From Counsel to Counselor

After 25 years practicing law in firms, startups, and major nonprofits, Juliette Hirt had argued her last motion. She had managed acquisitions, advised executives, and served as acting general counsel at the Sierra Club—but something deeper was calling her.

“I was ready to leave the practice of law,” she said. “A career counselor asked me to imagine a reporter interviewing me at the end of my career, prompting me to consider what I would want them to write about me. That exercise made me realize that I wanted the second half of my professional life to be built from the inside out—around who I really was.”

That reflection led Hirt to Golden Gate University’s MA in Counseling Psychology, a program known for attracting working adults and career changers from diverse backgrounds. She graduated with high honors in 2024, trading legal briefs for therapy sessions in her cozy Noe Valley office, just a fifteen-minute walk from home.

“In my first career, I focused on strengthening parts of myself that needed to change in order to succeed professionally,” Hirt explained. “In my second, I’ve found a field where my natural strengths are natural assets. I don’t have to downplay qualities like compassion that can at times be liabilities for lawyers. Rather than striving to change, I can serve my clients using the qualities that come most naturally to me.”

Today, Hirt practices at the Center for Mindful Psychotherapy and operates her own website, Therapist for Lawyers, where she specializes in helping legal professionals. Hirt states that she supports clients who are experiencing a wide variety of challenges: anxiety, depression, life transitions, neurodiversities, burnout, grief, and parenting and relationship difficulties. “I’m not especially concerned with diagnosis: Some of my clients have multiple clinical disorders and others have none. My approach is transdiagnostic and deeply client-centered, aligning with the client and intuiting with them how to move forward.”

As a lawyer-turned-therapist, she understands her clients in a way few others can. “Many therapists prefer not to work with lawyers,” she writes on her site. “We’re trained to think analytically, to challenge assumptions, and to speak succinctly and forcefully. That can be intimidating. But I get it. I’ve lived the unbillable hour, the politics, the work-life imbalance, the pressure to perform. You don’t have to explain any of it to me.”

Hirt’s story resonates far beyond the legal community. In a time when automation and AI are reshaping professional identities, her journey illustrates the enduring value of human connection and emotional intelligence.

“Some careers will always need humans,” Hirt said. “The work I do now—helping people feel seen, understood, and supported—can’t be replaced by an algorithm. It requires empathy, intuition, and a deep respect for the complexity and nuance of the work. Within the context of that personal client-therapist relationship, AI can be a wonderful tool: I’ve had clients use AI in very creative ways to reinforce our work between sessions. But it’s not a replacement for a human therapist.”

That perspective is increasingly relevant to professionals reconsidering their paths in an uncertain economy. For Hirt, returning to the classroom at GGU wasn’t just about retraining—it was about reclaiming meaning.

“I get up every day looking forward to working with my clients,” she said. “It’s an honor that people choose to spend their time with me and allow me to work with them in that focused, contained space we co-create.”

Hirt encourages others considering a career pivot—especially those midstream in demanding professions—to combine passion with pragmatism. “Have a realistic understanding of compensation,” she advises. “It takes time to build a private practice, so financial planning is key. But it’s absolutely worth it.”

For Hirt, Golden Gate University offered both practicality and community. “GGU was the most cost-effective option,” she said. “I also really appreciated the diversity of the student body—veterans, older students, young adults, immigrants, actors, accountants, medics, and people with all sorts of personal experience with mental illness and neurodiversity. It made for a very rich experience.” Hirt found that learning about human psychology side by side with such a diverse cohort made her graduate studies especially meaningful: “When you are studying PTSD with a vet, or learning about psychopharmacology with someone who knows a drug’s side effects first hand, the knowledge really sinks in.”

When asked how she feels about the leap she took, Hirt smiled: “I’m absolutely delighted with my new career.”

For anyone questioning their next step—whether because of burnout, automation, or a longing for purpose—Hirt’s story offers a simple but profound reminder: It’s never too late to build a career that feels fully human.