Alumni Profile
Law and Order
A young, blonde woman leaves a lucrative position with a large law firm to become an assistant district attorney and finds meaning in a job prosecuting criminals in New York City.
The story of Heather Pearson's life sounds like an episode from the popular television show, "Law and Order." The comparison is so apt the 1995 alumna uses it when she speaks to children and community groups about the district attorney's office. Her specialty is handling appeals and working to keep lawbreakers behind bars.
Becoming an attorney wasn't a carefully scripted part of Heather's life. After graduating from Westmont with a degree in English, she took the first sales job she found and quickly decided she hated it. Graduate school seemed much more appealing. Thinking the LSAT was easier than the GRE, she took it and applied to Harvard Law School – and got in.
"Harvard was a rewarding but harrowing experience," she says. "I had to study all the time. Studying law was like going to school in a foreign country without speaking the language. I learned so much, not only about the law, but about stretching my own limits and challenging myself by working harder than I thought possible."
Interested in labor and employment law, Heather found a position with the top New York law firm specializing in this field. She joined the sports law group and worked with clients such as the NBA, Major League Baseball and the Yankees.
"I had the coolest job," she says. "It really impressed people."
But it didn't make her happy. She worked constantly, staying late and working every weekend. "I hated spending so much time on something that amounted to so little," she says. "What had I done that mattered in the grand scheme of things? What had I done that mattered to me?"
Despite the huge income, the prestige, the glittering social life and the gorgeous apartment, Heather felt unfulfilled. Her unhappiness affected all areas of her life, and she began to look for a job with meaning.
The years she spent at the law firm had given her a new perspective on life. "I realized that success is grasping what God created you to be," she says. "Success is finding a vocation where every day you do something and you know you have never been more fully yourself than when you are doing it."
Heather realized she couldn't find such a calling on her own. "I had to seek God's will for my life. I had to turn this search over to him." She started going to church again and got involved in a small group at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
After a year, Heather found what she wanted as an assistant district attorney. She loves going to the office every day. "My colleagues and I share a common goal," she says. "It's good to work with people who do something they believe in.
"God has done tremendous things in my life in the last few years," she adds. "It's so easy to get sucked into the world's idea of success and to lose sight of what you value. God reminded me what was really important to me, and I am extremely grateful."