UCLA School of Law alum Jon Mandel ’18 leads government relations practices as senior vice president for Bose Public Affairs Group.

What do you do each day?

My role as a lobbyist is primarily to help clients navigate public policy and government-facing challenges and identify opportunities for collaboration. A company or organization will come to me with a challenge: a pending bill that could affect their operations, the absence of a regulatory framework that would give them market access, a government agency that is considering a consequential decision, or a public controversy creating risk. It’s my job to understand the law, the political environment, and the viable path to overcoming the challenge or manifesting the opportunity.

How did you get to be doing this work?

Before law school, I worked in politics on local D.C. campaigns and as a staffer for a council member. I started my legal career as a real estate transactional attorney at a law firm in New York and was given the opportunity to work with the firm’s public policy practice group that represented clients in D.C. and across the country on the state level. What began as a single opportunity gradually turned into more work with the public policy practice group, and I soon realized that I was especially drawn to the combination of law, strategy, politics, and relationship-building that the work required.

What about your experience at UCLA Law helped you become successful in your career?

UCLA Law helped lay the groundwork that prepared me for this eventual career pivot. Courses on land use, public policy, and local government with professors Jonathan Zasloff and Scott Cummings were particularly substantive and inspiring to me. The curriculum helped me hone the skill of taking in a large amount of information and complicated set of facts, extract what matters, and communicate it clearly. Now as a lobbyist, this is essentially what I do every day.

The academic philosophy at UCLA Law encourages students to think beyond the narrow or traditional definition of what it means to have a legal career. A law degree can prepare you to practice at a firm, work in-house at a company, or appear in a courtroom, but it can also prepare you for a career in government, business, or public policy. That broader perspective was especially valuable to me because my career ultimately took a very different direction than what I had initially planned — from being a member of a commercial real estate deal team to now practicing at the intersection of law and policy.

What advice do you have for Bruin law students?

First, don’t limit yourself to the belief that there is a “right” way to use your law degree, careerwise. Traditional paths can be incredibly fulfilling, but they aren’t the only paths.

Second, learn how institutions operate. Expand your horizons beyond media coverage of public policy discussions or politics. Seek out extracurricular activities and externships with a campaign, an elected official’s office, or a public-interest organization with an advocacy or public policy focus to gain a true understanding of how things really work.

Finally, invest in relationships without an ulterior motive about how they might benefit you personally or professionally. Be curious about other people’s lives and work, help when you can, and stay connected. The strongest relationships are built when people know that your interest in them is genuine and not self-serving.