Do you hate working as a lawyer? Are you an unhappy lawyer who wants to leave the law, but isn’t sure what to do next? Do your family and friends think you’re crazy for wanting to leave the law, or are you too afraid to tell them you don’t want to be a lawyer? The Former Lawyer Podcast is for you! Each week, host Sarah Cottrell interviews a different former lawyer who has left the law behind. Hear inspiring stories about how these former lawyers are thriving and found their way to careers and lives they love.
Jessica Medina went to law school thinking she would work for the government and change the world for the better. But during her 2L year at Columbia Law School, she gave birth to twins and became a single mom. Biglaw seemed the inevitable and obviously correct choice for her if she wanted her family to have a good life. But…
Hobbies and side hustles can seem like a distraction when you’re on the law firm treadmill. But cultivating interests outside the law is often the ticket to figuring out what you really want to do career-wise. In this episode, Helynn Nelson shares about becoming a level 3 sommelier—and how it helped her figure out that she wanted to leave the…
Have you ever looked at the people senior to you at your firm, the partners and senior associates, and thought, “I don’t want your life!” So did former lawyer Helynn Nelson, my guest on this episode of the podcast. Helynn landed a coveted employment litigation associate role in Biglaw, but the lifestyle of a Biglaw lawyer was simply not how…
Who am I if I’m not a lawyer? We often talk on the podcast about how leaving the law (or even thinking about it!) creates a crisis of identity for lawyers. My guest today, former lawyer Meghan Smith, shares about her own journey from big firm lawyer, to seemingly perfect job in an insurance firm, to her current gig as…
Do you think that you’re too old to change careers and quit law? My guest today, Hector Chavez, decided to make the move from law to nursing right before his 40th birthday. He knew he wasn’t happy with his legal career. But he worried that starting over at 40 was foolish. Today he’s sharing about how his worries were totally…
What do you do when you realize none of your strengths are rewarded in Biglaw—and many of your strengths are actually considered weaknesses? That’s what I’m talking about on today’s TFLP episode with Alex Su. Alex went from a top law school to a top Biglaw firm, realized it wasn’t for him, found his way into legal tech sales, and…
