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Jim Karger: Former Labor Lawyer Finds Happiness in Mexico Helping Homeless Dogs and Counseling Businesses

On October 31, 2001, attorney Jim Karger's life changed dramatically.  Tired of his day-to-day stress and the health problems that accompanied it, Karger left his successful labor law law practice.  He and his wife, Kelly, sold their home and most of their possessions as they seriously downscaled their lifestyle and moved from North Arlington, Texas to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a city about 180 miles northwest of Mexico City where many fellow expatriates live.

Jim Karger arrived in Mexico with no backup plan and the ability to speak only a little Spanish.  However, within a year, the couple founded Save a Mexican Mutt (SAMM), a 501(c)(3) charity that helps homeless Mexican dogs find new homes.  The Kargers' work with the dogs began with caring for a litter of puppies who had been abandoned and grew into a successful operation whereby SAMM has now placed 200 Mexican dogs in homes in the United States, and at least 100 more in Mexican homes.  The organization's Web site features a variety of dogs available for adoption and a blog describing the Kargers' work.

Not only is Jim Karger helping dogs, he's helping people, too.  Drawing upon his experience as a labor lawyer, in 2002, he began a successful consulting practice that helps to create "workplace environments where people really want to come to work."  Karger challenges his clients to recognize that employees' earnings do not accurately predict their happiness on the job.  He encourages employers to understand their employees better, and to build solid, meaningful relationships with them as persons, rather than treating them merely as "units of labor."

Karger keeps his law license current and says he earns as much money from his consulting as he used to earn in his law practice, but he and Kelly live simply in a small home they had built.  The door's always open so his eight dogs can enter and exit as they wish. 

And what happens to the money that's left over after living simply?  Karger puts it toward SAMM, other animal charities, and his own retirement.  Jim Karger's story is a tale of success about a lawyer and his wife who left the intensity of big city law practice and have found greater happiness and meaning.  As a lawyer who likes dogs, writing this inspired me so much that I checked the weather in San Miguel de Allende.

By Steve Imparl, guest blogger

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