Sarah Cottrell: Hi, and welcome to The Former Lawyer Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Cottrell. I've 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.

So you may have heard the announcement that's been running over the last couple of weeks with the podcast, which is the announcement that I am closing enrollment in the Former Lawyer Collaborative permanently as of August 31st, 2026. So at the end of this month, enrollment in the collab is closing. And I wanted to talk about some of the reasons that I made this decision, because obviously, for those of you who've been around a long time, you know that the Collab has also been around a long time. Let me start by just talking a little bit about what the Collab is and the history of it and then I'll talk a little bit about the decision that I made and why I made it and all sorts of other fun things like that.

Okay, so the Collab has been open since 2020. The beta round of the Collab closed on April 1st of 2020. The Collab was something that I had wanted to create for a long time. I mean, listen, the reason I created the podcast is because I knew that there were lots of lawyers who felt the way that I had felt about practicing law. And who had the experience that I had when I would go to Google and search for alternative careers for lawyers and I would get like the same list of like half a dozen options that were kind of just like lawyer adjacent or lawyer light, you know, like compliance or whatever. And what I really wanted to do with the podcast was tell the stories of people who have moved on to other things that aren't just those couple of things that you're sort of told like, oh, you want to leave law? Here are several options.

And I've talked about this many times in the podcast before, but the other thing that I really wanted to do was to create this sense that people were not alone, because I knew they weren't alone, right? I had gone through the experience of practicing for 10 years and then leaving law and I knew lots of people who had also practiced law for quite a while and ultimately decided to leave. And yet somehow I noticed that all of us felt like we were the only ones who couldn't hack it, or who didn't like it, or there was confusion because it was like, I don't like this. And you're saying you don't like this, but you're not actually trying to leave. So like, do we actually not like this in the same way or what's going on? And of course, I also had the experience of living in a house with another lawyer, because my husband and I, as you may know, met in law school and he practiced as a lawyer for 13 years before he moved to his role, which is in legal tech.

I had this advantage of having someone close to me who understood and felt the same way about legal practice that I did. Not everyone feels the way about legal practice that I did slash do. But many people do and it's for a lot of different reasons. If you're a lawyer who's listening, you have probably run into the challenge of trying to explain to someone who isn't a lawyer what it is about being a lawyer that can be so soul crushing. Well, I didn't have to do that, because I had someone who already understood and that was huge for me. Both, like the validation of like, these are real feelings, you're not crazy, but also like knowing that I wasn't the only person who thought that way about the experience of being a lawyer, made it much easier to trust the feelings that I did have, right? And it was also really helpful to have someone there who could say like, hey, yeah, the way you feel is reasonable and you shouldn't just keep doing this thing that is harmful for you, that is harmful for your mental and emotional well-being. And I know that not everyone has that.

So in addition to the podcast, I wanted at the time to create something that would give people that sort of community experience or like that, oh, hey, me too experience. And that's sort of where the Collab came from. So when the Collab first started, I hadn't even built the curriculum. It was primarily just like the community piece and then some like live workshops and whatnot. And of course, now when you enroll in the Collab, there is a curriculum that I've created called the Former Lawyer Framework, which people work through. It takes you from, I have no idea what I want to do, I just know that it is probably not this, to figuring out how to position yourself for those roles and do things like resume cover letters, et cetera. But a huge part of it, as we've talked about many times, is the process of deciding what is it that you actually want to do? What is it that you're actually suited for? And in particular, what are your values? And what are the values that are going to be the most important to you, when you're thinking about a career? So values and personality and strengths and skills and all of these things together compose your personal brand.

I also think of it as sort of like this matrix that you can pass career options through and ask, like, is this actually a fit? This thing I'm thinking about that I kind of have an interest in, like, is this a fit for who I am and what I want and what my values are? So the Collab now has the community piece, it has the curriculum and it has recordings of the many panels and workshops that I hosted live, in the first couple of years that the Collab was running. So like I said, the beta round closed on April 1st, 2020, and it's now 2026. So the Collab has been open for six years now. And I still love the Collab as a program and there are lots of things that I love about it, but I like how accessible it is, in terms of price point. And I also like the fact that it is self-paced, so people can go at their own rate. But I have been thinking a lot about where I want Former Lawyer to go, because the podcast is seven years old as of basically this week that I'm recording this episode.

And I know if you're listening to this episode when it releases or close to when it releases, you know that the last few years have involved a lot of upheaval, particularly in the US, if you're based in the US like me. And there has been lots of stuff politically. We've talked about that on the podcast before. But also in the last like 18 months, the rise of AI and the use of AI in things like search and also all sorts of other things has significantly changed how people find Former Lawyer. And I think it's also changed the way that we interact with information. Because I don't know about you, but I feel like I am just like constantly overwhelmed by information. And one of the things that I've noticed as AI has increased in popularity, is that people seem to be more and more interested in human connection, which I am definitely on board with, because, of course, as I said, one of the main things that I set out to do with Former Lawyer and continue to try to do, is to help people feel less alone and to create this understanding that you're not the only person who feels the way that you do. You're not the only person going through the process that you're going through. And I want to continue to do that.

But as I reflected on the trends and how things are going in terms of AI and the relationship of AI to like career searching and like preparing for career stuff and like resumes and cover letters and all these other things, job search plans, etc., I came to a point where I felt really strongly that the value that I can bring to people, is connected to the individual, or like small group human interactions that we can have. And so I didn't want to do away with a Collab altogether right away, because I know there are people who've been thinking about joining and I wanted to give them an opportunity because, like I said, it is an accessible price point, it is something that people can hop in and out of as they are able and I know that that flexibility is very useful for many people. What I've decided to do is the Collab is going to be closing, the entire Collab is going to be closing, like the program will sunset on August 31st, 2027. So if you're listening to this episode around when it releases, that's a little bit over a year from the date that this episode releases. Because I'm planning to sunset the program on August 31st, 2027, I want to close enrollment for the program so that people can come in and then have the time to be able to work the program. This is why enrollment for the Collab is going to be closing on August 31st, 2026, so a couple weeks from now.

So, basically, you can enroll any time between now and August 31, 2026 and then you will have access to the program until August 31, 2027. Nothing about the program is changing in the sense of, like, there's still the community platform on Circle, the curriculum is still there, the former lawyer framework, the replay library is still there and the private podcast feed that lets you listen to those panels in like a podcast format if you prefer to do that versus watching. And also I will still be hosting the monthly call every month for anyone in the Collab who wants to come and ask questions, brainstorm, get feedback, etc. Typically I host the call at 8 pm Eastern one month and the next month I will host it at around noon Eastern and that's just because there are people in the Collab who are in all different kinds of time zones and so we're trying to make it as accessible as possible to everyone, given that there are basically people in almost every possible time zone who are in the Collab. That is why I'm talking to you today about a program that is still going to exist for another 13 months. Because if you're interested in the Collab and in getting access to the program and being able to go through this process, you need to join before enrollment closes permanently August 31st, 2026.

So another question you might have is like, okay, Sarah, so the Collab is going to eventually go away. What are you planning to do after that point? Which is, you know, 13 months from now, but still. And the answer is that I am planning to focus on my one-on-one work. And then I also will probably run some small groups, similar to the guided track that I ran, which I have not run in the last, maybe 18 months, two years, but that I ran multiple rounds for several years before that. And that's just basically a small group that works with me over a period of time, typically like eight to 10 weeks. That just isn't something that I've had capacity for between the Collab and my one-on-one work. And so once the Collab program has fully been sunsetted, that is part of what I will most likely be focusing on, in addition to working one-on-one.

So here's the deal. If you're listening and you want to work with me one-on-one, that's great. You can always go to the website, you can sign up for a consult, we can talk. However, if you're someone who wants to join the Collab, or if you're someone who has thought about doing the Collab plus one-on-one hybrid program, obviously both of those will be closing enrollment on August 31st, because when enrollment closes for the Collab, enrollment also closes for the Collab plus one-on-one.

So I am talking about this because I know that there are people who would like to take steps towards figuring out what it is that they want to do that isn't practicing law and the Collab is going to be the best fit for them. And so this episode is for you to say, now is the time. Now is the time. If you want to read all the information about all the different things and the specifics about the framework and see a list of things that are available in the replay library and all those other things, you can go to formerlawyer.com/Collab. It has all of the information. It tells you about like the deadlines and when things are, when enrollment closes and when the program is sunsetting. But basically what I am trying to allow for is for people to join the Collab and have a year of access to the program and to the framework. And a year, as you know if you've listened to one of my other recent episodes talking about how long it takes people to make progress, is a huge amount of time. Most people who join the Collab make significant progress, if they are working consistently on the process within like three to four months. And by consistently, I just mean regularly. I don't mean like crazy blocks of time. And we can link to that episode where I talk more about the timeline that people tend to find themselves on, in the show notes.

So if you have any questions after listening to this episode or anything that you read, if you look at the information page, feel free to email me at [email protected]. If you're listening and you're like, I need to get on this, I need to not forget about this, go straight to formerlawyer.com/Collab, that's C-O-L-L-A-B and you can enroll there.

There have been a lot of lessons over the last couple of years, but I think one of the most important lessons for me personally, has been how crucial human connection is, how important it is for people to feel seen and for their humanity to be seen by other people. And this is a very particular niche that we're talking about here, of course, lawyers who are thinking about not being lawyers anymore. But I am really looking forward to those of you who I get to work with in the Collab, for this final season, if you will. And those of you who I get to work with outside of the Collab as that program sunsets and I start moving into other things.

One last time, formerlawyer.com/Collab. Enrollment closes August 31st, 2026. Thank you so much for listening. I'll talk to you next week.

Thanks so much for listening. I absolutely love getting to share this podcast with you. If you haven't yet, I invite you to download my free guide, First Steps to Leaving the Law at formerlawyer.com/first.

Until next time, have a great week.