The Former Lawyer Podcast

Lawyers love a good assessment. Sarah has learned this running The Collab . There's something appealing about taking a test that promises clear answers about who you are and what you should do next. That appeal is also the problem. When you rely on just one assessment, it's easy to treat the results as the definitive answer. You think, "This is who I am. Now I need to find the caree...

When the world feels unstable, the idea of introducing more instability into your life by leaving your job can feel impossible. But waiting for things to stabilize before you address your career unhappiness might mean waiting forever. 2025 was a difficult year. If you're already in an overwhelming job, everything else happening in the world makes it even harder to think clearly about your car...

One of the most common questions lawyers ask when they're thinking about leaving is whether they need a bridge job. It's a fair question, but before Sarah can answer it, she needs to know which type of bridge job you're talking about. Because there are actually two very different kinds. See show notes at formerlawyer.com/239 I'm closing enrollment for my self-paced group progra...

Sometimes people ask Sarah, "Do all the lawyers you work with end up leaving law?" She gets the sense they think she's trying to convince people to abandon their legal careers, like she's running some kind of exit campaign. Let her be clear. She's not here to convince anyone to leave the law. See show notes at formerlawyer.com/251 I'm closing enrollment for my self-pa...

Maybe you're thinking about leaving the law, but you aren't quite sure you're ready to start working through the process. You're thinking, "I really think this isn't for me, I definitely want to get out eventually, but maybe not at this exact moment." If that sounds like you, there's something you can do. This is going to be the most unsurprising recommendat...

When lawyers start thinking about leaving, they focus on the practical steps. What career should I pursue? How do I update my resume? What skills do I need? Those things matter, but Sarah consistently hears from lawyers that they underestimated something else. They didn't realize how much they needed to know they weren't alone. The legal profession can be deeply isolating, especially for...

Most people who are thinking about leaving the law spend a long time in a familiar place. They know their job feels awful, they say it to themselves and to other people, and they imagine how much better things could be somewhere else.  But imagining you'd like to leave is not the same thing as deciding that you want to. That shift sounds simple, but it's tied up in identity, prestige, su...

There comes a point where the math you’ve been doing in your head stops adding up. You spent years in school. You passed the bar. You took on the loans. You built the career you were told would make it all worth it. Now you’re tired, anxious, or checked out, but the idea of leaving makes your stomach drop. It feels like walking away means none of it mattered. That’s how the sunk cost trap works. I...

Zi Lin did everything “right.” Philosophy major, law school, great grades, OCI, Biglaw offer, six-figure salary. From the outside, the path looked impressive. From the inside, it felt like being processed through a conveyor belt. No one asked whether the career actually fit. It was just the obvious next step. Parents approved. Professors approved. Colleagues approved. When everyone around you nods...

A lot of lawyers assume that making more money will make leaving easier. In reality, the opposite often happens. Once you are in a high-paying legal job, it can feel like there is no other path that will work. People outside the profession are usually surprised by this. They assume lawyers have endless options, but many lawyers feel they have to hang on to what they have because there may not be a...

A lot of lawyers believe they shouldn’t feel burned out because they haven’t been practicing very long. But burnout isn’t measured by years in the profession. For many lawyers, it started long before their first legal job.  Sarah hears from people who have only been in practice a few years and are already exhausted, overwhelmed, or checked out. They feel embarrassed or confused because they can po...

For years, the idea of leaving the law can sit quietly in the back of your mind. You tell yourself you’ll figure it out eventually, that one day you’ll know it’s time. But months turn into years, and the only thing that changes is how tired you feel saying, “I don’t want to do this forever.”  The biggest mistake most lawyers make when they want to leave is assuming it will just happen on its own....

Lawyers often describe feeling like they can never fully turn their brains off. Even during downtime, there’s a sense of waiting for the next email, the next call, or the next fire to put out. It’s not simply overthinking. It’s the body staying on alert, a nervous system trained to expect that something could go wrong at any time. Sarah explains why this constant state of vigilance makes sense, wh...

The first year after leaving law is a strange mix of freedom and fatigue. There is relief in stepping away from billable hours, but the exhaustion runs deeper than expected. Sarah Cottrell hears it constantly from clients. They imagined a clean break. Instead, it feels like living in a body still bracing for impact. At first there’s quiet. The noise of practice fades, and breathing feels easier. T...

Ever feel trapped in the cycle where one week you swear you have to get out of law, and the next you convince yourself it isn’t so bad? That back-and-forth isn’t clarity, it’s burnout and fear of judgment keeping you stuck.  In this episode, Sarah Cottrell breaks down how to recognize the outrage complacency cycle and what it takes to finally step out of it.  Join Sarah for a free live masterclass...

Many lawyers, when they stop and reflect, realize that one of the reasons they went to law school was to impress other people. Prestige mattered. But the moment they name it, the shame sets in — “That was a bad reason. I shouldn’t care what others think.” Sarah Cottrell pushes back on that belief, reminding lawyers that caring about opinions is normal and human.  In this episode, she shares how ca...

The Former Lawyer framework has recently received a glow-up, and this podcast episode covers all the fun updates. Sarah has a few things that stuck out to her and would be the most helpful to anyone considering becoming a former lawyer. She covers those items in this episode to highlight them for all the podcast listeners considering joining. Reserve your seat to learn The Simple 5-Step Framework...

You’ve been in therapy. You’ve talked through your career. You understand, logically, that your boss’s mood isn’t your responsibility, that your worth isn’t measured by productivity, and that burnout doesn’t mean you’re broken. And yet… you’re still panicking every time Outlook pings. You’re still second-guessing every boundary. You’re still bracing for impact. For many lawyers, this is the point...

Today’s podcast episode is an important reminder every lawyer needs to hear. Sarah reminds listeners that nothing about your job is as important as you and your emotional, mental, and physical health. For lawyers, it’s easy to feel their value as human beings is basically in job performance.  See show notes at formerlawyer.com/229 I'm closing enrollment for my self-paced group program, the Fo...

2025 is more than halfway through, and if you told yourself this was the year you’d leave practice, this is your check-in. September is basically here, which means four months left in the year. That’s still plenty of time to make progress. And honestly, the start of fall always feels like a reset — school year vibes, even for those of us who haven’t been in school for decades. So if you haven’t ta...

The question comes up constantly - in podcast interviews, on Collab group calls, and in emails from listeners. "What if the grass isn't greener on the other side?" It's tied to this idea that maybe being miserable at work is just what it means to be an adult with a job. Maybe every workplace is toxic. Maybe no one really likes what they do. You'll even hear people outside...

There's a partner at your firm. Everyone knows about them. Multiple people have quit working for them. Multiple people have gone out on mental health leave. When people talk about this partner, they use phrases like "difficult" or "has sharp elbows." If you listen to Sarah's episode about the no-asshole rule , you know that “has sharp elbows” generally means they&apos...

In today’s podcast, Sarah discusses how to know when it’s the right time to leave law. Many people listening are grappling with this question, and often, when they ask it, they are looking for an external answer. There is no external answer. You are the only person that can decide when the time is right. The reality is that you need to ask yourself two questions to know if now is the right time fo...

You're exhausted from work and catch yourself thinking, "I wish I could get hit by a bus just a little bit so I could finally get a break." If that sounds familiar, you're not alone - and it's definitely not normal. This disturbing thought is surprisingly common among lawyers in toxic work environments. Sarah and returning guest Kelcey Baker dive into why so many lawyers f...

You're successful on paper but can't shake the feeling you haven't really "made it" without a prestigious law firm on your resume. Tiffany Obeng lived with that impostor syndrome for over a decade before finally getting her shot at Biglaw in 2023.  Nine months later, she was back out.  In this episode, Tiffany shares what she learned during those nine months that changed e...