law school in 1967.
At the accounting firm, he was assigned to the Bulls account, to handle a purchase investigation report after a change in ownership at the Bulls.
”I did it with the prayer that they would hire me full-time, and they did,” Mandel said. ”I’ve been here ever since and it’s been fascinating.”
He and his wife entertain friends during home games from their box seats at the United Center, just rows behind the players’ bench.
”For our home games, whenever we win, I give them five when the game is over, which is fun,” Mandel said. ”I wish I would’ve had the opportunity to do that more frequently this season. We haven’t won so many games; it’s been a disappointing season.”
But Mandel is gearing up for the next round of trading activity come June.
”Hopefully,” he said, ”the Bulls will be very busy then, and will be able to make some trades to improve the team.”
This is my uncle =]
I think that this is an awesome task! If you need an associate, I am available.