You Are A Lawyer: Take Risks and Change Careers in Law

In this bonus episode, podcast host Kyla Denanyoh is answering frequently asked questions from the podcast audience and social media.  Questions like:   Are you married to a lawyer?  Is podcasting your full-time job?  How do you find guests for the podcast? Kyla gets help from her best friend Lauren to ask these FAQs and Kyla gets vulnerable and shares about her life behind the microphone. You Are...

Vernon W. Thomas is a member of the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG), an Orleans Parish city prosecutor, a bookworm, former East Baton Rouge Parish public defender and has experience as a solo practitioner. Yet, Vernon did not grow up with aspirations to be a lawyer.  Vernon grew up watching his father, Vernon P. Thomas, a 1979 Southern University Law Center graduate, run a thr...

Dana Shaker has an intriguing career journey.  When Dana began law school, she was convinced that she wanted to work in policy and advocate for food practices.  However, the three rigorous years of law school led Dana to consider other options.  After taking the California bar exam twice and not passing the test, Dana listened to urging from her family and friends to take the D.C. bar exam.  Not o...

What happens when two people nudge you to leave your job and you get approval from a respected colleague to do something else?  Emily Hirsekorn ran with these hints for her to pursue something else and Emily has created a career of encouraging others to challenge themselves. Emily Hirsekorn was a corporate lawyer turned volunteer turned law school career coach turned energy coach.  Currently, Emil...

Alban Brooke comes from a long line of lawyers; his father, grandfather, and great grandfather were lawyers.  Alban’s legal journey began in construction law, where Alban worked as a runner, then helped a coworker start their own construction firm, and eventually worked as a paralegal.  As an attorney, Alban practiced what he knew, which was construction law.  However, Alban realized that what he...

Anjie Vichayanonda is a first generation lawyer who sought out lawyers to gain a better understanding of law school.  Anjie was connected with a wonderful mentor and followed her dreams to becoming a lawyer.  However, Anjie wants to make it easier for others to learn about law school and find mentors.   Anjie created Leg Up Legal, which is a virtual mentorship platform to connect pre-law students...

Krista Lynn wears many hats: she considers herself a “Recovering Superwoman” while Krista balances her career as a business lawyer with complex commercial transactions, and a mother.  As the creator and blogger of “Recovering Superwoman,” Krista advocates for others who have faced any adversity in their lives. Recovering Superwoman is a blog that was originally started from Krista’s personal journ...

Josue Jimenez’ career is ahead of his personal schedule. Currently, Josue is the Assistant Director of Admissions, Josue travels the country to meet law students,  attend law school fairs, gives tours of the law school, advocates for law students, reviews student applications, and prepares various training materials to further the reach of Campbell Law. However, Josue’s path to school administrati...

Nathan Sawaya was a corporate lawyer for five years and spent his evenings working with clay, paints, and other materials to release his creativity.  Eventually, Nathan picked up LEGO®-brand bricks and created an apple, then other items in his apartment and finally a sculpture.   Nathan’s talent with these bricks led Nathan to create a website to display his artwork.  After his website, Brick Arti...

Lori Mihalich-Levin believes that parenthood can make a person a better employee.  Parenting entails time management, project management, multitasking, prioritizing and budgeting, to name a few things.  When Lori was on maternity leave from her role as a medical reimbursement attorney, Lori created Mindful Return out of sheer desperation.  After being unable to find resources to assist a parent in...

Irnise Williams is a registered nurse, travel nurse, and practicing attorney. Originally from Connecticut, Irnise attended Howard University for her undergraduate degree and nursing school, then worked as a trauma nurse. Irnise was inspired to become a nurse after multiple positive interactions between the nurses who cared for her grandparents nurses and seeing what an impact those nurses made.  A...

To celebrate one year of consistency, pre-recording questionnaires, and editing audio files, I want to share five things that surprised me about podcasting. In this episode, I briefly discuss these topics: I have cried about this podcast. I miss the ignorance of being a law student. “Niches make Riches.” I can hear a smile. This podcast is not only for law school graduates. Thank you for listening...

Reza Yassi wants you to change the way you think about hiring and legal internships.  His company, Attornneed, connects law firms and law students with assignment-based, virtual internships.  As a 2L, Reza was contacted by a friend from law school and asked to complete a research assignment.  Reza took the idea and used it in the Hofstra Venture Capitalist Challenge and found that Attornneed was a...

Susan Guthrie was a freshman in college when she was involved in an accident that caused her to think differently about the legal process.  The lawsuit that was filed from the accident, was filed because of the accident, and Susan’s experiences with a lawyer caused Susan to find out the behind the curtain information about the law and why certain actions are taken, questions are asked, and why law...

After being asked repeatedly if she knew a lawyer who did this, that or the other thing, Kisha Brown created Justis Connection to make it easier for Black lawyers to find clients and share their services with the community.  Finding that Black lawyers had to work twice as hard to build a book of business, whether the lawyer was in an established firm or private practice, Kisha solved the problem o...

Robert Uy is a immigration and family law, domestic violence and human trafficking law.  This Filipino descendant grew up with intentions to become a lawyer, doctor, accountant or engineer; these were the only career options that his parents and grandparents allowed him to entertain.   So it was rebellious when Robert decided to change from his pre-med college major into a history major who took a...

Originally from Houston, Texas, Brianna Herman moved around to Tennessee and Austin for school, but found her way back to Houston to serve her community. While at Fisk University, Brianna worked in various public service roles which ultimately caused her to pursue law instead her original interest in business. Brianna has spent her life chasing a spark.  A spark to do more with her life, a spark t...

After being exposed to live theater at the age of five, Gordon Firemark continued to be impressed by theater, but he wasn’t an actor.  Gordon worked on various theater productions while in high school and later was a television producer for a sports media network, before becoming a theater producer.  Gordon credits law school for the business acumen and better understanding about financing and con...

In this episode, Kyla Denanyoh thanks the audience for listening to the podcast and taking a chance with a niche subject matter.   Kyla builds anticipation for Season Two of the You Are A Lawyer podcast which begins on February 4, 2021. Get alerts when new episodes are released by visiting the podcast website, youarealawyer.com, and joining the mailing list.   Follow the podcast on Instagram @youa...

Kyle Sherman attended law school because he enjoyed undergraduate school and wasn’t ready to leave academia.  However, Kyle quickly realized that he hated law school.  After a conversation with his mother, Kyle understood that he did not have to formally practice law with his law degree.  This pivotal moment propelled Kyle through law school and into his own firm.  Tired of being a good lawyer and...

After working in entrepreneurial finance and Big Law for more than 20 years, Becky Morrison asked herself what would make her truly happy.  Becky worked as a litigator, before moving into a management role where she oversaw attorneys, litigation support staff and non-attorneys professionals.  This role reminded Becky that she really enjoyed managing people.  During a time of transition, Becky work...

Jay Coleman initially attended law school to become a prosecutor. However after law school, Jay moved to Maryland to work with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Jay’s interest in policy caused him to seek a career in advocacy and he moved back to his home state.   While deciding whether to take the bar exam again, Jay started a business, ColeS...

A native of Poland, Anna Radke moved to the States to become a fashion expert and take her knowledge back to Poland. Anna graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) with a major in Fashion Merchandising Management and Anna’s interest in becoming an attorney was piqued by a F.I.T. professor.   Anna used law school to practice English and perfect her writing, while taking courses in...

Erin Potempa-Wall is passionate about understanding the other side of an argument and situation. This passion led Erin to advocating for children, against evictions and was creating a vegan and cruelty free beauty brand.  With an educational background in philosophy, Erin practiced law as a prosecutor and opened a law firm with a classmate. All of this prepared Erin for the challenge of creating T...

Ruth Jeremiah was originally interested in public interest law.  However, her career trajectory did not progress as she planned and Ruth found herself working in document review for six years.  Although Ruth did not enjoy every aspect of document review (and later e-discovery work), these experiences taught Ruth patience.   Growing up, Ruth enjoyed watching “Law & Order” and at the age of elev...