The Former Lawyer Podcast

Today, I want to talk about a hot topic on the Former Lawyer Podcast: narcissism. The reason that we really need to talk about it is that, as bad as it sounds, there’s a lot of narcissism in the legal profession. This is not going to be a comprehensive exploration of narcissism. But we’re going to talk about a few different types of narcissism that are rampant in the legal system. Not only are the...

This week, I'm really excited to share my conversation with Amber Haggins with you. Amber is a former lawyer who now sits as Prophet's Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.  As you’ll hear from her story, she has lots of great advice for people who are thinking about an alternative career in DEI. But, her story is useful to anyone looking to leave their job as a lawyer.  Li...

Are you looking to leave the law, and find a non-legal career, but something is holding you back? Do you think there’s something wrong because you just can’t do this anymore? Today we need to talk about four myths that lawyers who want to explore post-legal careers are holding on to, which is often keeping them from exploring their options when it comes to a post-legal career.  Listen in because t...

This week on the podcast, I'm excited to share my interview with Rho Thomas. Rho and I originally connected when she was still working as a lawyer in a Biglaw firm, and she had developed an interest in personal finance. More recently, I saw that Rho had left her job in Biglaw and she was now doing this work as a financial coach for lawyers. So, naturally, I asked her to come on the podcast, a...

On the latest episode of the Former Lawyer podcast, I had Ilona Salmons back to continue our conversation about burned-out lawyers.  We wanted to have this conversation because we know that burnout in lawyers is extremely prevalent and can be detrimental to your mental health if it’s not dealt with.  In this episode, we’ll cover signs of lawyer burnout, as well as the contributing factors that lea...

This week, I am talking about my interview with Ilona Salmons. She's actually not a lawyer but she works primarily with mental health in lawyers and other high achievers. In fact, in her doctoral research, the subject of it was burnout in lawyers. I wanted to share this interview with her because some of the things that we talk about quite a bit are mental health and lawyers, lawyer burnout,...

Are you ready to find a new job after leaving the law? Do you want to find the right post-legal career for you? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Here at Former Lawyer, I work with lawyers to help find the best path after leaving their soul-sucking careers. Today, I’m going to talk about the upcoming Guided Track through the Former Lawyer Framework. We’ll also talk about how it relates to the...

On the latest episode of the Former Lawyer podcast, I talked about The Eight Signs of a Toxic Legal Workplace. For this episode, I am going to pull heavily from a great piece by Ilona Salmons , who is a therapist that specializes in working with lawyers. You may have noticed that toxic workplaces often come up a lot on the podcast. The reason that I think this topic is important to talk about is t...

This week, I want to talk to you about the pernicious cycle that is trapping you in your lawyer job. Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone but if you are someone who's feeling trapped in your job as a lawyer, then I'm going to guess that this cycle is part of why. By far, when my clients come to me to work with me, this is one of the things that they talk about the most as what...

Welcome to the very first episode of The Former Lawyer Podcast that's releasing in 2022. Today, I want to talk to you about a question that I'm sure many of you have, which is, “How can I leave the law this year?” It's interesting because when I speak with non-lawyers about the work that I do, this question might seem a little bit odd to them. In their eyes, the solution is to just...

Today, I’ll be talking about the issue of Biglaw associate burnout. I cannot tell you the number of people who I have heard from in the last year who are months into a career in the Biglaw system, and they are just like, “I can't do this anymore. This is inhumane.” Earlier this summer, I shared a video about Biglaw Associate Burnout. This idea that Biglaw firms acting like they couldn't...

Today, we’re going to be talking about a topic I feel very strongly about. It’s also something that I’ve been seeing more and more in the legal profession. There is a school of thought that your thoughts cause your feelings. This idea is derived from a well-established and evidence-based type of therapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy. As you know, I frequently advocate for people in the legal...

This week on the podcast, we re-released one of the most popular episodes of the podcast. I wanted to make sure that if you haven't heard it before, you have a chance to hear it, and if you have listened to it before, you are reminded of it.  This is because this is the episode that I hear about from people the most, hands down of all the episodes that have been released on The Former Lawyer...

Kara Hardin is a therapist and used to be a corporate and securities lawyer. In the latest episode of the podcast, I talked to Kara about her journey to becoming a lawyer and how she came to leave the law and choose therapy as a post-legal career.  The path for her to become a therapist is a little bit unique. She’s originally from Canada but moved to the States for a while and was not licensed to...

This week on the Former Lawyer Podcast, we’re re-releasing a previous episode, but this is one that I feel needs to be re-shared because the information is just so important to people thinking about finding a non-legal job. The episode is all about what to do if you are in a position where you're just like, “I just need to leave the law ASAP, and I will basically take anything. I just need to...

This week, I'm sharing my conversation with Lauren Tetenbaum. Lauren is, of course, a former lawyer, and now, practicing therapist, licensed as a social worker that specializes in providing mental health services and advocacy related to maternal wellness. She's joining me to share her journey pursuing mental health after leaving the legal profession. What’s interesting about Lauren’s sto...

I recently had a conversation with a Collab member about how the legal system normalizes things that really aren't normal about law firm office culture. This likely isn’t new to you, but there are some things that we just can't talk about enough. In this epiosde, I want to talk about working from home and the impact of the pandemic on law firm office culture. See Show notes at formerlawy...

This week on the podcast, we are re-releasing an episode that came out about this time last year. It's one of the most popular episodes of the podcast.  This episode answers one of the biggest questions that I get, which is, “I don't want to be a lawyer anymore, what can I do?”  There are actually two dimensions to this question. When I’m asked this, it’s usually like, “I don't want...

It’s time to talk about a part of Biglaw that truly exemplifies what is so problematic with the structure of the legal system and how it creates the toxic work environment of Biglaw firms. Speaking from my own experience, one of the most maddening things about a Biglaw work environment and being a Biglaw associate is that no one is responsible for anything. At the same time, everyone is responsibl...

On the latest episode of the Former Lawyer Podcast, I spoke with Nhu-Y Le, Vice President of Client Services at Legalpad. Legalpad is a business immigration company that helps startups immigrate their founders and other talent to the United States.  I think Y’s story is really helpful in the sense that she illustrates how you can make small moves over time and still end up in a place that works fo...

Annie Little is an ICF-certified career coach and a former lawyer. Her company is called JD Nation, which was founded in 2012. In 2013, Annie left her position in real estate finance. Since then, she’s been coaching lawyers to help them land and succeed in their ideal jobs. On the latest episode of the Former Lawyer Podcast, I was joined by Annie Little to talk about a topic that isn’t covered eno...

Recently, I was sent an article from one of the listeners of the Former Lawyer Podcast. This article, entitled Why Former Lawyers Are Bitter Sometimes , seems to be premised on two flawed assumptions.  The first, that former lawyers who are vocal about their negative experiences in a legal profession are doing so because they're bitter. The other one is that being vocal about your negative ex...

Debi Yadegari is a former lawyer who worked in biglaw and in-house law. These days, she runs Villyge, a company that helps organizations support working parents. This company came out of her own experience of observing the workplace culture and lack of support for working parents in biglaw and in-house law firms.  She saw how working parents, or any human being who wanted to have interests and a l...

In your legal career, one of the most common things you’ll see is people leaving. You want to leave the law too, but you don’t want to leave the workload behind for someone else or because you feel you owe your firm.  Unfortunately, none of this is true. In reality, you are just a widget. You serve a purpose, and when the time comes, they can and will replace you. The loyalty you have to your firm...

Tarzan Kay is a copywriter that also teaches other people how to write better copy, specifically for emails. I asked Tarzan to join men on the Former Lawyer Podcast after I listened to an interview with her on another podcast. In that interview, she spoke about leaving law school during her third year. Her story is unique in terms of the fact that she realized that law was not for her before pract...