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If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. – Henry David Thoreau

(Ed. Note) Amy Sutter (left, in glasses) is the first of eLifeMentor’s Castles case studies about professionals who have built lives around their passions. Each week, we’ll post their stories. If you know any candidates (they don’t have to be lawyers) – including yourself – feel free to leave a comment or contact us at info@elifementor.com. We want to learn from you -

Before Amy’s adventure as a world traveler, she was a real estate associate in the Philadelphia office of Ballard Spahr LLP.  Amy’s passion for green building led her to become one of the first LEED-accredited attorneys in the United States.  Amy’s legal practice focuses on counseling clients on green construction issues and how to navigate the changing legislative landscape for green building and sustainable development. Amy is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (B.A., high honors, Phi Beta Kappa, 2001) and Harvard University (J.D. 2005)

Taking the Leap to Do What You Love

It isn’t easy to just walk away from a job, especially in this economy.  But nearly two years ago, that is exactly what my husband and I decided to do.  The markets were crashing all around us, and our workplaces transformed seemingly overnight from collegial, pleasant places to fear-filled anxiety ridden traps.  No one did anything without looking over their shoulders, afraid of the pink slips sneaking up on them.

As a real estate lawyer with a practice focused on sustainable development, I had enjoyed the boom years and rode the wave of green.  But as I looked ahead I could see that my days of satisfying work on green projects were numbered.  Instead, divestitures of distressed real estate, foreclosures and loan workouts for failed deals were what awaited my professional future.  In the swirl of the real estate panic, no one seemed able to see beyond the looming crisis, and resources and support for building a green practice disappeared.  That’s when I saw opportunity.

Leap Now, Look Later

I decided to take the leap, instead of living my professional life in fear, to pursue what I loved: sustainable development and travel.  Since much of the world is well ahead of the United States in terms of sustainability policy, it made sense to leave behind the real estate crisis and go abroad to learn first-hand what trends, technologies and challenges would be coming to the United States after the crisis.

I designed my year abroad sort of like a self-funded independent clerkship, only instead of being inside a court room, which wouldn’t really help my practice, I would be on planes, trains and chicken buses around the world in search of the cutting edge in sustainability.

Be Prepared, then figure it out as you go along

It took months of preparation on top of years of savings to make the jump from law firm life.  Long days at work were followed by long evenings at travel clinics getting jabbed with needles, long meetings with attorneys and accountants getting our finances and legal documents in order, and even longer hours working with health insurance brokers and searching online for a health insurance solution for while we traveled.  We cut the cable, stopped eating out and sold our car.  With our house rented and our belongings in storage, we hit the road with just our backpacks and our laptop.  When we left the United States, we had two plane tickets and six nights of accommodation planned.

The rest we’d figure out along the way. (Editor’s note: to see how they did it, visit greenaroundtheglobe.com.)

From an environmental advocacy group in Cairo, Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, a bio-gasifier company in Phnom Penh and a meeting with a World Bank employee in Beijing, my year of travel allowed me to learn how sustainability was shaping real estate and business around the world.  Now that I’m back, I’m looking to bring the lessons I’ve learned to my clients.  And while my current employment situation is still unresolved, I am confident that this past year is the exactly the catalyst I needed to land a job that I’ll love.

Case notes from eLifeMentor: include reality in your foundation

Now that Amy is back in the United States, she is getting to work building the foundations of her dream career. She hopes to bring her knowledge of global sustainability practices to her next law firm opportunity. For Amy, a law firm setting is the most effective way to immediately implement what she learned from her travels.

Her desire to return to law firm practice stems from her desire to use her unique knowledge for maximum effect, both for her career and her family.

It’s also a realistic way to stay on track with her long term plans. Amy is still a young professional, and prefers the structure of a firm. But with her new wealth of knowledge she could add global sophistication to an existing law firm practice while meeting her initial career goals. Her globe-trotting also sets her apart from traditional candidates, who may lack the life skills Amy acquired during her leap of faith. Making quick decisions, building important relationships, working well in foreign situations, and building expertise are part-and-parcel of the modern law practice.

Amy’s crash course in all of this and more is a really effective way to gain an unusual (and highly marketable) skill set.