association for lawyers

luber: hey everyone, marc luber here. areyou interested in jobs where you get to interact with all sorts of government officials andwork on the frontlines with the latest laws and regulations? thatã­s what weã­re talkingabout today on jd careers out there, so stick around! [theme song] alright, as you may alreadyknow, at jdcot we explore career paths you could do with a law degree - both in and outof law. we do that to help you find a career that fits you and help you succeed. todayã­sguest is pj hoffman and heã­s a regulatory affairs counsel at a national trade associationin washington, dc. pj hasnã­t been a lawyer all that long but he brings some amazing experienceto the table. prior to going to law school, he spent around 6 years working in the politicalcampaign world for us congressional candidates.

now heã­s got some great advice to share withus on working at national trade associations using a law degree. letã­s meet pj. pj, welcometo the show! pj: thanks, itã­s really great to be here.thanks a lot for having me. luber: definitely. thank you for being here.iã­m glad youã­re here. so pj, iã­m going to be asking you to tell us all about thispath - like who fits in best, how to break in and how to succeed. but first, why donã­twe start by your giving us your elevator pitch on what you do as a regulatory affairs counselfor a national trade association. pj: sure. so i have the greatest job in theworld, right? so i get to explain difficult regulatory issues to our members - and onthe same side, take that information from

our members and explain that to regulatorsto help them understand how itã­ll affect businesses every day. so itã­s back and forth.i get to take complicated issues, make them simple, but also advocate on their behalfto make sure those rules donã­t crush their ability to do business every day. luber: interesting! ok, so weã­re talkingabout ã¬membersã®, weã­re talking about a ã¬trade associationã®, just in case thereã­sviewers who donã­t know what it is weã­re talking about, can you tell us what is a tradeassociation and what they do? pj: sure. so thereã­s a lot of different typesof trade associations out there. my trade association, a lot of trade associations,are essentially member-owned businesses, right?

theyã­re not-for-profit organizations thatlobby on behalf of their members - and so a lot of the members can either be, dependingon the type of trade association, mandatory members - say in like bar associations orother types of associations like that that do licensing, or as the one i work at is anindependent trade association, so members decide to pay dues to our trade association- and what we do is we then advocate on their behalf. luber: you mentioned bar associations. sowe should tell people then like the american bar association, that would be an exampleof a trade association? pj: yeah, thatã­s a great example. the realtorshave a trade association; your teachers have

a trade association. in fact, iã­m prettysure that almost anybody looking at this video has a trade association, whether theyã­rea member or not, thatã­s representing their interests here in washington. luber: interesting. so then is the main purposeof a trade association really like a ã«strength in numbersã­ game for the purposes of lobbyingleverage? pj: sure, so thatã­s one of the avenues. theother is a specialized understanding of complicated issues. so our trade association providesexplanations in english for what the regulatory environment is looking like. so you can geta 1,000-page regulation that comes down, but i can write you a 10-page memo that explainswhat that really means every day for you.

luber: can you do that for me, please, forthe obamacare affordable care act because i can use an explanation! pj: ha, no, dodd-frank, iã­ve got you! buti think thatã­s it. luber: hahaha! umã–.so what would you sayis the most rewarding part of working in a national trade association? pj: well, every day, i get to talk to membersof ours who deal with regulations every day that will affect the way they make their businessdecisions - and that is pretty rewarding to see efforts that iã­ve made to either changea regulation or to make sure a regulation is less onerous than it could have been. orto take an issue from a member, explain it

to a regulator and have them tweak the rulesjust a little bit so that it does the intended results as opposed to say like taking outone of our memberã­s businesses that they didnã­t mean to do, if that makes sense. luber: alright, good stuff! if youã­re watchingon youtube, please give us the thumbs up if this was helpful. and if youã­re podcastingor watching, please visit us at jdcot.com. youã­ll hear lots more pj there on what itã­slike to work as a regulatory affairs council at a national trade association, all of thedifferent places you could spring off to from this path, how to break into this path andhow to succeed once youã­re there. if youã­re already at the site, make sure you join ourmembership. that way you get access to the

full interview, and lots more helpful videocontent and all of our transcripts. thanks again for watching everybody. iã­m marc luberand iã­ll see you soon. [theme song]