Lawyers’ Alternative Career Choices

Sonia Hickey, Contributing writer

In the annals of legal career pivots, few stories are as deliciously unexpected as that of Roman and Andrea Jewell, the masterminds behind Fix & Fogg peanut butter. Picture, if you will, two bright-eyed lawyers, armed with freshly minted Master’s degrees from King’s College London, deciding to trade in their briefcases for… jars of peanut butter.

It’s a tale that would make even Phileas Fogg raise an eyebrow.

And that’s one reason they on our recent list of ‘jaw dropping’ career changes made by lawyers.

The year was 2014, and while most of their peers were busy climbing the corporate ladder, Roman and Andrea were busy climbing mountains of peanuts.

Their decision to abandon the world of torts and briefs for the world of spreads and nuts wasn’t made overnight. As Roman puts it, “It’s been 18 months of thinking and experimenting and trying out the market at fairs”.

One can only imagine the conversation:

“Darling, I’ve had an epiphany. Let’s quit our stable, well-paying jobs and make peanut butter!”
“Brilliant idea, love. Shall we start with smooth or crunchy?”

And just like that, Fix & Fogg was born, named after two characters from Jules Verne’s “Around the World in 80 Days.” Because when you’re about to embark on a nutty adventure, why not name your company after a novel about a crazy global escapade?

Their first production facility? A local lawn bowls club. One can almost picture Roman and Andrea in professional dress hunched over a peanut grinder, debating the finer points of peanut-to-salt ratios while bewildered bowlers looked on.

The transition wasn’t without its challenges. Gone were the days of solving abstract legal problems. Now, they grappled with very tangible issues, like how to angle jar lids for optimal knife leverage.

But the Jewells were determined. They sourced high-oil content peanuts from Australia, ensuring their product would have a long shelf life without preservatives,

Their dedication paid off. Within months, they went from producing 400 jars a week to 1000. Moore Wilson’s, a Wellington institution, placed three orders in seven days. Clearly, the verdict was in: Fix & Fogg was guilty of being irresistibly delicious.

Fast forward to today, and Fix & Fogg has gone from a weekend farmers’ market hobby to being stocked in over 3000 supermarkets across the US. They’ve even partnered with NASA to bring their peanut butter to the International Space Station. That’s right, Fix & Fogg is now literally out of this world.

But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Roman and Andrea’s journey is how it’s changed their perspective.

As Andrea notes, “You get treated differently; people assume so much about you whereas the past six months has exposed us to all sorts of people who treat us as equals”. Who knew that peanut butter could be such a great social equalizer?

In the end, the Jewells’ story is a testament to the power of following your passions, no matter how nutty they might seem. They’ve proven that with enough determination (and high-quality peanuts), you can spread joy far beyond the confines of a courtroom.

And as for those inevitable nut jokes? Well, Roman’s friends have advised him to stop saying “That’s nuts.” But in a story like this, how can he resist?