Hi, and welcome to The Former Lawyer Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Cottrell. I practiced law for 10 years and now I help unhappy lawyers ditch their soul-sucking jobs. On this show, I share advice and strategies for aspiring former lawyers, and interviews with former lawyers who have left the law behind to find careers and lives that they love.

Today, I want to talk about the glow-up that The Former Lawyer framework recently received. For those of you who were at the Masterclass on September 6th, you already have had a sneak preview of this.

But I wanted to talk to everyone who listens to the podcast about it, particularly because I think it is helpful to know what are the things that stuck out to me in terms of what upgrades would be the most helpful for lawyers who are trying to figure out what it is that they want to do that is not practicing law.

To recap for anyone who has not listened to me talk about the framework before, The Former Lawyer framework is a framework that I created based on my work with clients, both in the Collab and one-on-one, helping them figure out what it is they want to do that is not practicing law.

Because so many of us are like, “I don't want to do this. I don't want to be a lawyer. I literally don't know where to start.” The framework was created to fill that void when you're a lawyer who is trying to figure out what you want to do and you just don't know where to begin.

The framework has five steps. That's both the original framework and now this upgraded framework. The only difference between the five steps before, as opposed to now, is that I actually took the first two steps in the original framework and have combined them into the first step in the upgraded framework.

Then I essentially added a brand new fourth step. Overall, fundamentally, the framework did not change in terms of the process that people go through that I have seen people go through that has been helpful. But I decided to take some pieces of what was previously the fourth and fifth steps of the framework and pull them out and focus on them in their own module because of how important that step is.

Let me talk a little bit about what that step is. Previously, the five steps were, step one was Stop and Self-assess. Step two was to Tackle the Fundamentals. Step three was to Identify and Clarify. Step four was Explore, and step five was Strategize and Execute.

I took Stop and Self-assess and Tackle the Fundamentals, which are one and two, and put both of those into the first step in the new framework. The reason for that—there were a bunch of different reasons—but one of them, logistically, those two modules were the shortest modules in the framework, but also the content of those two steps is very related.

In many ways, it's like two sides of the same coin for people who are starting out trying to figure out what it is that they want to do. The Identify and Clarify piece, which used to be module three or step three, it is now module two, is the module that I think a lot of people think of when they're thinking about, “How do I figure out what I want to do?”

The new module two or step two is to Identify and Clarify where you're looking at your values, you're taking various assessments, personality assessments that I recommend, values assessments, strengths assessments, and you're doing a likes and dislikes assessment.

Also eventually—and I intentionally put this later in the module—skills, a skills assessment. Because, of course, for many lawyers, when they go into the Identify and Clarify piece, we tend to be very focused on transferable skills and wanting to be able to articulate those, which of course makes total sense, but there are a lot of things that I think need to come before that.

Of course, I talk more about that in the Masterclass where I teach through the framework and in the curriculum itself inside the Collab. So Identify and Clarify used to be step three, now it’s step two simply because the first two steps have been combined into the first step.

Then the third step of the upgraded Former Lawyer Framework is to Explore and Experiment, which used to be step four. Explore and Experiment is just what it sounds like. Basically, it's taking all that information that you have acquired in step two and using it to actually identify options that you might want to consider.

Within Explore and Experiment in the original five-step framework, people were also engaging in this process of refining what they were looking for and iterating in order to really hone in on the thing that is the right fit for them.

That is still part of the current process, so much so, that I decided that I wanted to make it a separate module. In other words, module four used to be the Explore and Experiment module, now, module three is the Explore and Experiment module since one and two collapsed into each other. Two is now Identify and Clarify. Three is now Explore and Experiment. Four is a brand new module with a brand new curriculum called the Refine and Iterate module.

A lot of the things in the Refine and Iterate module are things that either I was doing individually with one-on-one clients working through with people on group calls for the Collab or that were part and parcel of some of the lessons in the previous Explore and Experiment module.

But I really felt strongly that putting Refinement and Iteration in its own module was going to help people for many reasons, but one of them is that I think that it is one of the most difficult parts of the process.

It's the place where I see people getting the most support in the Collab. It's really where I see the Collab, both the community and the curriculum and our ability to interact, it's really where see that shine and it's honestly the most difficult part because it can be hard to do because of all of the pieces of the framework, it is the part at which people feel like they're most frequently flailing.

Another way to think about this is the current upgraded framework now has Stop and Self-assess, which is to figure out where you currently are, that Identify and Clarify, that's module two, that's Assessments, Values, Personality, Strengths, etc.

Module three is Explore and Experiment, which is figuring out and identifying options that might be a good fit for you and going out and getting the information that you need about them. Then module four, the Refine and Iterate module is taking that information and figuring out essentially how to narrow things down so that you know what types of jobs to target.

One of the things that is often true is that people can get tangled up and start trying to target jobs before they know that they want to target those jobs. So breaking out the process of Refinement and Iteration into module four and then Strategize and Execute in module five, which is the actual targeting of the job—so we're talking cover letter, resume, interview prep, those sorts of things—this helps people conceptualize the fact that these are two separate things.

Figuring out what job you want to target, narrowing down, brainstorming, and expanding on your options, ultimately determining what you want to target and then actually targeting those jobs and the things you need to do to target those jobs, those are two different things. That is the biggest change that has happened within the framework this past year when I upgraded it.

I also have included some additional content. I did a coach training, a Certified Career Management Coach training, an ICF-certified training earlier this year, which was incredibly helpful and I incorporated some of the content from that experience into some of the upgrades that I made in the framework.

The other big upgrade that I have made, I'm always trying to think about what are ways that I can set up the lawyers who are coming into the Collab and going through the framework, how can I set them up for success? One of the things that is consistently found and shown to be very helpful—just like in general, in learning, design, and instruction—is actionable workbooks that help people move through the things, the items, the lessons, whatever it is, and apply those things in a guided way.

I have created five completely brand new fillable electronic workbooks that can be printed, but also you can fill them out in Google Docs. One for each module so that as you enter each module, you're also getting a fillable workbook that you can complete.

Here's the thing. Not only does it help you keep track of like, “Where am I? What do I still need to do? Where maybe are the pieces that I haven't done the work that I need to do?” the other thing is that when you come to group calls, or if we're working together one-on-one and you're also in the Collab, it is really helpful to be able to talk through the answers and the things that you have in those workbooks.

I've already been doing that some with my one-on-one clients. Because if someone comes to me and they say, “I don't know X or I don't know Y,” or “I'm trying to figure out this thing and I'm not totally sure,” one of the things that I can ask is, “Okay, well, let's talk about this question or that question or this exercise or whatever that is part of whatever workbook.”

To be clear, you do not have to do the workbooks. The workbooks are 100% a tool to help you move through this process. The Collab has existed now for more than four years.

The Framework curriculum in sort of roughly the state that it currently is has existed for over three years and of course, many people have gone through the process without the workbooks but the workbooks are a hugely beneficial thing, especially for those of you who might either struggle to recall particular things that you've done because life is lifing or who benefit from putting something down and then going back and reflecting on it, that's something that can be a very helpful part of this process.

Those are the big upgrades that have happened to the Framework. I am super excited about them. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email me. You can always email [email protected].

And as I mentioned in the beginning, the Framework is the backbone of the Collab so if you thought about joining us in the Collab and this conversation makes sense to you or piqued your interest, definitely check out formerlawyer.com/collab to see all the information about that. All right, I will talk to you next week.

Thanks so much for listening. If you are thinking about leaving the law but aren't sure where to start, make sure that you download my free guide: First Steps to Leaving the Law at formerlawyer.com/first. Have a great week.