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Mark Obbie MA '81

What do you do?
I teach magazine and newspaper journalism, and media law. I'm also developing a legal-reporting program. I do work as a magazine freelance writer for such magazines as Inc., Money and The American Lawyer.

What has your career path been like?
I was with the parent company of The American Lawyer for roughly 18 years, moving to academe in 2004. After getting my master's from Missouri, I worked in daily newspapers in Ohio and Texas for several years. When Steve Brill, the founder of The American Lawyer, expanded his company in 1986, I joined Texas Lawyer (a statewide weekly based in Dallas). Eventually I became editor and publisher of that paper and found myself in a management and business role after insisting that my career would be nothing but reporting and writing.

Why did you move from Texas to New York?
I wanted to live closer to my family in upstate New York, so after 11 years in Texas I accepted a transfer to the company's headquarters in New York City, as head of The American Lawyer's first Internet business. I managed a large staff and investment for five years.

At this point in your career, you did something very unusual.
Managing the Internet was good experience, but I disliked my business role and missed pure editorial work. So, in 1999, when our flagship magazine's number two job opened, I did something that isn't often done in corporate America: I took a pay cut and stepped out of a senior corporate role to be just a plain old editor again. I've never regretted it, and have been learning and sharpening my skills every day since I made the move.

Why did you decide to leave a dream job and teach future writers and editors?
I switched to teaching for a variety of reasons: to be even nearer to my family during my father's illness, to try something new after 22+ years in the newsroom, to jettison my role as a manager and bureaucrat and focus exclusively on journalism. The chief reason, though, is that I so much enjoyed teaching entry-level journalists at The American Lawyer -- the scores of interns and fact-checkers I hired and helped train -- that I decided I would get even closer to the supply of new talent. I thoroughly enjoyed my first year in the classroom and look forward to many more years in my latest career twist.

Best professional lesson learned at the J-School?
The hard and careful work required to produce quality journalism.

What is your best advice to current students?
Don't assume that you know where your career will take you. Explore different segments at the J-School; I always wish I hadn't avoided the magazine and business writing classes, because that's what I do now. And don't assume that when you emerge with a degree, you will have the skills to succeed at any publication. My experience is that people just out of the best J-Schools are better prepared than most, but are really just at the starting line in terms of developing the needed reporting and writing skills.

What is your secret to success?
Finding and learning from great editors.