Claim OwnershipThe Former Lawyer Podcast
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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.
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Lawyers are, as a group, highly responsible, hard on themselves, and convinced they should be able to handle more than anyone else around them. That combination does not just make for a stressful career. It makes it genuinely difficult to acknowledge that something is wrong, let alone do anything about it. That is where perfectionism becomes a trap. When you hold yourself to a standard you would never apply to anyone else, leaving starts to feel like weakness, or like you are abandoning the p...
For lawyers who know they are unhappy but are not ready to make any real moves yet, the waiting period can feel like dead time. There are things you can be doing right now, though, that will set you up for success when you are ready to go through the process of figuring out what comes next. One of those things is reconnecting with a hobby. Not in a hardcore, train-for-a-marathon way, but in a small, low-stakes way that starts to rebuild the muscle of knowing what you actually like and what ac...
A lot of people end up going to law school without ever really asking themselves whether it's what they want to do. The questions in this episode are the real questions you should be asking yourself if you're considering law school. And if you're already a lawyer, these same questions will be helpful for you too. See show notes at formerlawyer.com/297
2026 is kicking a lot of people's asses, including Sarah's. She gets into what the last few weeks have actually looked like, and shares the reminder she keeps coming back to. Hard things feel hard because they are hard. Not because you're doing anything wrong. She also talks about what Former Lawyer stands for, where your money goes if you work with her, and why she will probably never stop telling you to go to therapy. See show notes at formerlawyer.com/296
When lawyers look back at why they entered the profession, they often find the answer is less about a lifelong passion and more about a lack of other plans. Dan Branagan, a former bankruptcy associate turned data analyst, describes his journey into law as a classic example of the "conveyor belt" metaphor. As a liberal arts major with an interest in history and political science, law school seemed like the next logical step that promised both prestige and a high salary. It wasn't until he was ...
When Sarah looks back at her time in practice, she can see a pattern that shows up for almost every lawyer who thinks about leaving the law. She would have a kernel of interest in a career path outside of the law, but her brain would immediately start telling her why it was a bad fit. It became an instant cycle of negativity. If you find yourself doing this, you are "lawyering yourself". You are taking an idea and prematurely deciding it is impossible before you have actually spent any time l...
Maybe you've thought about it. You love books, you love reading, and somewhere in the back of your mind, you've wondered if there's a way to turn that passion into a career that uses your legal skills without actually practicing law. Lilly Ghahremani knew on day one of law school that it wasn't the right fit. She called her mom from a pay phone and said she'd made a mistake. Her mom convinced her to finish the semester, then the year, then the whole degree. Lilly graduated from UCLA Law in 20...
Former litigator David Sazant spent years bouncing between practice areas, convinced that if he just worked hard enough and found the right fit, everything would click into place. He moved from insurance defense to construction and commercial litigation, dealing with persistent imposter syndrome the entire time. But the problem wasn't the type of law he practiced—it was that litigation fundamentally contradicted his core values of authenticity and meaningful connection. In this co...
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 career that matches." That kind of tunnel vision is exactly why Sarah uses multiple assessments with clients. Every as...
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 career. But even in difficult years, lawyers leave the legal profession and find work they actually want ...
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
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
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 recommendation, but one of the things that's really important for lawyers who are going through the process of figuring out what they want to do tha...
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 people who are unhappy. In a field focused on prestige, lawyers often feel like they have to maintain a pr...
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, sunk costs, and everything you've been taught about what it means to be successful. It's the first real ...
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. It convinces smart people that the only respectable choice is to stick with a decision that’s hurt...
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 along, it’s easy to assume there’s nothing to think about. The problem came later, once Zi was a...
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 anything else that fits. See show notes at formerlawyer.com/289
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 point to colleagues who have been doing it longer. But measuring burnout by the calendar misse...
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. See show notes at formerlawyer.com/287
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