LIMITLESS LAWYER with Charlotte Smith

"We have to re-think culture." Raad Ahmed is the Founder & CEO of LawTrades. Raad is a visionary. Raad is inspiring. He's a personality that likes to march to the beat of his own drum! In this episode, his fun, free-spirited personality shines through.  A fascinating guest, he began his journey of entrepreneurship during law school.  Raad is captivated by the concept of building his own Utopia. What does a world look like where the power is leaning towards individuals rather than institutions? Enter LawTrades.  In Raad's new world, lawyers don't need to rely on law firms for the infrastructure that they have traditionally provided.  In this podcast, we hear Raad's origin story.  We talk about fundraising and LawTrades recent series A.  We discuss: Inspiration for the future of legal work.  Pivots, mindset, and reinventing after a challenging start.  His tips on fundraising in the Legal Tech space.  Legal freelancing, flexible work, and how the future can look. Meditation, breathwork, and debugging your brain. The Oura ring & wearable tech for peak performance. And, of course, changing the culture in law.   To hear more from Raad & LawTrades connect here:  https://www.lawtrades.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/raadahmed/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgTVjN_Gq2_wXV5yLL8J_Rg https://twitter.com/R44D    

In this episode, Charlotte interviews Mary O'Carroll, Chief Community Officer, Ironclad.  We discuss her career as a Legal Ops pioneer. We hear how it started  (pivoting from a career in investment banking) to leading and scaling Google's Legal Ops team, then taking on a new challenge as Chief Community Officer at Ironclad.  We cover the emerging CCO roles (Chief Comunity Officer) and what they entail.  How Community roles inform product development and company-wide strategy  We discuss the importance of building a strong culture in hyper-growth legal teams. How cross-functional relationships are key for collaboration and progressing the business forward.  We discuss the future of work. Hybrid and fully distributed teams if they're here to stay, and how building strong virtual relationships is crucial for team success.  We unpick the mindsets around overwork, and not having "time" to invest in key relationships.  We discuss Unicorn status, and the pains Legal Leaders experience managing their team's energy when scaling from 200 to a team of 1500. We hope you enjoy this episode. Connect with Charlotte here:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach/ Mary O'Carroll, Ironclad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryshenocarroll/  

Doug Leonard has had a fascinating career in, and outside the law Over the span of 35 years, Doug has experience as a law firm administrator, as a business leader, as the Former Chair of the Disciplinary Board, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, experience with the ABA National Well-being Taskforce, and now as a Leadership coach and consultant with a focus on organizational communication. In this episode of the Limitless Lawyer podcast, we connected on the topic of well-being in the law– we explore:  Developing empathy as a leader. Creating understanding and awareness around common pitfalls lawyers can experience when it comes to professional conduct matters.  How you can grow and evolve in your career, by leaning into areas of interest with curiosity and an open mind.  The National Taskforce on Well-being, and Doug's involvement.  The culture of drinking in the legal profession and how this contributes to wellbeing challenges.  Actively managing a firm's culture to create an environment of high energy and success.  Learn about Charlotte https://www.charlotte-smith.com Instagram: @limitless_lawyer  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach/ Learn about Doug https://www.linkedin.com/in/dleonard17/  https://douglasleonard.co/

"Our brains are like an open API and people can just put in things over time, parents, friends– all of the things that make us who we are in our history. One I got clear on the stories, then it's just a matter of batch checking that against the actual reality. This is where your lawyer brain can be so fantastic. We can interrogate ourselves and interrogate our thoughts like a witness. Is anyone actually expecting perfection? And you start to break down these stories."  In this episode, with Mel Scott, host of Counsel Podcast, and senior in-house lawyer at Megaport, we explore: The power of investing in your growth. How our belief systems are formed, and how to call BS on the stories we tell ourselves. How cultivating a limitless mindset can involve feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Advocating for yourself, and impact on output when employers invest in your professional growth.  Why having a strong personal brand is one of the smartest investments for our legal careers.  Connect with Mel Here:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theinhouselawyer/ Counsel Podcast page on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/counsel-podcast Instagram: @theinhouselawyer Clubhouse: @inhouselawyer Learn about Charlotte's upcoming Mastermind:  https://www.charlotte-smith.com/mastermind/ Instagram: @limitless_lawyer  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach/  

"Crafty Counsel's mission is to bring joy, insight and connection to legal professionals, and in particular in-house, legal, and when we think about in-house legal, we don't necessarily just think about someone who's working full five days a week, employed as a solicitor or attorney or whatever the relevant term and in that jurisdiction, but we include people working in legal operations, compliance, the sort of expanding definition of the legal world. We want to be the media brand for those people." In this episode with Ben White, Founder of Crafty Counsel, we explore:  His career journey and moving from private practice at Clifford Chance to in-house got his creative juices flowing regarding entrepreneurship.  How leaning into and following your interests and building relevant experience helps create clarity around vision and value proposition.  Building the confidence to become a founder using a risk analysis-based approach.  Learnings in the first years of entrepreneurship.  Making pivots and maintaining a mindset of resilience during these times.  The secret sauce to being a successful entrepreneur. 

How does training as a professional athlete, on track for the Olympics set you up to be a Founder in the legal tech space? Meet Tom Dunlop, Founder, and CEO of Summize, a legal tech company.  "As soon as you put that pressure on yourself, you increase your chances of failure, significantly, and that's why we foster a huge culture of personal development of continuous improvement at Summize" In this episode we explore:  How Tom ended up shifting from a promising sports career to the legal industry How working as an in-house lawyer for high growth software companies propelled him on his journey to becoming a founder  How to create a mindset of resilience, and Tom shares lessons from his sporting career we can all learn from How Summize was born, from inception, to how he validated his idea and raised seed investment  The distinction between having an entrepreneurial mindset and becoming a founder  This is a fantastic episode filled with so many amazing nuggets of gold.    We hope you enjoy listening. If you enjoyed please don't forget to give us a 5* rating on I-Tunes and Spotify    

“There's a certain energy that you have to have to do a role like this. You have to be ready to engage people constantly and have very similar conversations over and over again to try and make sure they're on the same page as you need them to be.” In today’s episode of the Limitless Lawyer Podcast, we have Helen Lowe, Head of Legal Operations at EasyJet, one of Europe’s most well-known airlines.  I am excited to interview one of the most impressive leaders in the Legal Ops space. Helen has had a fascinating career, from audit at KPMG to change management at a nuclear decommissioning site.  In this conversation, we discuss:  Her career journey and how she was recruited into legal ops.  Leadership, talent development, and creating a high-energy culture. Building resilience in the face of setbacks from a change management, and career development standpoint.  The importance of developing our mindset muscles, showing up with consistency and persistence.  Recruiting into legal ops! We explore if lawyers or those with alternative backgrounds are preferred.  The impact that COVID-19 is going to have on work culture in the legal space.  The importance of leveraging the value out of your legal technology.  We discuss the O-Shaped Lawyer, and why client-centric solutions are what many in-house legal teams are crying out for.  Entrepreneur lawyers, digital nomads, and the demand for autonomy, flexibility in the workplace.  If you enjoyed the podcast, we would love for you to give it a 5* Review in Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

To kick off season 3 of the Limitless Lawyer podcast, we speak with Alice Stephenson, Founder of Stephenson Law.  Alice is a Brit who is now located in Amsterdam. She founded Stephenson Law. She's an innovator, a visionary, and is leading the charge of changing the face of the legal profession and disrupting the way we practice and deliver legal services. We will discuss:  Her career beginnings and move from human resources to legal.  Experience of working in private practice.  Shifting to deliver in-house consultancy work and the difference between practice and in-house work.  The vision for the firm and what lawyer identity means when it comes to Stephenson Law lawyers!   Personal Branding and developing your own personal brand! Breaking the mold, leadership, and speaking up!  Diversity and changing the culture of law firms, and why she believes it has to be leadership lead.  The billable hour model, and selling professional service, and how we can take a more holistic approach to deliver legal services and performance metrics.  Fear of making mistakes in the legal profession and how as leaders we can challenge this fear-based paralysis.  Connect with Charlotte  www.charlotte-smith.com https://membership.charlotte-smith.com/ 20% discount PODCAST   

"You really start to become really resourceful when you have nothing to lose." One of my favorite podcast conversations to date! Meet Sarah Ouis, a French-qualified lawyer living in London. She is a breath of fresh air in the legal profession, doing incredible work in the space of legal design. Her legal career begins with an array of challenges. A "fake" legal internship in London.  A job in a coffee shop. Sarah unapologetically shares her journey with adversity in such an authentic manner. She has a wicked sense of humor, bursting with creativity, and is a huge inspiration to the legal industry.   Sarah is rocking legal content on social media and is a thought leader and pioneer in the space of legal design. Tailoring legal advice with UX (user experience) in mind.  In this episode, we talked more about: ✅  How to thrive in adversity + cultivate a mindset of success. ✅  Trusting the process and the importance of self-awareness and self-reflection. ✅  Authenticity on Social Media for Lawyers. ✅  Creativity in the Legal Profession. ✅  Legal design, designing for the end-users, + GDPR Pizzas, The Contract Love Stories, and much more!   About Sarah Ouis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-ouis-lawyeruk/ About Charlotte: Charlotte Smith is the founder of the Limitless Lawyer podcast. She is a professional Executive Coach for Lawyers based in Silicon Valley, California. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. https://www.charlotte-smith.com/ Connect with Charlotte here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach

"What do I want to be known for? And how am I going to cultivate a network and start to position myself amongst the audience that matters to me?" I am thankful for the opportunity to speak with Jay Harrington, the Founder of Harrington Communications In this episode, we focused on contextualizing how lawyers, legal professionals, and executives can cultivate and shape their personal brand around a platform like LinkedIn. Jay is a former lawyer who now serves the legal industry promoting Thought Leadership, Marketing Communications, and Business Development More about Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayharrington/ About Charlotte: Charlotte Smith is the founder of the Limitless Lawyer podcast. She is a professional Executive Coach for Lawyers based in Silicon Valley, California. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. https://www.charlotte-smith.com/ Connect with Charlotte here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach

"Working ON your business and not IN your business" I am interviewing Patricia Baxter, Managing Partner at Morgan & Akins, PLLC In this episode, we talked about: ✔️ Making the shift from being an employee to becoming a Manager/Partner ✔️ Growth mindset and how it helped her career soar high ✔️ On leadership: how she manages her time and sustained growth for her business ✔️ Her versions of self-care and how to practically implement it in her life ✔️ and more! Connect with Patricia here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciabaxterattorney/ About Charlotte: Charlotte Smith is the founder of the Limitless Lawyer podcast. She is a professional Executive Coach for Lawyers based in Silicon Valley, California. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. https://www.charlotte-smith.com/ Connect with Charlotte here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach

"These unconscious biases, whether they are from a benevolent place or under the surface, are creating barriers, invisible walls that women have to hurdle in the workforce." In this episode, I am interviewing, Michelle Browning Coughlin, IP Lawyer and Founder of Mothers Esquire We will be diving into: ✔️ The challenges that women encounter in the law ✔️ Internal expectations of ourselves, and how this can block or limit us ✔️ Facing the feelings of imposter syndrome and perfectionism ✔️ Her perspectives on being a Limitless Lawyer ✔️ AND MORE!   About Charlotte: Charlotte Smith is the founder of the Limitless Lawyer podcast. She is a professional Executive Coach for Lawyers based in Silicon Valley, California. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. https://www.charlotte-smith.com/ Connect with Charlotte here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach

"We're responding to the changes of the time and trying to meet people where they are" In this episode, I am interviewing Hannah Genton, Founding Partner at CGL Legal, a fully distributed, transactional law firm, reimagining legal services and placing the health, and well-being of their employees. In this episode, we will be diving into: ✅ The differences between Big Law and launching your own law firm ✅ Examining some of the mindset blocks that lawyers struggle with and how to let go ✅ Some really important advice to our younger selves and how we can use that to build really strong legal careers Connect with Hannah here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahgenton/   About Charlotte: Charlotte Smith is the founder of the Limitless Lawyer podcast. She is a professional Executive Coach for Lawyers based in Silicon Valley, California. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. https://www.charlotte-smith.com/ Connect with Charlotte here:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach

"Having come from a large firm going to a company where you absolutely standby the mission, it feels really good to represent that." In this episode, I am interviewing Rachel Larrenaga Rachel is the Vice President & Legal Counsel at ChargePoint We discuss:  >> Leaving BigLaw and going in-house >> Working as counsel in a high growth tech company >> Creating a purposeful career >> Finding balance in life as an in-house lawyer >> Key attributes to be successful as an in-house lawyer >> Management and leadership as an in-house counsel Connect with Rachel here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachellarrenaga/ About Charlotte: Charlotte Smith is the founder of the Limitless Lawyer podcast. She is a professional Executive Coach for Lawyers based in Silicon Valley, California. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. https://www.charlotte-smith.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach

          "When I am interviewing I ask–– Is this person brave? Is this person willing to take a risk? Are they willing to battle with their own personality to get better? Are you ready to face up to your own negative self?" In this episode I am interviewing Alistair Maiden Alistair is a former lawyer turned legal technologist and founder of Syke, a legal technology company. We discuss:  Leaving practice to launch a legal tech company.  Technology and innovation in the legal profession.  Why legal tech frees up lawyers to do what they are trained to do.  Thoughts for lawyers and corporate legal teams about adoption of legal tech.  Why law firms are slower to adopt legal technologies.  How perfectionism and fear of failure hold lawyers back, and how as lawyers if we can embrace failure, innovate and pivot this can be incredibly powerful.  Connect with Alistair here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alistair-maiden-04853927/ About Charlotte: I'm Charlotte Smith a Lawyer turned Executive Coach and I support legal talent from around the globe with creating more purposeful and effective ways of doing business and practicing the law. My intention is to inspire the next generation of “lawyer leaders,” and play an incremental role in the shifting of the legal landscape into a new era. I work with lawyers, attorneys, in-house counsel and corporate legal teams.  I stand for: More inclusive and human-centric law firms.  Law firm innovation. The harnessing of legal tech.  The possibilities for the legal sector are limitless, if we choose to think freely, be bold and reimagine “law firm life” as it could (and should) be. As the late Steve Jobs said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”. 

          Today on the show I am speaking with the incredible Leadership Coach, Amy Sanchez.  Amy is an amazing career and leadership coach, and I have so much love and respect for Amy. She supported me through my career transition and we wouldn't have this podcast had it not been for working with Amy.  In this episode we dive deep into the "why" behind our career transitions, we share open and honestly the discomfort that lead to our career transitions.  "When you are on a path, and you want to make a change it's super scary." "You can't get to the rainbow, without the storm." Tune into this episode & enjoy the conversation.  https://swim-against.com/ =========== Charlotte Smith is founder of the Limitless Lawyer podcast. She is a professional Executive Coach for Lawyers based in Silicon Valley, California. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. https://www.charlotte-smith.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach/

Charlotte and Natasha – real talk! We dive into discussing common mindset blocks which come up when considering leaving the legal profession.  We discuss our respective journeys of leaving the law and pivoting out of practicing the law. Natasha moved into legal recruiting. Charlotte moving from the UK to California. We talk about the fear that is kicked up, how we start questioning ourselves, and how we managed to navigate through these challenging times.  Our lawyer brains, perfectionism. Who am I if I am not a lawyer.  What if I can't land a job.  Uncertainty and fear of failure.  Connect with Charlotte here https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach/ Connect with Natasha here  https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashaalladina/ 

  Charlotte speaks to Corporate Counsel and Founder of Contract Nerds, Nada Alnajafi as they dive deep into what makes you limitless as a lawyer.  During our conversation we discuss: Finding the inspiration to build a business in a pandemic.  How Linkedin is an incredible tool to connect with other lawyers and discover opportunities. How to embrace virtual networking to take your career to the next level.  Why having an an open mind to possibility and not settle for the comfort zone is great life and career advice.   The difference between law firm life and in-house life.  Being a first generation American and channeling her passion for language into her legal career.  Join us for this conversation, connect with us on Linkedin.  Thanks for listening to the show.   About Nada Nada Alnajafi is an award-winning attorney with deep experience serving as in-house counsel for startups and public companies over the past 12 years. She currently serves as Corporate Counsel for Franklin Templeton, a Fortune-500 global financial services organization. Previously, she worked in-house for Faraday Future, Lexus, and Concannon Business Consulting where she gained experienced in the automotive and tech industries. Nada is passionate about leveraging the latest in legal tech to gain efficiencies in the contracts management process. With her dynamic legal and consulting background, she is more than just an attorney; she is a trusted advisor, business partner, project manager, creative problem-solver, and skilled negotiator.  In addition, Nada enjoys training contract negotiators on the ins and outs of contracts negotiations and redlining etiquette. During the pandemic, Nada wanted to find a way to connect with other contract professionals and, as a result, she created Contract Nerds – the new home for everything contracts.    About Charlotte "I was offered partnership at a top travel law firm before I turned 30, and to the outside world, I had quickly achieved the career success I had been striving for. But something felt off. The work was challenging and high-level, but I didn’t enjoy it anymore. I wasn’t happy. I wanted more but couldn’t put my finger on what that was. I know how it feels to be at the top of your game yet deeply dissatisfied. Like something’s missing but you can’t quite figure out what because there’s so much going on in your life and you don’t know where to start. That’s why I created the Limitless Lawyer Program – to simplify and demystify the process of figuring out what you want from life and how to get there, whether that’s pivoting to a new role within the legal industry that feels more aligned with your core values, pivoting out of law entirely and starting your own business, or simply making conscious mindset and lifestyle changes to achieve a more balanced and satisfying life.

Introduction Season 2 Episode 1 Charlotte and new co-host Natasha Alladina chat about what it means to be a limitless lawyer. We discuss: Health Wellbeing  Nourishment  Peak Performance Preventing Burnout We dive deep into our journey around pursuing all that is limitless.  We hope you enjoy the episode.    Connect with us!  https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottesmithlawyercoach/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashaalladina/   Book a 45 min complimentary call with Charlotte  https://calendly.com/charlotte-smith-coach/45minstrategysession

Season 2 starts next week, and I have some BIG announcements.  Listen to hear how the podcast is changing and what you can expect for the second season of Limitless Lawyer!