Luber: Hey everyone, Marc Luber here.
Are you interested in jobs where you get to interact with all sorts of government officials
and work on the frontlines with the latest laws and regulations?
Thatís what weíre talking about today on JD Careers Out There, so stick around!
[THEME SONG] Alright, as you may already know, at JDCOT we explore career paths you could
do with a law degree - both in and out of law.
We do that to help you find a career that fits you and help you succeed.
Todayís guest is PJ Hoffman and heís a Regulatory Affairs Counsel at a national trade association
in Washington, DC.
PJ hasnít been a lawyer all that long but he brings some amazing experience to the table.
Prior to going to law school, he spent around 6 years working in the political campaign
world for US Congressional candidates.
Now heís got some great advice to share with us on working at national trade associations
using a law degree.
Letís meet PJ.
PJ, welcome to the show!
PJ: Thanks, itís really great to be here.
Thanks a lot for having me.
Luber: Definitely.
Thank you for being here.
Iím glad youíre here.
So PJ, Iím going to be asking you to tell us all about this path - like who fits in
best, how to break in and how to succeed.
But first, why donít we start by your giving us your elevator pitch on what you do as a
regulatory affairs counsel for a national trade association.
PJ: Sure.
So I have the greatest job in the world, right?
So I get to explain difficult regulatory issues to our members - and on the same side, take
that information from our members and explain that to regulators to help them understand
how itíll affect businesses every day.
So itís back and forth.
I get to take complicated issues, make them simple, but also advocate on their behalf
to make sure those rules donít crush their ability to do business every day.
Luber: Interesting!
OK, so weíre talking about ìmembersî, weíre talking about a ìtrade associationî, just
in case thereís viewers who donít know what it is weíre talking about, can you tell us
what is a trade association and what they do?
PJ: Sure.
So thereís a lot of different types of trade associations out there.
My trade association, a lot of trade associations, are essentially member-owned businesses, right?
Theyíre not-for-profit organizations that lobby on behalf of their members - and so
a lot of the members can either be, depending on the type of trade association, mandatory
members - say in like bar associations or other types of associations like that that
do licensing, or as the one I work at is an independent 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.
So we should tell people then like the American Bar Association, that would be an example
of a trade association?
PJ: Yeah, thatís a great example.
The realtors have a trade association; your teachers have a trade association.
In fact, Iím pretty sure that almost anybody looking at this video has a trade association,
whether theyíre a member or not, thatís representing their interests here in Washington.
Luber: Interesting.
So then is the main purpose of a trade association really like a ëstrength in numbersí game
for the purposes of lobbying leverage?
PJ: Sure, so thatís one of the avenues.
The other is a specialized understanding of complicated issues.
So our trade association provides explanations in English for what the regulatory environment
is looking like.
So you can get a 1,000-page regulation that comes down, but I can write you a 10-page
memo that explains what that really means every day for you.
Luber: Can you do that for me, please, for the Obamacare Affordable Care Act because
I can use an explanation!
PJ: Ha, no, Dodd-Frank, Iíve got you!
But I think thatís it.
Luber: Hahaha!
UmÖ.So what would you say is the most rewarding part of working in a national trade association?
PJ: Well, every day, I get to talk to members of ours who deal with regulations every day
that will affect the way they make their business decisions - and that is pretty rewarding to
see efforts that Iíve made to either change a regulation or to make sure a regulation
is less onerous than it could have been.
Or to take an issue from a member, explain it to a regulator and have them tweak the
rules just a little bit so that it does the intended results as opposed to say like taking
out one of our memberís businesses that they didnít mean to do, if that makes sense.
Luber: Alright, good stuff!
If youíre watching on YouTube, please give us the thumbs up if this was helpful.
And if youíre podcasting or watching, please visit us at JDCOT.com.
Youíll hear lots more PJ there on what itís like to work as a regulatory affairs council
at a national trade association, all of the different places you could spring off to from
this path, how to break into this path and how to succeed once youíre there.
If youíre already at the site, make sure you join our membership.
That way you get access to the full interview, and lots more helpful video content and all
of our transcripts.
Thanks again for watching everybody.
Iím Marc Luber and Iíll see you soon.
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