Lawyer Unleashed

The SQE was supposed to make legal education cheaper, fairer and more accessible. Instead, pass rates are falling (in July last year 59% of students failed SQE1), costs are rising, and thousands of aspiring solicitors are being sold a dream that may never lead to a legal career. James Richardson, qualified at a major international firm, now Head of Legal at Cuvva, and co-founder of Law Student Aca...

Most lawyers assume stress, burnout and dissatisfaction are just part of the job. Kirsty Waite, CEO of The Ethical Coaching Company, believes the real problem runs much deeper. Too many lawyers and professionals build successful careers that no longer align with who they are, then spend years wondering why they feel stuck, frustrated or exhausted. In this episode, Kirsty shares how she escaped a c...

Most lawyers believe that if they work hard enough and become technically brilliant, partnership in law firms will eventually follow. David Hardy, Senior Partner at CMS and a partner since the age of 32, says that's one of the biggest misconceptions in the legal profession. In this episode, he explains the biggest mistake ambitious lawyers make on the path to partnership, why legal expertise alone...

Building a book of business is the only thing standing between a legal career you control and one that controls you - and firms never teach you how to do it.  Steve Fretzin has coached hundreds of lawyers to stop chasing dead leads, stop giving away free consulting, and finally build the practice that gives them their life back.    Steve Fretzin is a business development coach, author, and host of...

Law firms have built fortunes on inefficiency - billable hours, mass due diligence, and work for the sake of work.  AI is already automating the most margin-rich parts of that model, and the firms not asking hard questions now will be asking them too late! Dan Hobson is Head of Asia at Clio, working with hundreds of law firms across the region to implement AI. He sits with barristers and lawyers a...

She was asked in a law firm interview if she planned to have kids. Then later told attending a summer boat party should take priority over observing Ramadan.  This is the side of corporate law that firms hide in plain sight.  In this episode, Jasmine Chaudry (now Partner at Waterstone Legal) exposes the hidden rules behind partnership, law firm culture, networking, diversity, and why so many lawye...

Legal Tech Talk CEO Bradley Collins reveals how he went from council estate kid to building the biggest legal tech event in Europe - and why he believes the legal industry is only just beginning to change. In this episode, Bradley shares the mindset, rejection, ambition, and relentless belief that helped him break into one of the most closed industries in the world with no legal background, no fan...

Law firms are suffering a burnout crisis. The CEO of the City of London Law Society, Patrick, McCann, has had enough, and he's saying it out loud. We explore: ▪ Whether the law firm model was ever built to keep lawyers healthy ▪ What the lawyer burnout data reveals about the profession ▪ Whether 'up and out' is a business model ▪ Why partner drawings have outpaced NQ salaries by a mile...

Ego is destroying the law profession. Managing Partner Sahar Farooqi has been inside the machine. And he's done pretending it works. He breaks down how ego forms, how it shows up at senior levels, and how it quietly poisons leadership, culture, and decision-making long before firms admit there's a problem. Sahar is a former barrister and former Global Head of Transformation at Harneys. He is now C...

Success in law is no longer about ticking boxes. It’s about breaking them open. Lawyer Unleashed is for lawyers who can see the system changing, and refuse to play small. Each episode brings raw, unfiltered conversations with lawyers, founders, and insiders challenging how law works, who it’s built for, and what success really means now. This is about seeing the game clearly. And playing it on you...