Fit to Practice with Angela Han: Recent Episodes
Angela Han
Fit to Practice is a show about all things Health and Wellness for hard-working lawyers. Each week, lawyer Angela Han talks to lawyers about their health struggles and survival. And as a plant-based personal trainer, health coach and yoga instructor, she shares her ideas on how to take back your health. Angela's goal is to help reframe nutrition, sleep, and exercise as a form of medicine and therapy to cope with the daily challenges of being a lawyer.
Yeong does:-
Empowerment coaching - how to navigate marginalizing spaces and workplaces.
DEI coaching and strategy - harm reduction and how to build inclusive orgs and practices.
Tech and partnership strategy, orgdev, scaling thoughtfully.
DM to learn more (My ADHD prevents me from building a website... despite having built one for my nonprofit lol)
Learn how to work with Angela:
AngelaHan.com
As a Certified Life & Business Coach (CLC) and a Holistic Health Coach (HHC), Gail empowers high achieving women in corporate and entrepreneurs to launch, grow & reinvent to create the life and business of their dreams. With over 16 years of corporate accounting experience and 8 years of Life Coaching, Health Coaching and self-care expertise, she has the skills and knowledge to help you overcome your limiting beliefs.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gailkallen/
Learn how to Work with Angela:
angela-han.com
Lenor is a creative and practical problem-solving attorney, a mother, and a writer. She is passionate about evolving law into an inclusive and diverse profession. She lives and works in North Carolina, and has received prestigious awards both for her legal work, and her literary skills.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenormarquissegal/
Learn how to Work with Angela:
angela-han.com
Millie and Nick are polyamorous educators and coaches helping individuals navigate their non-monogamous relationships, while decolonizing their love praxis.
https://decolonizing.love/
Learn how to work with me at angela-han.com
Paul is a DEIJ Consultant, anti-racist advocate, workshop facilitator, and the Founder of Critical Conversations Consulting, LLC.
Paul is a lifelong learner in multiple areas. In diversity, equity, and inclusion: cultural awareness, implicit bias, and micro aggressions. In health and wellness education: drugs, alcohol, STD awareness, Title IX and sexual assault awareness, among other topics.
He challenges himself to use his knowledge and training to improve the lives of others.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-ladipo80/
Learn how to work with me at angela-han.com
Meredith is the Founder and CEO of Boredwalk, an apparel and creative goods company in California.
Known for their progressive values and dark, cynical humor, married couple Matt and Meredith started Boredwalk – a graphic apparel, gifts, and accessories company. Together they create original and clever designs, placing witty copy and art at the heart of everything they do. As introverts, the idea of working for themselves and having control over who they spent time with appealed to them. Thus, the company was born.
Boredwalk has seen drastic growth year after year, and now generates around $150,000 a month.
https://www.boredwalk.com/
Learn how to work with me at angela-han.com
Check out Michele's website:
https://www.michelersimon.com/
or reach out to her on LinkedIn
Learn how to work with me at angela-han.com
Visit Mattia's website here: mattiamauree.com
Learn how to work with me at angela-han.com
This is the one space where you will not be judged by your anger, whether it’s why you’re angry or how you’re angry. Instead, we will talk about how to actually experience anger so that you can decide what to do with your anger on your own terms. It is time to let your anger shine so that it can inform you about what you are all about and what you care about.
Learn how to work with me at angela-han.com
Welcome to the first episode of The Anger Podcast.
This is the one space where you will not be judged by your anger, whether it’s why you’re angry or how you’re angry. Instead, we will talk about how to actually experience anger so that you can decide what to do with your anger on your own terms. It is time to let your anger shine so that it can inform you about what you are all about and what you care about.
Learn how to work with me at angela-han.com
Connect with Tony on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-albrecht/
Listen to Tony’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-linkyland/
Learn how to work with Angela: angela-han.com/start
If you are feeling like you are behind on your health and you have no idea where to start, and you feel overwhelmed by so much information about what you are “supposed” to be doing, this episode is for you. Sarah Hurrle is a peer coach who teaches people how to address their health concerns even when they feel like none of the traditional methods are working for them. In this episode, we talk about how to take baby steps that work for you in overhauling your confidence about your health.
Follow Sarah on IG here: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.hurrle/
Visit Sarah’s website here: https://sarahhurrle.com/
Learn how to work with Angela: angela-han.com/start
What is it like to be an IP food lawyer? I have always been curious, honestly every time I eat any sort of food, so it was a no brainer to invite Eunika Kurek, Senior Counsel at Unilever, to come speak about her work and what she cares about. She talks about some of the common challenges in her field, how she approaches them, and what allows her to be even more effective at what she does.
Connect with Eunika on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eunika-k-49b65833/
Today I am speaking with Aliza Shatzman, and it was a real honor because it has been a couple years since she graduated law school and she has started the Legal Accountability Project, where she helps law students to choose clerkships that are the right fit for them by giving them accurate information about the experiences they are about to enter. She tells us why this is such an important initiative, how she got started, and how we can support the accountability by dismantling the ways we perpetuate the hierarchies that do not serve us.
Visit The Legal Accountability Project website here: https://www.legalaccountabilityproject.org/
Learn how to work with Angela: angela-han.com/start
In this episode, Angela meets Saira Rao, political activist, author, publisher, and former Wall Street lawyer and television producer. She is the co-founder of "Race2Dinner", in which she and her partner in the project, Regina Jackson, imagine a world without white supremacy and misogyny. Saira and Regina attend dinners with 8–10 white women, hosted and catered by one of the women, and lead a conversation aimed at confronting the women with their own racism. An Apple iTunes documentary Deconstructing Karen explores the Race2Dinner concept. They are also co-authors of White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better. A long-time supporter of the Democrats, Saira became disillusioned at their failure to recognise, or combat, racism in daily life and in the corridors of power. She ran for Congress in 2018, losing out in the primary to the Democrat incumbent.
A lot of leaders suffer in silence because they have an additional layer of pressure to be perfect. I am talking about leaders as in individuals who are in a position of power in an institution, whether it is a company or a firm or some organization. And I define leaders here in this way because that word can mean different things to different people. In this episode, Lauren Krasnow, a lawyer and leadership coach, and I talk specifically about what it looks like to be in a position where you are managing others and need to deal with a whole new expansive set of responsibilities that can feel very overwhelming, no matter where you are at in your journey.
Visit Lauren’s website here: https://laurenkrasnow.com/
Learn how to work with Angela: angela-han.com/start
Shaun Sethna is an in house lawyer and leader who has a really powerful story to share about imposter syndrome. When we talk about imposter syndrome, we all kind of think that we don’t really have it because we feel like actual imposters and there is no “syndrome” about it. We actually believe as a matter of fact that we are imposters so we try to fix ourselves instead of really understanding what is going on underneath the surface. In this episode, Shaun recounts his own experience with imposter syndrome, how he had no idea that that was what it was, and how he addressed it so effectively. Let’s get started.
Connect with Shaun on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunsethna/
Learn how to work with Angela:
angela-han.com/start
When you are first starting out your career, it can feel really daunting especially as a litigator. You have to learn your rules AND the law both locally and nationally and sometimes internationally, and your team may not necessarily have the time to teach you all the ropes. This is why I find the work of Molly Hough so valuable because she offers fundamental toolkits for lawyers from zero to five years of experience (and beyond) on how to be excellent litigators and build a great book of business.
Connect with Molly on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-hough-esq-47625348/
Follow Molly on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jurisconsult_institute/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
Jay Harrington is a lawyer turned coach, consultant, trainer, and author helping lawyer build their own practice. In this episode, we talk about how success can be a source of burnout, how he handled it his own way, and then built his own unique coaching and consulting practice. In order to build what we love, we need to know what we care about, and Jay shares all about that in this episode.
Connect with Jay on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayharrington/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
I talk about entrepreneurship a lot but I did not have the slightest clue what intrapreneurship meant until I spoke with Joel Roy in this episode. As in-house counsel and legal ops expert, he talks about how he helps teams innovate in a risk averse and highly regulated industry. What do you have to care about and who do you have to be in order to bring out your talents and thrive as a lawyer? We answer this question together.
Connect with Joel on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelroy-counsel/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
Y’all, this episode is all about what it is like to be coached by me, what kind of transformation to expect, and how it will work for you specifically. Here’s my amazing client, Cheryl Lau.
Connect with Cheryl on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cheryltheory/
Visit Cheryl’s website here: https://cheryltheory.com/
Learn how to work with me: https://angela-han.com/ready
We’ve moved forward a lot in our discussion of the disparity at home in how we distribute the workload. We will have a long way to go. Especially because we rarely talk specifically about the moments where we feel like we are alone and specifically how we ask for help. So every time women have a conversation about what is really going on behind the curtains, we take a step forward. I do that today with Mollie Tregillis from Melbourne, Australia, a mom professional and lawyer and coach for other mom professionals.
Connect with Mollie on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollie-tregillis/
Follow Mollie on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/_hustle__bustle_/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/ready
This episode is about creating extraordinary results in the way only you can. I talk about how to identify your unique devotion, how to create high quality answers, and how to troubleshoot along the way.
Learn how to work with me:
angela-han.com/ready
This episode is about creating extraordinary results in the way only you can. I talk about how to identify your unique devotion, how to create high quality answers, and how to troubleshoot along the way.
Learn how to work with me:
angela-han.com/ready
This episode is all about creating our own magic and being responsible for the journey that we put ourselves on to create that magic. We talk about what magic means to us, what it takes to make that journey worth it, and how to identify the spark that starts us on that meaningful journey. This is with Heather Kerr, who is a lawyer in Canada who left her practice after 22 years to become an artist and an entrepreneur. There is no such thing as silly when it comes to our magic and our desires.
Connect with Heather on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherkerr/
Visit her website here: https://gracedcanvas.com/
And here’s where she gets her coolest frames for her glasses: https://www.zeelool.com/
Connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Sign up for my email list here: angela-han.com/play
This episode is all about creating our own magic and being responsible for the journey that we put ourselves on to create that magic. We talk about what magic means to us, what it takes to make that journey worth it, and how to identify the spark that starts us on that meaningful journey. This is with Heather Kerr, who is a lawyer in Canada who left her practice after 22 years to become an artist and an entrepreneur. There is no such thing as silly when it comes to our magic and our desires.
Connect with Heather on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherkerr/
Visit her website here: https://gracedcanvas.com/
And here’s where she gets her coolest frames for her glasses: https://www.zeelool.com/
Connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Sign up for my email list here: angela-han.com/play
I am just so excited to be sharing a space with one of my co-authors Bellina Barrow for the book Women In Law Discovering the True Meaning of Success. Bellina is an attorney in Trinidad and Tobago, and in this episode she talks about starting and building her own practice and writing the book with us during the pandemic.
Connect with Bellina on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bellinabarrow/
Visit Bellina’s website here: https://tenorequelegalandconsulting.com/
Connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Sign up for my email list here: angela-han.com/play
I am just so excited to be sharing a space with one of my co-authors Bellina Barrow for the book Women In Law Discovering the True Meaning of Success. Bellina is an attorney in Trinidad and Tobago, and in this episode she talks about starting and building her own practice and writing the book with us during the pandemic.
Connect with Bellina on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bellinabarrow/
Visit Bellina’s website here: https://tenorequelegalandconsulting.com/
Connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Sign up for my email list here: angela-han.com/play
After I quit my job, I have been getting a LOT of questions on what actually happened, what it’s like, how I came to the decision, and what’s next. I answer all of those questions here in today’s episode.
Connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Sign up for my email list here: angela-han.com/play
After I quit my job, I have been getting a LOT of questions on what actually happened, what it’s like, how I came to the decision, and what’s next. I answer all of those questions here in today’s episode.
Connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Sign up for my email list here: angela-han.com/play
Post-traumatic stress disorder is common among lawyers, but the culture we live in dictates that we do not talk about it or even take it seriously. So this conversation with Caroline Conway, a New York lawyer, was refreshing because she offered such profound insight to what it really is like to have not just PTSD but complex PTSD that adds more layers to the programming we adopt in our brain. As Caroline shared her experiences, there were so many moments where I was like, I’m not the only one! So I hope you also take away from this chat that whatever you may be going through that you think is not appropriate to talk about with others, that actually may not be the case. Let’s get started.
Follow Caroline on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/omniscientfeministgoddess/
Connect with Caroline on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolineconway/
Email Caroline here: carolineconway@outlook.com
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
Post-traumatic stress disorder is common among lawyers, but the culture we live in dictates that we do not talk about it or even take it seriously. So this conversation with Caroline Conway, a New York lawyer, was refreshing because she offered such profound insight to what it really is like to have not just PTSD but complex PTSD that adds more layers to the programming we adopt in our brain. As Caroline shared her experiences, there were so many moments where I was like, I’m not the only one! So I hope you also take away from this chat that whatever you may be going through that you think is not appropriate to talk about with others, that actually may not be the case. Let’s get started.
Follow Caroline on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/omniscientfeministgoddess/
Connect with Caroline on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolineconway/
Email Caroline here: carolineconway@outlook.com
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
I’ll be the first to confess that I feel a lot of guilt as a parent. In this episode, Rachel Bailey, a parenting expert who works with a lot of lawyers, talks about how our lawyer brain can affect the way we parent, no matter what age our children are and how many we have. I’ll also admit that even though I knew subconsciously that being a lawyer would affect my parenting, I was in denial and would try to assume about myself that I don’t ever allow the lawyer brain to affect my parenting brain, but oh yes, it does. In this episode, Rachel breaks down into bite-sized pieces how we can be more effective in our parenting without the guilt and extra work and still thrive as lawyers. Let’s get started.
Listen to Rachel’s podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-parenting-long-game
Visit Rachel’s website: https://rachel-bailey.com/
Join Rachel’s Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RachelBailey/
Follow Rachel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelbaileyparenting/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
I’ll be the first to confess that I feel a lot of guilt as a parent. In this episode, Rachel Bailey, a parenting expert who works with a lot of lawyers, talks about how our lawyer brain can affect the way we parent, no matter what age our children are and how many we have. I’ll also admit that even though I knew subconsciously that being a lawyer would affect my parenting, I was in denial and would try to assume about myself that I don’t ever allow the lawyer brain to affect my parenting brain, but oh yes, it does. In this episode, Rachel breaks down into bite-sized pieces how we can be more effective in our parenting without the guilt and extra work and still thrive as lawyers. Let’s get started.
Listen to Rachel’s podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-parenting-long-game
Visit Rachel’s website: https://rachel-bailey.com/
Join Rachel’s Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RachelBailey/
Follow Rachel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelbaileyparenting/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
Today on the show I am inviting Patti Macdonald, partner at Bishop & McKenzie, onto my show. She has been a client of mine over the past several months, and I have been astounded by how explosive her wisdom has been throughout the course of our coaching relationship and could not keep it all to myself. In this episode, Patti discusses all the truths about herself that she rediscovered and translated right into her day to day lawyering and leadership. She also talks about how she was able to peel away all those layers and why it is important for more to us to do the same.
Connect with Patti on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patti-macdonald-9b697423/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
Today on the show I am inviting Patti Macdonald, partner at Bishop & McKenzie, onto my show. She has been a client of mine over the past several months, and I have been astounded by how explosive her wisdom has been throughout the course of our coaching relationship and could not keep it all to myself. In this episode, Patti discusses all the truths about herself that she rediscovered and translated right into her day to day lawyering and leadership. She also talks about how she was able to peel away all those layers and why it is important for more to us to do the same.
Connect with Patti on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patti-macdonald-9b697423/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
In many ways, we are all introverted in some way. Especially when we doubt ourselves, it’s hard to be all open and happy about our doubts. Heidi Brown, a prolific and prominent writer and professor, joins me today to tell us what it really means to address our anxiety around being a lawyer. There are so many uncomfortable experiences attached to being a lawyer, and she helps us unpack that anxiety without the overwhelm. I don’t know about you, but there are plenty of times where I try to just ignore my feelings and distract myself from doing the work. Thankfully, Heidi talks about how we can make it easier so that we don’t resist the work that allow us to feel happier.
Visit Heidi’s website here: http://www.theintrovertedlawyer.com/
Follow Heidi on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/introvertedlawyer/
Connect with Heidi on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theintrovertedlawyerbook/
Follow Heidi on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/introvertlawyer
Get Heidi’s new book here: https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/422246562/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
In many ways, we are all introverted in some way. Especially when we doubt ourselves, it’s hard to be all open and happy about our doubts. Heidi Brown, a prolific and prominent writer and professor, joins me today to tell us what it really means to address our anxiety around being a lawyer. There are so many uncomfortable experiences attached to being a lawyer, and she helps us unpack that anxiety without the overwhelm. I don’t know about you, but there are plenty of times where I try to just ignore my feelings and distract myself from doing the work. Thankfully, Heidi talks about how we can make it easier so that we don’t resist the work that allow us to feel happier.
Visit Heidi’s website here: http://www.theintrovertedlawyer.com/
Follow Heidi on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/introvertedlawyer/
Connect with Heidi on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theintrovertedlawyerbook/
Follow Heidi on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/introvertlawyer
Get Heidi’s new book here: https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/422246562/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
The work is never done in closing the gap. As Namita cites in the interview, we are estimated to be 135 years away from true gender parity. What does that mean for us? I wonder if there is some way to accelerate the process, and another part of me wonders if it even will be closed 135 years later. Namita Luthra is a women’s rights activist and lawyer who has worked with the ACLU extensively, and her expertise shines in this conversation. She offers a beautiful perspective on the progress that we’ve made in gender equality and the work we will have to do in equality and equity on all fronts other than gender. It was a sobering moment for all of us to recognize that we are just small parts of society but we still have so much power in creating progress in our world.
Visit Namita’s organization’s website here: https://monumentalwomen.org/
Connect with Namita on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/namita-luthra-1823a31bb/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/play
As you will hear in this episode, we worry a lot about things that we are not going to be worried about 5 years from now or many years from now in our deathbed. That rude email or the deadline that feels like is the end of the world are actually not the end of the world. But having perspective and actually attaining peace from that perspective are two different tasks. In this episode, Heather Moulder, a former big law attorney and now a coach for lawyers, talks about her life-changing journey when she was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer ten years ago and how that turned around her course forever so that she could build a life and career that she was completely satisfied with. Most importantly, she breaks down the steps and let us know that we, too, can do this, even if it feels impossible.
Visit Heather’s podcast website here: https://www.lifeandlawpodcast.com/
Visit Heather’s website here: https://www.coursecorrectioncoaching.com/
Connect with Heather on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermoulder
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
This conversation will be about so many things that we very rarely talk about as lawyers: not choosing to have children, living an autonomous life, building a law practice with many areas of specializations. How do we actually go about living life and contributing to our community on our own terms? That is what we explore with Tricia Schafer, a small law firm owner who has made unconventional decisions over the course of her life despite all the noise about what she was “supposed” to do. Many times, being fit to practice is about the courage to do things differently so that you can see results that nobody expected before.
Connect with Tricia on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciaschafer
Visit Tricia’s website here: https://vitalitylaw.com/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
When it comes to money, some of us may have a lot of anxiety around how to manage it and grow it, no matter how much of it we have. Whether we have debt or whether we have millions coming in, we want to be conscientious about how we maintain and build our wealth. But often times we are a bit stuck on how to even get started because it’s hard to know who to ask for help from, whether to trust them, and whether we even qualify to ask for help. In this episode, Jennifer Belmont Jennings, a former attorney and now a wealth management advisor, addresses all of those concerns so that you have more clarity on how to manage your wealth without feeling overwhelmed.
Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-belmont-jennings
Follow Jennifer on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/money.tea.legacy/
Visit Jennifer’s firm’s website: https://hightowerstl.com/
I don’t know why I haven’t been doing this, but especially lately I have been so inspired by all of my clients on how much they have been able to bring out their magic into the world, I just HAD to show them off. I start by interviewing one of my incredible clients Matt Jackson, who is a criminal defense attorney in Virginia. He began this year at a place of helplessness, not sure where to find a job that he would actually like, putting off his job search process because of the dread. Now, he is thriving at his dream position, and he tells us all about how he got there, what it is like now, and how it is different from his previous positions.
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-jackson-389631161/
Connect with Angela here: angela-han.com/Start
I am so excited to introduce you to LuLu Faulk, my project manager for my whole life and business. She managed my social media, calendar, emails, podcast, and everything else that goes on in my life, and now she is going off to law school in the fall so we are transitioning her out of my team. As the last hurrah, I wanted to interview her and get a bit about her story and what it was like for her working with me.
Connect with LuLu here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lufaulk
http://angela-han.com/start
In this week’s episode, I guide you though three steps that I took in order to find what I can do outside of my law degree. It’s not anything like what you’ve heard before. Can’t wait for you to explore with me.
Learn how to work with me here:
http://angela-han.com/start
Whenever you’re stressed, what is your first response? Maybe you have a whole system of meditation and journaling and exercising, or maybe you have absolutely no idea how to approach stress and burnout. If you have a whole system lined up, if it doesn’t work out the way you intended your system to work out, like you miss a day of exercising or you’re thinking about other things while you meditate, you start criticizing and judging yourself and you get right back to stressing. And if you have no system, you are already probably stressing about not having a system. You are in between a rock and a hard place. In this episode, I chat with Jonathan Beitner, a big law attorney turned wellbeing coach, on what it means to find a way to address your stress without all that additional stress about how to address it.
Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-beitner-93b45853
Email Jonathan here: jonathan@denovopd.com
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
One of the biggest struggles I hear from my clients is that they simply cannot get themselves to achieve the goals that they’ve set for themselves. I’ve been through this, you’ve been through this, all of us have been through this. We are all probably going through something like this in some way in our lives. So in this episode I am covering the 4 steps in achieving any goal and the 5 common mistakes we make in the process so that we can be aware of what is holding us back.
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
You know I am all about breaking those stereotypes and misconceptions about things we don’t know much about, and mediumship is one of them. It is something that I am curious about but don’t know much about, and the majority of people that I’ve met have villainized it, and I was not going to have it because I am not interested in judging things I don’t know. So I invited Stacy Schaffer, a lawyer and a medium, who shared in this episode her journey through uncertainty over the years in her life in the law. She talks about how her personal path in mediumship affected her lawyer path and how she was able to move through uncommon and uncomfortable transitions with more ease and peace. When we hear how other people have taken untraditional paths, we find the courage to do the same ourselves, too. Whatever that looks like for us.
Visit Stacy’s website here: https://www.stacyschaffermedium.com/
Visit Stacy’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/stacyschaffermedium/
Visit Stacy’s Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/theartandsoulofmediumship
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
We need every example of minority women, African American women creating their own success on their own terms. And not just the shiny parts but also the parts where it feels lonely, dejected, and distant from our goals. In this episode, Darleene Peters, who just made partner at her firm as the first African American woman, talks about her journey and how she established relationships even when she felt like who she was was holding her back. She didn’t let who she was hold her back and decided to pursue her desires with joy and ease, and tells a story of a woman who was able to get what she wanted by bringing more fun into her life. It’s counterintuitive, but that is all the conditioning talking, right?
Connect with Darleene on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darleene-d-peters-44a2a0b/
Connect with Darleene on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/deepwellnessnola/
Visit Darleene’s website here: https://deepwellnessnola.com/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
This episode is for those who feel like they need to rest more effectively but are struggling to find the best way.
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
I think this is the very first episode from an attorney in India, and it is a very special one because in this episode, Bhavna Fatnani talks about her journey moving past societal expectations to follow what her heart tells her to do. So if you are at a crossroads on “how to get started with following your own desires,” this is a short and sweet episode that offers an example of how easy it can be to do exactly that. You can start with writing your thoughts, sharing your feelings, or both. It is also the shortest episode we’ve had because of some audio problems in the beginning, but I believe a true mark of being fit to practice is about opening up our minds to the so many ways people find their own path to being fit to practice. What this podcast is all about.
Connect with Bhavna on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavna-fatnani/
Visit Bhavna’s website here: https://ibhavna.com/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
In this episode, I talk about all the ways we can be better at something when we feel like we are not good enough. I talk about the practical and intrinsic ways to be clear about what you want to improve and how to improve easily. If you are in constant impostor syndrome, whether you are 3 days or 3 decades out of law school, this episode is for you.
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
One unspoken struggle among many legal professionals is that there is very minimal time and resources available to parents, especially when they have children. Going on leave and coming back, we are at a loss on what are the most appropriate steps to take without compromising our career. Lauren Tetenbaum is a lawyer and a counselor who specializes in helping attorneys who experience exactly that struggle. In this episode, we talk about what it looks like to ask for help at work and at home for the benefit of everyone involved without compromising anything. It is a process that allows us to become more flexible and proficient at what we do and who we are. The first thing to know, though, is that you are not alone and that it is possible.
Visit Lauren’s website here: www.LATcounseling.com
Follow Lauren on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/thecounselaur/
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
Drawing boundaries has been one of the toughest tasks for us lawyers when it’s the most important task. Today, I am dismantling all the anxiety and drama we have around drawing boundaries and making it as simple and easy as possible. I talk about why we struggle so much with drawing boundaries, the two different types of boundaries, and the only boundary that is ultimately what we need in order to stay true to all other boundaries we need in our lives. It’s more than just saying no, and it can change our lives when we know how to draw boundaries.
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
There was a lot of talk around job search in the beginning of the pandemic, and now the conversation has shifted to the Great Resignation and how companies are struggling to find talent. But some of us are still trying to find our place, and not enough of us are talking about it. Today we have Flo Nicolas, Chief Growth and Community Officer at How to Contract with Laura Frederick, who talks about her own personal journey in her professional growth. What kind of processing she did for her thoughts and feelings, what strategies she used to keep her mind in the game while she was searching for the right position, and how she continues to build her dream career and community in her current position.
Connect with Flo on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nonboringlawyer
Follow Flo on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/nonboringlawyer
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
So many times we like to believe that we are doing everything wrong and everything has gone wrong in our parenting. And we never talk about it. I want to speak up about this because people ask me and question me all the time about how I “balance” everything as if I am not doing it right by doing it all. In this episode, I talk about why we feel this way and exactly what to do. So if you are having one of those days where you feel like you’re not doing enough as a parent, this episode is for you.
Learn how to work with me: angela-han.com/start
Jamie Sternberg is my trademark attorney and also a friend and a co-author of the book that is coming out shortly or maybe has already come out by the time this podcast is out. But I wanted to get Jamie on this podcast because she has been “doing it all” with ease - being an attorney, being a parent, and dealing with grief from the loss of family, and in this episode, she talks about how she was able to do that. The answer here is that she listened to her mind and body and decided to ask for help in the areas where she noticed a gap. She explains exactly how she found that help and what she did in order to make sure that she had a support system whenever things fell through. This is a skill that all of us can always be better at.
Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamieplatkinsternberg/
Visit Jamie’s firm’s website here: https://sandsip.com/
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
In this episode, I talk about everything behind the scenes in growing my business to a six figure empire in a year as a life coach. Every time I talk about something like this, people have questions, so I wanted to be as comprehensive as possible. This is probably one of the longest episodes I’ve made, and it’s solo, and it has all the goodies you are looking for in designing not just your own business but your own dream life. I talk about all the numbers, how I got there, the mistakes I made, my main philosophy, how I don’t hustle, and what kind of coaches I work with to be exquisitely supported.
Learn how to work with Angela here: angela-han.com/start
I always gravitate towards stories of immigrants because they really showcase the trails of those who felt like outsiders. And to a great extent, we all feel like outsiders at some point because we are all so different. Elena Kohn is an in-house counsel, an immigrant, and a parent who shares her journey all the way from the beginning, where she experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union, meeting her future husband, moving to the UK, then moving to the US, all before becoming a highly accomplished lawyer here in the US. She talks about how her anchor was following her heart and the fun to design her life and career, and the way she articulates her journey and her thinking is remarkable in how joyful and simple that pursuit can be.
Connect with Elena on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenakohn
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
A lot of the time we talk about how to manage our mental health outside the work place. What do we need to do to take care of ourselves after hours? That is the question we like to usually ask, but today I want to assert that part of self care is having the kind of environment, including systems and processes, that allow you to enjoy your work. Marty Finestone is a lawyer and a legal design expert who uses both his lawyer thinking and creativity (though, they are not mutually exclusive), in order to support teams and individuals joyfully reach their productivity at work. His compelling reason for getting into this niche field and how he capitalizes on his experiences to support others offers another perspective on how we can design not just our work lives but our whole lives as well.
Connect with Marty on LinkedIn here: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/martyfinestone
Follow Marty on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/himartyf/
Follow Marty on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/himartyf
Learn more about Marty’s Counsel Collective initiative here: https://counselcollective.co/
Sign up for Marty’s newsletter here: https://legaladjacency.com/with-less/
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
This is the first time we are having a law partner in Ireland come on as a guest on the show, and she has shared her firsthand experience working at a firm where she has not experienced burnout as a lawyer and as a parent. Lisa Quinn O’Flaherty is a partner at Fitzsimons Redmond Solicitors in Ireland, and she talks about what it is like to navigate her work life as a parent of two children. You know, subconsciously, I thought she would start with overcoming all kinds of challenges, but she began with the four-day work week that her firm decided to implement and how that system and the culture at her firm allowed her to say that she’s never experienced burnout at her job. She elaborates how this had led to happier clients and happier lawyers without sacrificing the firm’s bottom line.
Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn here: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/lqof
Visit Lisa’s firm website here: https://fitzsimonsredmond.ie/
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
Rebecca Evans has such an incredible journey. She started her law career later while giving birth to her youngest during law school. She also started her own practice for many reasons, including that she was committed to creating a new future for the legal industry. She has so many golden nuggets of wisdom to share, including her approach on parenting and lawyering and her approach for better lawyering for clients. You’ll see that she is so articulate and is a great storyteller, so I’ll for sure be remembering this conversation for years to come.
Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaevansjd/
Follow Rebecca on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/BougieLawyer
Visit Rebecca’s website here: http://evanslaw.llc/
Follow Rebecca on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/The.Bougie.Lawyer/
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
I know I am known for talking about things that people never talk about, but this one is probably the thing people REALLY never talk about. We never talk about sex. We have been socialized to believe that talking about sex is inappropriate when it is one of the powerful ways we find pleasure as human beings. We have been socialized to stop pleasuring ourselves, and even when we do, there are only certain ways that we can do that. So then when we are struggling with pleasuring ourselves through sex, we have nowhere to really talk about it. We are hesitant to talk about it even with our own therapists or even our own partners. So today I have on my podcast my sex coach Danielle Savory, who dispels all kinds of myths about what sex “ought” to be and simplifies how we can reconnect with our bodies to enjoy sex more deeply so that we can show up in the world more meaningfully.
Follow Danielle on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/danielle.savory/
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
We don’t talk about this much, but marriage is as much a part of our lives as our careers are. We often like to talk about how great our marriage is, and if it is not so great, we don’t like to talk about it at all. So we end up feeling alone in our marriage journey and try to distract ourselves with the work and all the outside obligations that come up in our outside lives. But as we know in our subconscious, the outside life and the inside life are deeply interconnected. Today I invited my marriage coach Maggie Reyes to talk about all the common issues that pop up for us in marriages for a lot of us ambitious women, and even if you are a lawyer who does not identify as a woman, so much of this will still apply to you. Maggie talks about the possibility of changing the world by changing our marriage.
Visit Maggie’s website here: http://maggiereyes.com/
Follow Maggie’s Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/themaggiereyes/
Listen to Maggie’s podcast here: https://maggiereyes.com/podcast/
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
Many of you probably know Matt Margolis, but if you don’t, he posts hilarious memes and gifs on LinkedIn and elsewhere about the practice of law. So if you don’t follow him, certainly check him out. I reached out to him after I saw one of his posts about redlining contracts, which gave me a chuckle. It’s so funny how you being yourself can make someone laugh in a way that moves their heart and so you develop a relationship. In this episode, you’ll love Matt even more as he talks candidly about his experience as a lawyer trying to make his way through his career and how he is honest about his thoughts and feelings to promote change in the legal world.
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/flattorney
Follow Matt on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/itsmattslaw
Follow Matt on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/margolis101/
Follow Matt on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/mattslaw
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
What really is spirituality? There are a lot of names and labels and thoughts around spirituality. Some people call it “woo woo” and some people don’t want to deal with it at all because it can feel a little spooky. But it really is a tool for getting clarity on our purpose - whether it’s the daily purpose or the grand purpose - to help us make the decisions that we make as human beings and lawyers. Brad Miller is a solo practitioner and a coach for other solo and small law firms, and we bonded over spirituality over LinkedIn and a coaching program we were in together. So in our conversation, we unpack what we know about spirituality, what it means, and why it is tangibly helpful to us as lawyers.
Connect with Brad on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleymiller/
Visit Brad’s website here: https://www.newmodernlawyer.com/
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
If you follow me on LinkedIn, I announced several weeks back that I would get together with Olivia Vizachero, Rachel Coll, and myself who have reached their first six figure years as coaches for lawyers to talk about how we got here and answer any questions people had. Rachel was unfortunately unable to join us today, but Olivia and I still had a blast talking about all things coaching: why it’s important for women to make money, the bumps on the road in getting to six figures, and how we are thriving as life coaches for lawyers. So join us as we tell you all that goes on in our brains behind the scenes of building a six figure business as lawyers and coaches and entrepreneurs.
Connect with Olivia on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviavizachero
Visit Olivia’s website here: https://thelessstressedlawyer.com/
Follow Olivia on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/thelessstressedlawyer
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/
Visit Angela’s website here: https://angela-han.com/
Follow Angela on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsangelahan/
The phrase “compassionate lawyering” may sound a little jarring because, I mean, compassion? Doesn’t that mean that we are being weak? You can’t win your cases by being compassionate to opposing counsel, right? But that is not what we mean. We are talking about exercising compassion toward ourselves. The perfectionism and the people pleasing - understanding how we are letting those tendencies infiltrate our lives and how we can exercise compassion to ourselves first and foremost so that we are leading others to do the same and create change for ourselves, our colleagues, our clients, and our whole legal community. That is what Jenn Deal, big law trademark attorney and life coach, talks about on how we can actually exercise compassion in a meaningful and productive way.
Connect with Jenn on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenn-deal-coaching
Follow Jenn on Instagram here: http://www.instagram.com/jenn_deal_coaching
Visit Jenn’s website here: https://www.jenndealcoachin
Oftentimes we believe that leadership doesn’t necessarily have to follow "lawyerhood", but in my conversation with Monica Levi, a former lawyer and a leadership coach, we talk about how they are so closely connected. By stepping into being a lawyer, we may have already become a leader. So the question is, how can we be the leader that serves others in a way that feels right to us? That is the question that we discuss, along with the question of what to do when nothing feels right. Spoiler alert, there are no right answers, but you can find the answers that are right for you.
Show notes:
Connect with Monica on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamlevy
Visit Monica’s website here: https://www.monicalevicoaching.com/
Today I am speaking with Anna Lozynski, who has been in places all over the world as a lawyer and an entrepreneur. One of the things that is remarkable about Anna is that having an extensive background in the corporate world, she also has a deep relationship with mindfulness. Being a corporate lawyer and mindfulness is not something you see everyday or see talked about that often. So with Anna we chat about what mindfulness really means and how it can work for our structured and sometimes rigid corporate environment.
Connect with Anna on LinkedIn here: https://au.linkedin.com/in/annalozynski
Follow Anna on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/legallyinnovative/
Visit Anna’s website here: https://annalozynski.com/
Enroll in The Mindful Lawyers: https://themindfullawyers.com/
Mindfulness and stress are buzzwords to the point where just talking about it attracts a bunch of eyerolls and more stress. So in this conversation with Marike Knight, lawyer and founder of Cool Karma Collected, she talked about how mindfulness can be fun and relatable and how we can make stress work in our favor. This is for those who feel like they need some sort of break in their mind and body and are not sure where to start. It can feel like homework, but even if it is homework, it’s the kind of work that gets us more in touch with our body and mind so that we are not in constant SOS mode every time crazy things pop up in our lives.
Connect with Marike on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marikeknight/
Enroll in The Mindful Lawyers program here: https://themindfullawyers.com/
Follow Marike on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cool.karma.collected/
Today I speak with Danielle Allison, CEO of Ms. JD. We talk about all things life, about how lawyering impacted her as a person and as a lawyer, and how transitioning to a unique role as a leader of a national nonprofit impacted her life as a human being. What is it like to step into a completely new role after practicing law for years, and is it possible to adjust and transition smoothly? As you’ll see in our conversation, we are so resilient, and not in a way that is painful or that we have to tolerate pain in order to become stronger. We are resilient in that we can learn to love completely unfamiliar environments and thrive in them. Listen in to hear how Danielle did it.
Visit Ms. JD’s website here: https://ms-jd.org/
Follow Ms. JD on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/msjdorg
Connect with Ms. JD on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ms-jd/
Follow Ms. JD on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/msjdorg
We live in a world where we are bombarded with advertisements and messages about how we can be “flush with cash,” have “all the freedom and flexibility,” but it is really hard to tell what is a scam and what is actually true. It helps when we have someone who knows our language as an experienced attorney and has gone through all of those steps and is now successfully investing in real estate and operating as an entrepreneur. So today, Seth Bradley, a real estate attorney and a real estate investor and host of the Passive Attorney Podcast, is joining me and talking about his journey from getting fired from his big law job and building multiple successful businesses. This is an important conversation because Seth is an example of what is possible, that we don’t have to stop being a lawyer to live our dream lives and do all the fun stuff.
Connect with Seth on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethpaulbradley/
Visit Seth’s websites here:
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/
http://attorneybydesign.com/
We talk a lot about burnout and wellness, those are the buzz words, but we don’t really mention the word “betrayal.” That is why I am so excited to share my conversation with Lora Cheadle. She's a former lawyer, life choreographer and betrayal expert, who goes really deep into her personal experiences that most of us would feel hesitant to talk about. But Lora is vulnerable because she is here to serve, and she has an important message about betrayal: you can be a victim of betrayal, many of us likely have been, but we do not have to stay in victimhood. She goes through her exact framework on how she was able to do this and how she is able to do the same for others.
Connect with Lora on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lora-cheadle-lifechoreographer/
Visit Lora’s website here: https://loracheadle.com/
A lot of us are brewing with the idea of starting a business while having a full time job, and the biggest hold back is that we feel like there isn’t enough time or even if we do, we don’t know where to start. In this episode with Loraine Martinez Bellamy, who is basically the same person as I am because she has a full time job as a lawyer and has a full on business as well, we talk about how easy it is to change our thoughts around getting the appropriate help to do what we love doing and find what we love doing. Yes, it can be uncomfortable at first, but you are not alone. Loraine talks about how she is able to love her job and her business and have time for everything else she loves. When you listen to her story, you’ll know how possible it is for all of us.
Connect with Loraine on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/loly_love/
I have quite a few listeners who are in big law as junior associates thinking a lot about whether they should lateral and if so, what exactly that looks like. Often they languish in so many questions and thoughts about what the “right” answer is, and today we dispel all kinds of notions around how hard it is to lateral. In this episode with Summer Eberhard, partner at Major, Lindsey, and Africa, Summer talks about what to look out for when lateraling successfully, how to make it easy without making it additional work, and how recruiters can make the process much less burdensome. It really is a gamechanger for those who are thinking about lateraling in big law, and even if you are not in big law, Summer shares how you can still ask for help and guidance to move the needle.
Connect with Summer on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/summereberhard/
I get so many questions around podcasting from other lawyers on how to start one, how it works, and what it looks like, all that good stuff, so I thought about doing a whole masterclass with none other than my own editor, Mark McDonald. He formerly worked at BBC and NPR stations and is now an editor and a media professor. I have been working with him for two and a half years, and he has been nothing short of incredible. He’s had the longest tenure as a member of my team since the inception of my business. So today, we go behind the scenes and talk about all things podcast for anyone who is curious about my own journey getting this podcast up and running and how to start one yourself for all the amazing reasons and benefits we mention in this episode, even if you can’t seem to fathom a single reason right at this moment. Let’s get started.
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcdonaldus/
Visit Mark’s website here: https://www.birkdalemedia.com/
I really had to hear the phrase “you are not alone” multiple times, like multiple times, in order to really feel like I was not alone. And I think I am still struggling sometimes to really know that I am not alone, especially when we are working out of our homes, and even at the office, we usually have physical walls between colleagues. That is why I really appreciated my conversation with Reid Murtaugh, owner and founder of Murtaugh Law in Indiana and an executive member of the Lawyers Depression Project. In this episode, Reid opens up about his journey having bipolar disorder II, which is an easily misunderstood and underdiscussed condition not just in the law but also in general. And the message is clear: whatever you do, wherever you are, you are not alone.
Connect with Reid on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reid-murtaugh-b22913109
Email Reid here: reidmentalfitness@gmail.com
This is a special episode for law school students because you guys are our future. Only a few years ago, I was in your exact spot, and I don’t know about you, but I was completely clueless and feeling incompetent as ever. And I know myself, and I know that I cannot help law students. That is not my zone of genius. So I asked Anjie Vichayanonda, a lawyer and founder of LegUp Legal, which focuses on mentoring pre law students and law students. Here, we address all the fears about being a prospective lawyer: will I get a job? Am I good enough? How do I ask for help? How do I do informational interviews? All these questions that were pressing on me when I was a law student myself, so I hope they are helpful for you, too.
Visit Anjie’s website here: https://www.leguplegal.com/
Connect with Anjie on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjievichayanonda/
I am willing to bet that all lawyers have, at some point, gone through an internal crisis of whether they should really stay in the law. And many times, most times, we stay in the law because we don’t know what else to do. We just feel like this is what we’re supposed to do. It feels scary even thinking about making a change when you have all the things that people say you should have: a good income, a roof over your head, some prestige, perhaps. While your feelings take a backseat because that is also what you’re supposed to do. That is why I am so excited to have Sarah Cottrell, former lawyer and founder of the the FormerLawyer.com, talks about how leaving the law may take courage but you don’t have to do it alone. She really gets deep into what it really looks like to leave without leaving all those years of experience and reputation behind. Show notes:
Visit Sarah’s website here: https://www.formerlawyer.com/
Today we are speaking with Randi Johnson, now a Chief Communications Officer with Gravis Law, a highly ranked national law firm. She is also a former lawyer and an end-of-life doula, and when you hear that, you know she is going to have some interesting wisdom to share. Not just because those professions are a rare combination but also because it takes courage and resilience in the mind, body, and soul to pursue non-common professions and escape the traditional views of what it means to be a lawyer, what it means to be fit to practice. In this episode, Randi talks about her profound spiritual journey in discovering what it means to be, do, and have the life she’s designed for herself.
Show notes:
Connect with Randi on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randi-l-johnson-71926835/
You may or may not know Jesse Cooke from his famous historical posts on LinkedIn, and I invited him to be interviewed on my show because he is one of the very few people who doesn't talk about anything related to the law. And as Jesse and I talk about in the show, no one wants to talk to lawyers. Do I know about that. I’ve had so many people throw hate at me just for being a lawyer. So in this world where there is a fair amount of hostility against lawyers, we are thinking about ways to add value by doing what lights us up outside of the law. Jesse does this by sharing his passion for history. Listen in to hear how his love for history has affected his practice and his life for the better.
Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-cooke-95587291/
Look out for his book coming out soon!
Have you ever said the phrase “I just can’t imagine” when someone tells you about a situation that sounds so painful? I certainly have. But in this conversation with Joanne, I realized that when we say “I can’t imagine,” what we are really saying is “I don’t want to imagine.” When we resist imagining what other people are going through, we are resisting empathy. I always felt weird saying that, and in this conversation with Joanne, I finally understand. She is a former partner and now a coach and consultant and talks about her own journey in depression and her daughter’s journey with addiction and how that affected her. Also, I want to provide a trigger warning for this episode because there are parts of our conversation that discuss suicide. Please reach out to 800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Hotline if you need support. Let’s get started.
Visit Joanne’s website here: http://jschaefercoaching.com/
Email Joanne here: joanne@jschaefercoaching.com
Here is the number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255
I’ve always been curious about creating your own firm, but so far I have only met those who went directly from a larger firm to creating their own and doing so intentionally. In Wendy’s case, it was almost accidental as she was taking a break to figure things out because she had her whole network in place already, So in this episode, Wendy Neal, a firm lawyer turned chief legal counsel to private practice owner, talks about how she transitioned smoothly and how she creates lasting relationships with her clients even without a website.
Show notes:
Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-neal-00a6954
Email Wendy here: wendy@neallawpllc.com
The more I learn about the legal industry, the more I feel like I need to learn. One of those things is navigating the partnership track and how it works. So today I spoke with Gloria Sandrino, Global Chair of Partner and Group Recruiting at Lateral Link. In our conversation today we talk about some of the deep heavy stuff on how diversity plays a role in navigating the partnership track, what that means to the entire legal industry, and how we can contribute to a more equitable and inclusive legal world to serve our clients better. Here is to hoping that one day, conversations around DEI is not so deep and heavy anymore. That one day, we are able to talk about it as a matter of fact. Let’s get started.
Connect with Gloria on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloriasandrino/
Visit Gloria’s page on Lateral Link here: https://laterallink.com/team/gloria-sandrino/
I think I am on a roll with talking about the life of an in-house counsel. I’ll be honest - it is a LOT of fun. It is really uncomfortable learning and growing in the day to day, but it’s the kind of growth that you get excited about because you feel like you are making a difference in the company. But it’s not just the position itself that makes it great. It takes the environment and your personal responsibility to make it amazing and ultimately make you a great in-house counsel. So today I have Krista Lynn, who is a deputy general counsel who was just promoted earlier this year and has all kinds of amazing wisdom for anyone who is wanting to go in-house and anyone who is already in-house and wants to thrive even more.
Connect with Krista on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/legallykristalynn
Visit Krista’s blog Recovering Superwoman here: https://www.recoveringsuperwoman.com/
Visit Krista’s membership website here: https://generalcounselu.com/
I never imagined that learning how to contract would come back to learning how to be fit to practice. In law school, I remember putting my health and wellbeing last and really just focusing on getting everything right. It was such an uplifting conversation with Laura Frederick, who runs her own firm and teaches other lawyers how to contract better, sharing how learning how to contract better is about knowing your priorities, your strengths, and your place so that you are able to best serve your client. Because knowing all the specific language and provisions can only get you so far when you are trying to act in the best interest of your client.
Show notes:
Connect with Laura on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurafredericklaw
Sign up for Laura’s membership here: https://www.howtocontract.com/
At some point in our careers, we start thinking about transitions. Many times transitioning in-house, being part of the business decisions, the community of non-legal colleagues, the culture of forward thinking. That is the romantic vision that we have for in house positions. Some people think this is all a dream, but at least I don’t. As in-house counsel, I do believe in the American in-house dream. That is why I am so happy to have Sheila Murphy, a corporate lawyer of 24 years now turned coach for lawyers who want to climb the corporate ladder. Today she is sharing what she shares with her clients on going up the ladder with ease and joy. So many golden nuggets in here.
Connect with Sheila on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilamurphyfocusforward
Connect with Sheila on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/sheilamurphy
We all have different experiences with yoga and meditation. Some of us might be thinking, yoga and meditation seem to calm and inactive for me. Some of us might be thinking, I tried yoga and meditation but it wasn’t really for me. Some of us might be thinking, yeah yoga and meditation are great but I really gotta get back in the game. If you resonated with any of the above, this episode is for you. I chat with Jen Mohamed, who is a lawyer and a yoga and meditation teacher, and we talk about the thoughts that really hold us back in doing yoga and meditation correctly so we can unlock so many answers for ourselves and how they can really benefit our short term and long term practice as lawyers and as human beings. I, for one, got really motivated to start getting back in the game with yoga after this conversation, and I hope it is the same for you, too.
Connect with Jen on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-mohamed-86880826/
Visit Jen’s website here: https://jentheyogalawyer.com/
Mental health, in and of itself, is an under discussed topic in the legal profession, and a niche area that is even less discussed is mental health for men in the law. Today I speak with Mark Yacano, who is a director at Major Lindsey and Africa and also hosts the podcast Erasing the Stigma: Conversations about Mental Health in the Legal Profession. In our conversation he talks about his own survival journey in mental health and what he learned when looking into the state of men’s mental health in the law. We talk about the ways toxic masculinity can affect their capacity to ask for help and how managing and surviving mental health is not reserved for any particular group. We all deserve to express who we are and ask for help on our own terms.
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markyacano
Listen to Mark’s podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/erasing-the-stigma/id1454387519
Follow Mark on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/myacano25/
In this episode with Winter Wheeler, a former litigator turned mediator now in very high demand, we talk about the four cornerstones of Winter’s mediation strategy: emotional intelligence, cultural knowledge, cultural immersion, and genuine empathy. We talk about how it can be easy to believe that culture, feelings, and empathy don’t have anything to do with resolving legal problems, but legal problems are also problems. And by applying these four cornerstones to not just mediation but also all other conflicts we see out there, we can see results, save time, money, and energy quickly.
Show notes:
Visit Winter’s website here: https://www.winterwheeler.com/
Connect with Winter on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winterwheeler/
Listen to Winter’s podcast here: https://www.themediatenow.com/
Money is still a taboo topic. We are afraid to talk about it because we might feel like we have more debt than other people, make less than other people, and are not making the right decisions the way other people might be making. When it comes to money, because it is such an objective unit of measurement, it is easy to use it to play the comparison game. But what if it doesn’t have to be? What if it can be easy? In this episode with Kristin Printon, who is a financial advisor who has worked with lawyers and working parents, talks about the most common issues people go through when it comes to money and how it doesn’t have to be hard overcoming them. She shares some actionable pointers on how you can start managing your money with confidence even before asking for help. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Kristin on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinbrandliprinton
Visit Kristin’s website here: http://www.moxiewealthmanagement.com/
In moments of utter confusion or just blankness, it’s hard to find the answers you’re looking for. But how can you find answers if you don’t know what questions to ask? In this episode with Anya Smirnova, a former lawyer and now coach in the UK, talks about some of the most unexpected changes in her life that led her to ask the right questions for her answers. All the twists and turns that you had to go through in your life, all the feelings and the thoughts that keep jumping out at you, they give you important clues on your next steps. Tune in to find to out how.
Show notes:
Connect with Anya on LinkedIn here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/anya-smirnova-coach
Visit Anya’s website here: https://www.anyasmirnova.com/
Listen to Anya’s podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lawyer-life-experiment/id1542458007
Find more information on the Mindful Return here: https://www.mindfulreturn.com/
The title of the podcast episode sounds common and maybe even easy. As if that is something that we are supposed to do. Turn difficult experiences into good things. But the reality is, it isn’t. It often feels nearly impossible to turn something traumatic into something good. And today, I talk about this with Shinhong Byun, a California litigator who made this tough decision to talk about some of her deepest stories and use them as a starting point to help others tell theirs. She does this in her everyday life and through her new podcast, the Curious Ahjuma. So you may notice that's a Korean word, so you’ll learn a thing or two about Korean culture in this episode, too. A bonus.
Connect with Shinhong on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shinhong-byun-59680a13
Visit The Curious Ahjuma podcast website: https://curiousahjuma.libsyn.com/
Some of you may be thinking about becoming a coach or doing something that is impactful. And that is not the only decision you’re making - you might also be considering quitting your job as a lawyer or as a legal professional. So many crazy decisions to make. Only if you knew someone who went through exactly the same thing. That is why my conversation with Meghan Smith today is so powerful: she did the work. She is doing the work. All the scary hairy goals that we only dream of, like quitting the glorious title of being a lawyer and becoming a coach, she has done all of it. So tune in to find out how she did it, how she managed her thoughts and emotions through it, and how she coaches her clients through those transformations as well.
Show notes:
Connect with Meghan on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-smith-coaching/
Visit Meghan’s website here: https://www.meghansmithcoaching.com/
It’s been a while since we talked strictly about physical health, and I am so excited to dive into it today. Dr. Monique Ruberu is a doctor based in Pennsylvania but seeing clients and patients all over the world to help them manage and support their hormonal balance and fertility. In this episode, she talks about how to optimize your nutrition without necessarily getting extra help, how hormonal imbalances can result from certain stress and sleep patterns, and why it is important to step into new patterns now.
Visit Dr. Ruberu’s website here: https://www.naturalwomenshealth.com/
Okay let me tell you before we begin, I know some people - people who are close to me - who get very offended and upset about the idea of spirituality, mediumship, and psychics. If you are one of them, this episode is not for you. That’s why I even debated whether I should air this conversation but the one non-negotiable in my life is that I have to be who I am, and part of who I am is that I am fascinated by things that I don’t know. Things that can educate me. Things that can help me understand the world better, even if it uses methods that others disagree with. So today I have Kristen Swinehart, a former lawyer and now a medium, who unpacks what mediumship really is and how that relates to taking care of yourself and being fit to practice. And, bonus, she does a reading for me as it relates to some of the personal questions that have surfaced over the past few months. If this hasn’t scared you away yet, I hope you enjoy.
Connect with Kristen on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-swinehart
Book a spot with Kristen here: https://bookme.name/kristenswinehart
I remember when I used to intern at a criminal defense attorney’s office, and man, it was a lot of work. It took discipline and passion to get through the finish line because you are directly representing the client, and usually there is no boss you can report to. You are responsible for justice. So what does it really look like to be a criminal defense lawyer, and how do the lessons of a criminal defense lawyer translate into being fit to practice law? In this episode I speak with Christon Halkiotis, a former prosecutor who is now a criminal defense lawyer who shows up each day with a greater purpose. How can we show up with a greater purpose as a lawyer? She tells us how. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Christon on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cshlawpllc/
Connect with Christon on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cshalkiotis
Let me be honest with you. I’ve thought about starting my own firm because who doesn’t want the freedom to create your own schedule? But I didn’t even entertain the idea because of my own beliefs about how hard it would be. I was like of COURSE I would never start my own firm. I don’t have years of experience under my belt. I don’t know everything about the law or even the first thing about starting my own firm. But today Katie Lipp really made me question my beliefs about how hard it is supposed to be. And the secret to her success is by being completely open about who she is. Not having the right systems, but being the person she most feels comfortable being. How does she do that exactly?
Show notes:
Connect with Katie on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katielippemploymentlaw/
Connect with Katie on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/lawpracticequeen/
Have you ever thought about communicating with the universe? You may have guessed that this is a spirituality episode. When we talk about spirituality, it’s a bit unclear what that actually means. There are so many tools that we talk about in this episode: palm reading, medicine cards, the book A Couple in Miracles, tarot cards, astrology, human design, and the enneagram. And yet these are still just a few out of the many many tools out there. But regardless of what the tools are, what matters is how we use them to shape our own reality. In this episode, Lauren Krasnodembski, a privacy lawyer for McKesson and founder of the Mind Muscle Motivator, shares her transformation and spiritual journey of finding her purpose and calling. Let’s get started.
Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindmm/
Visit Lauren’s website here: https://mindmusclemotivator.com/
I’ve been trying to start the conversation on when our mental health does not have anything to do with the profession. Because too many times we are demonizing the profession as the one and only source of mental health problems, but when we assign blame and responsibility to one thing that we do not mostly have control over, we give it more power and give ourselves less power. So I am really excited to speak with Jenn Smuts, who is the chief marketing officer of a firm in Delaware at the time of this recording, who opens up about her health journey in the legal profession even when it has nothing to do with the profession. Her journey gives us some questions to think about how we can truly address mental health struggles by tapping into our own love and strength. Sounds cheesy, but it works. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Jenn on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennsmuts/
Connect with Jenn on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jennsmuts
Some of the scariest parts of life that not a lot of us talk about are the transitions we need to take from point A to point B, whether it is from law school to practice, whether it is a lateral transition, or whether it is into a leadership role. Michelle Banks is an executive coach for lawyers who was a general counsel for Gap and held other leadership positions as a lawyer before turning into a coach who helps other GCs thrive in their positions. In this episode, she give us some specific strategies in getting those transitions feel easy and breezy even if we feel like it is daunting. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-banks-a462087
Here’s a question: What is love? Such a common and straightforward question that not a lot of us really talk about as lawyers, but is so fundamental to who we are. I’ll be honest with you: I am still working on loving myself. I am still learning what it means to love myself and others. And I hear so many other lawyers who are also working on finding that love, whether it is within themselves or within others. So I wanted to get to the bottom of this, or at least get started, with the one and only Rachel Coll, who coaches lawyers on finding love. In this episode, we dive deep into the common concerns we have as lawyers in finding love, what it really means to be in love, and seriously, how to find love.
Show notes:
Visit Rachel’s website here: https://www.rachelcollcoaching.com/
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelelizabethcoll
The last time I remember my experience with an appellate lawyer is my time at a prosecutor’s office, and they were on the quietest floor because everyone was writing and thinking. Whereas on the trial floor, we were running around meeting deadlines and talking to witnesses and gathering facts. So the appellate practice was always a bit of a mystery to me because I always wondered what was going on in their minds. That is why it was such a privilege to speak with MC Sungaila, the chair of the appellate practice in a large west coast firm Buchalter. She talks about her path becoming an excellent appellate lawyer, how she finds creative ways to continue improving her practice, and how she manages her team so that they are keeping the collective spirit to win and shape the course of the law in question. We are all thinking and writing in some capacity, so everything that MC had to share elevated my sense of purpose in doing just that in my life.
Connect with MC here.
https://mothersthoughtsfortheday.com/
https://www.buchalter.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcsungaila
Leadership. Diversity, equity, and inclusion. Wellness. Business development. What do all of these have in common? They are all connected. When you tune into your leadership, you recognize the responsibility to create an inclusive environment. When you create a safe space, you promote the wellness of those around you. When you continue to design and build your community, business development follows. But where do we even start? That’s what we cover today with Rudhit Krishtel, who was a big law attorney for a decade and then in house counsel at Apple for five. Now he is transforming the way law firms approach business development, wellness, leadership, and DE&I because when we shift the culture, business explodes. Tune in to hear exactly what that means and how we all can get started. Let’s begin.
Connect with Rudhir here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudhirkrishtel
https://www.krishtel.com/
Yes, it is possible to be an incredible lawyer and an incredible entrepreneur, and Heather Stevenson is an example. She is a former big law attorney, a former smoothie shop owner, and now the deputy general counsel of Boston Globe Media. Guys, if you ever felt like you cannot create your own path to arrive at your dream job, Heather is the one to tell you that those beliefs are simply not true. The one thing that she did to forge her path was simply following her heart meaning following what she wanted to do, and doing exactly what she wanted to do. Because she tried doing things that people thought she should do, and it didn’t work. And when she started doing exactly what she wanted to do, everything started unfolding the way she desired. That’s what Heather is here to prove to us: that the world is working in your favor; all you have to do is work in your favor, too. Let’s hear Heather’s story on how she was able to navigate her career, how she is thriving in it, and her golden tips on how to secure jobs that you feel like are impossible to get. Let’s get started.
Connect with Heather on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherlstevenson/
When it comes to areas of law that sound the most difficult, to me what comes to mind is the tax law. But all that changed when I met Amanda Doucette, a tax lawyer in Saskatoon, Canada, where she helps business of all kinds of sizes thrive in their business through her tax work. The beautiful part about this is that she knows how to thrive in her own life so that she can be the best lawyer for her clients. And she does this in an unconventional way: by demystifying tax law and making it fun. It is the definition of giving more and serving more without expecting anything in return. Tune in to learn how Amanda is designing her dream life in her dream practice by helping others thrive in theirs.
Visit Amanda’s blog here: https://taxchickca.wordpress.com/
Tune into Amanda’s podcast, the Tax Chick: https://thetaxchickpodcast.transistor.fm/episodes
Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandasadoucette/
Find Amanda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tax.chick/
Follow Amanda on Clubhouse @taxchick
You guys, I am so excited about this episode. Ali Assareh is an M&A attorney at Clorox, and let’s just think about the image right there. An M&A lawyer at a Fortune 500 company. I don’t know about you but I picture this buttoned-up person, stern, keeps their head down, all about the rules, deadlines, perfection, no typos. But Ali is not like that. He writes about mentorship, grief, and in this episode, he talks about couples therapy. One of my favorite quotes from this episode: What if people loved you more as a result of knowing about that one thing you want to keep from them? We have so much fear about being the human being behind the lawyer title because we believe that they are going to judge us. But what if they loved us more for it? That is the possibility that Ali and I are all about, and we talk about how that makes us fit to practice.
Show notes:
Visit Ali’s website here: https://www.aali.live/
I remember when I was graduating from law school, I was really afraid to do anything. I was not on social media, I did not ask for help, and I just kind of wallowed in my own emotions and feelings of the impostor syndrome. That’s why I was so impressed by Gordon Chung, who is from Hong Kong, took the bar exam in New York, and is now practicing in the UK, talks about his very unique journey all over the world and finally finding his way into the very first step in his legal career. Because the reality is, wherever you are in the world, competition is tough if you are trying to break into the market. It gets really challenging and even dreary. In this episode, Gordon talks about how he spent a year trying to figure out what he really wanted and doing the work to get it. He drops some really great wisdom and amazing reminders, not just for new lawyers but any one of us feeling stuck where we are, so we can get unstuck and move forward.
Show notes:
Connect with Gordon on LinkedIn here: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gordon-chung-6807a5108
Subscribe to Gordon’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkcTBkx79Pcp9nLp_WF4YVA
Follow Gordon on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gordonchung
They share a million self care and health and wellness tips out there: journaling, working out, meditation, but even meditation seems so daunting because you have to sit there in the quiet for 5 to 10 minutes and we’re like, well we don’t really have the time to do all this and I feel like I am doing this meditation incorrectly, but I want to feel really good like, immediately. Well, this is the perfect episode for you because Samantha Skelly, a breathwork expert that I’ve been following for a WHILE, is teaching us exactly how to do that today, even in just 90 seconds. So gear up, and let’s get this party started so we can experience the transformation instantly. Seriously.
Show notes:
Connect with Samantha on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/samanthaskelly
Visit Samantha’s website here: https://www.samanthaskelly.com/
So many attorneys ask questions like the following: Do I like my job? I mean, I’m grateful, but do I like it? Should I stay or should I leave? Should I even be a lawyer? Because we graduate from law school pretty excited about the career ahead - we are finally lawyers! But a few years in, many of us start to wonder, what is going on? Why am I not as excited about my job as I thought I was going to be? Am I the only one? Well for starters, you are certainly not the only one. And more importantly, there IS a way through this crisis in our heads. Because let’s face it, if we are stuck in a constant state of indecision, we are in crisis. If you relate to this at all, you’re really going to love this episode because today I interview Arivee Vargas, who is a career coach for lawyers who are several years into their careers, are somehow feeling such, and are not sure about what to do next. In this episode, she tells us exactly how she coaches them so they can design their dream careers. Let’s get started.
Connect with Arivee on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arivee-vargas-49079222/
Connect with Arivee on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/ariveevargas
Connect with Arivee’s coaching account on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/ourhumblerising/
Visit Arivee’s website here: https://www.ariveevargas.com/
There are a lot of statistics and stories around how difficult it is to thrive as a woman of color in big law. As a result, so many of us shy away from even trying to “make it” in big law. But we are all about breaking ceilings around here, so I asked Sakina Rasheed Foster, a partner at Haynes and Boone, to tell us about her journey and what it was like to go from law school to associate to partner. In this episode, she tells us the basics and the higher level strategies in thriving as not just a woman of color but as a human being. So many golden nuggets in here on how to thrive as a lawyer.
Show notes:
Connect with Sakina on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sakina-rasheed-foster-b359231
So, I messed up. I thought it was the 100th episode this week but it was actually last week. But it’s never too late, right? Anyway, in this special episode I record with my husband, Daniel Han, who is really the secret sauce to how I define being fit to practice for myself. In this episode, we answer all the questions that I’ve gotten from the listeners about how we manage our relationship, and we talk about how that is impacting our lives. Let me warn you, though, there are some things I would have never wanted to share on an open forum, but you can’t control what your husband does, and I didn’t want to hide any part of who he was. So this is an uncut version, maybe except for the ums and the ahs and the pauses. So just be ready for some embarrassing moments, and I hope you still like me after this.
So the title of this episode is pretty narrow, falling in love with your tax practice, but really it applies to a lot of us who feel like understanding tax is such a tall order. And the reality is, tax is part of all of our lives. Every April we have to deal with it, and for those who run businesses, it’s another ball game you need to tend to. That’s when you get help from an expert like Jamie Szal, who has been practicing tax law for businesses expertly across the country and has been part of a major Supreme Court case a few years back. The reason she is an example of what it means to be fit to practice is that she uses her profession as a lawyer to maximize her impact on the world in a way only she can. Someone like that, we can all learn from. Because we are always growing. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamieszal/
Visit Jamie’s firm’s page: https://www.brannlaw.com/
I can’t believe that this is still the case, but getting therapy is still stigmatized. So many of us are still afraid to admit that we have mental health conditions. It’s like, we have to be afraid of having fingers. Having mental health conditions is such a natural condition of the human state. And yet, when words like struggle or problem enter the conversation, all of a sudden there are red flags and the whole thing gets shut down. All because we are no longer what they thought in their minds what we ought to be. So in this episode, I speak with Stacey Dana, a former lawyer turned psychotherapist who has practiced law for 20 years and therapy for 8. Needless to say, she knows what she is talking about. And the way she approaches conversation in therapy also has practical applications in how we manage conflict in our daily lives as you will see from the example we discuss in this episode. Tune in to hear why therapy can be the linchpin of progress.
Show notes:
Visit Stacey’s website here: https://www.staceydanatherapy.com/
Connect with Stacey on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-dana/
I don’t know about you, but I am hearing a lot of buzz about lawyers starting their own firm. And a lot of lawyers who already have their own firm and are trying to get clients. Because this is part of the mental and professional health of lawyers - being able to focus on lawyering so that they don’t have to worry about the other things that can be such an energy drain. How awesome would it be have a steady stream of clients as soon as you have your shingle up and running? So today, I am speaking with Annette Choti, a lawyer turned SEO expert for small law firms, trying to get more traction on Google searches. Because the reality it, you do it, and I do it, we search for a restaurant online, and we don’t ignore the reviews. We don’t ignore the links that are on the top of the page. So in this episode, Annette tells us exactly how to catch your customers’ attention so you can focus on your zone of genius as a lawyer.
Show notes:
Connect with Annette on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annettechoti/
Visit Annette’s website here: https://lawquill.com/
I am really excited about this episode because I am a huge believer that money is NOT evil. I had to unlearn a lot of messages that I got growing up about how money doesn’t grow on trees and how it can cause relationships to break. When, in reality, money can improve relationships and bring about more intimacy - not just in romantic relationships but also among people in general.
So today, I speak with Adam Kol, who is already an expert on money to begin with as he started with a Masters of Law in tax, and worked as a tax consultant for a large accounting firm. Now he is a financial counselor, working with couples on how to talk about money in a way that feels easy and breezy. In this episode, he shares his framework on how to talk about it and what to do when the conversation goes awry. Isn’t it exciting?
Show notes:
Connect with Adam on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkol/
Visit Adam’s website here:
http://couplesfinancialcoach.com/
Take Adam’s quiz here:
http://couplesfinancialcoach.com/quiz
How is your relationship with money? Did you just curl up into a ball just hearing that question? If the answer is yes or kind of, today’s episode might be for you. Because I remember about 2 years ago taking a look at my bills for the first time in months and my eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets because I was spending so much money on so many things I didn’t need. I finally asked for help from a coach to finally address my relationship with money and finally stop feeling this fear around money. Today I am speaking with Rho Thomas, who does exactly this kind of work. She is a lawyer and a money coach for lawyers, and she helps others tackle the daunting challenge of tackling debt and transforming our relationship with money so that yeah, more money in the bank, and as a bonus, we sleep better at night. What’s better than that?
Show notes:
Visit Rho’s website here: www.rhothomas.com
What does it mean to be a multipotentialite? It really means that, all those interests and dreams you’ve had in your mind for the longest time? You get to actualize them and manifest them into your life. Now, what does that mean? It means that you come up with a system where you have the time, the energy, and the space to do all those things without feeling guilty or burnt out. Actually, the opposite of those. Being a multipotentialite means that you get to find the things that give you joy and happiness so that you can be even better at all the other things in your life. And how do I know this? Well, my guest today, Alex Sinatra, is a multipotentialite, where she is a lawyer, a podcaster, and an author, among so many other things. In this episode, she talks about how all of it is not only possible but could be essential to your well being if there are multiple interests you want to pursue.
Show notes:
Connect with Alex on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-s-a44a7b8a/
Connect with Alex on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/yourpotentialforeverything
Find Alex’s books here: https://www.amazon.com/Alexandra-Sinatra/e/B08D6SVHYK/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
What does it really mean to support other women? Let me tell you, there have been times where I felt uncomfortable supporting other women or asking myself what does it really mean to support other women? And finally I understand because Erin Jewell Gerst, a mindset and leadership coach who works with leaders and lawyers in the healthcare field, breaks it down for us. She is an expert on all things mindset and leadership in general, but in this particular episode she breaks down the concept of women empowerment because this is a buzz phrase that we discuss often but don’t quite discuss. So again, what does it really mean to support other women? It may not be what you think: it starts with boundaries and compassion. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Visit Erin’s website here: www.erinjewellconsulting.com
You know, when I was building my business as a health coach, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Whenever someone said “sales” or “business development,” I instantly thought, “I don’t know what that is.” But with time, I learned that business development is all about relationships, and you know what? Relationships are at the center of our health and well being. So if you are already good at having genuine relationships with people, you might have a knack for business development as a lawyer or as an entrepreneur or both. But of course, if I had someone help me out and give me some pointers when I was completely lost, I would have made strides way more quickly. Lucky for us, today, Deb Feder, a lawyer turned business development coach for lawyers and small business owners, talks us through step by step (1) the biggest mistakes we make building our book of business and (2) what to do instead. I’m telling you, the small tweaks that she suggests in this episode can transform your business, and in turn, your mental and professional health.
Show notes:
Connect with Deb on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bizdeb/
Visit Deb’s website here: https://debfeder.com/
Hey guys, I’m just going to come out and say it. I am ashamed. I am ashamed that I have never talked about black lives matter and what I am doing to further the movement. It requires conversation. It requires being vulnerable. It requires making mistakes. And all of that sounds scary and even silly sometimes. Like, “Why would I need to be vulnerable for something that I don’t know much about?” Well, it involves humanity. It involves human beings. And that is why I am ashamed that I have not talked about this in my podcast so far, and I didn’t even realize this until halfway through the episode. How lucky am I to have gotten Toya to break down these walls that we still have in talking about black lives matter. So that shame? That shame stops now. It stops now by taking action. And by the way, Toya Gavin is a kickass coach for lawyers who want to feel unstuck, and when you hear this episode, you’ll know exactly why she is so kickass.
Show notes:
Connect with Toya on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toyagavinlaw/
Connect with Toya on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/legally.bold/
Check out Toya’s blog post “Why you need a black coach” here: https://legally-bold.com/why-you-need-a-black-coach/
Sometimes, we feel so far away from “the dream life” because there are just too many fires to put out. So many barriers. Too many things that get in the way. So we think to ourselves, “one day.” One of my challenges is getting rest. I tell everybody how important rest is, and I also have trouble getting enough rest because I feel this guilt and anxiety when I feel like I am not working. So Emily Hirsekorn, a career and life coach for lawyers, comes to the rescue and not only walks us through her entire framework of building your “dream life” practically but also coaches me through my problem of getting the rest I am looking for. And amazingly, the approach she takes in solving my problem is so applicable to all kinds of other problems we all face on a daily basis. So that one day, we will actually be able to build that dream life. Wouldn’t it be amazing if that one day was today? Emily tells us how.
Show notes:
Visit Emily’s website here: https://www.hirsekorncoaching.com/
Today I am speaking with Nicole Holcomb, who is an attorney, an entrepreneur, and a mom of an amazing child who also happens to have dyslexia. When she realized there are so many things to handle - the educational, the social, the emotional - she decided that not only was she going to understand the exact process of supporting her daughter from A to Z - she decided that she was going to support other moms going through similar struggles. I am endlessly inspired by and grateful for knowing Nicole and her work because she really shows us that being a lawyer is being human and having human challenges, which sometimes feel insurmountable, and still addressing them outside of our lawyer work hours.
Show notes:
Visit Nicole’s website here: www.dyslexiamomlife.com
Her website also contains information about her crazy successful podcast!
You know I am always a fan of sharing stories, and having this podcast is part of it. But in this episode, where I chat with Didi Wong, who is an international speaker and entrepreneur who works with people from all walks of like, including lawyers, I am fully convinced that we can all be speakers. Because each of us have such a compelling story to tell. Even if we feel like we had the most “boring” lives, there are moments in our lives that gave us pause, tragedy, and awakening. And sometimes those moments come from the boring moments, and as Didi tells us in this episode, that makes us more human. And guess what, as speakers, we are talking to other humans. If you are already started to feel a little convinced that you, too, could be a speaker if not already, tune in to hear more about Didi’s exact steps and her journey in becoming an established speaker in her field. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Get Didi’s free book here: www.didiwongfreebook.com
Email Didi here: didi@didiwong.com
Jonathan Liu is a former lawyer and now a real estate agent, investor, and entrepreneur. And all that sounds fancy, but really, as Jon will tell you, it was a pretty scary experience. If you are thinking of making the jump but are thinking “maybe one day,” this may be the episode for you. In our conversation, Jon talks about his greatest fears before making the jump and how he overcame them, and about his greatest challenges after making the jump and how he addressed it. Because for me, I’ve learned the most from the people who have walked the path that I want to be on. So if you want to be on the path of entrepreneurship and post-lawyerhood, stay tuned to hear more about Jon’s incredible story.
Show notes:
Visit Jon’s Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jonliu7/
Visit Jon’s LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-liu-21879a29/
Email Jon here: jon.liu@jliuhomes.com
Today my guest is Tom Lynch, a principal at Miles & Stockbridge, a very prominent law firm in my area in Baltimore. Not only has he been at this firm for the past 40 years - he has also been involved in building his community all over Maryland and making an impact the way he wants to. Because I don’t know about you, but for me and Tom, serving others lights up our hearts. But that’s not the only thing. A lot of things light up our hearts. Learning and growing as a lawyer, facing and overcoming challenges, finding balance and integration in our lives - it is all part of the journey in being fit to practice. And in this episode, Tom talks all about his reflection on the past 40+ years of experience as a lawyer, which is only part of the story.
Show notes:
Connect with Tom on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomlynchiii/
Learn more about the Maryland Bar Foundation here: https://marylandbarfoundation.org/
Today I chat with Laura Chipman, who is a marketing and privacy lawyer and a coach living at a beautiful farm. The farm part is important because how many of us dream about doing some random, out of the ordinary things but never end up doing them? I am certainly raising my hand. I myself definitely want to live on a farm, grow my own tomatoes, and run around the dandelions. Is that just me? I don’t know. But it is so refreshing to hear from another lawyer’s perspective all the things they are doing to make their dreams come true. And the thing about it is that our dreams don’t have to be fancy, and we don’t have to have only one dream. We can have many dreams and they can be changing all the time. The one essential thing is that we have the opportunity to take action towards achieving them every day. So are you taking the action you need toward your dreams? This episode will help you explore.
Show notes:
Connect with Laura at the following links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraschipman/
Website: https://www.essentiallychip.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/essentially_chip/
Patric McCallum is a small business and low drama divorce attorney in Texas, and in this episode he shares his journey making some big changes in his life professionally and personally. This conversation is important because we often talk about making changes in our health and in our work and in our lives but it takes a minute to really process that. We often think, well it’s not the right move for me because. And for me, when I’ve made some of the changes in my life, it was so helpful to see others make those transitions and know that if it is possible for them, it is possible for me, too. So I hope you join me as Patric shares his journey on how he was able to find a position he loved as a lawyer, how he managed his health, and how he practices that to this day.
Show notes:
Connect with Patric on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricmccallum/
Visit Patric’s firm website here: https://www.drewmccallum.com/
Now this episode has a special place in my heart because Leah Del Percio, my guest today, is, like me, also a lawyer, an entrepreneur, and a mom. This is one of the joys of being a podcaster. I get to meet so many people who are different from me but also share so many similarities with me, and I get to feel less alone. I’ve always said that I’ve started this podcast to feel less alone, and every episode I get to accomplish this. And today, Leah shares her story about how she juggled all the roles she had to fill in her life and spoiler alert - she was able to do them because she was already good at juggling a million things as a parent. We really cannot talk about how being a parent makes us better at everything else. It pushes us to be uncomfortable and go achieve some crazy things. In this episode, she talks exactly about that.
Show notes:
Email Leah here: leah@mytrustate.com
Connect with Leah on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahdelpercio/
We all have some sense of what is going on with law school these days but it’s hard to truly grasp the struggles of the law student. And today I interview Sarah Francois, who is now finishing up her law school experience during the pandemic, and as you will be able to see, she is not only surviving but thriving. Not because everything is perfect but because she has an excellent knack for finding the best ways to manage her time and energy through her time management techniques and side gigs she has and the passion she carries throughout her law school experience. So let’s get started and hear her journey through law school and learn how she is absolutely winning.
Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francoissarah/
Follow Sarah’s Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/legallyplucky/
Have you ever heard of “achievement addiction”? Or maybe you’ve lived it. I wasn’t aware that I’ve had achievement addiction until Elena helped me put a name to it in this episode. As we’ll discuss more in this episode, my whole life I’ve just been addicted to achieving whatever I thought I needed to achieve and not really knowing how not to. So I felt like I met someone who truly got me when I met Elena Rand, a lawyer turned psychotherapist turned chief marketing officer turned coach for lawyers. In this episode, Elena talks about why anxiety and depression plagues the legal community so much, her own story in grappling with achievement addiction, and how to find joy and happiness in life from the simple things. And at the end of the episode I open myself up to be coached, and I must say, it was a transformative experience.
Show notes:
Connect with Elena here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenarandkaspi/
Look out for her book “Dying to Make Partner”
When it comes to money, many of us have a lot of anxiety around it. I’ve certainly avoided looking at my own money for the longest time, and I still have a lot of questions around money. How to use it, where to use it, am I doing this right, am I doing this wrong, so many questions. It can be even more frustrating when you are trying to make career transitions and you really want to make your dreams work, but it’s hard to know where to even start to get above the surface and design the life and career of your dreams without feeling even more crushed by student loans. This is where Jessica Medina comes in. She is a financial counselor who has seen it all - and she has been in big law and government and now running her own business. So what does it really take to quit your big job and start your own business, maybe even completely unrelated to the law? Tune in to learn how Jessica did exactly that.
Show notes:
Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-medina-51040b19/
Connect with Jessica on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jessicamedinallc/
Visit Jessica’s website here: https://www.jessicamedinallc.com/
There has been a time where I always looked to others with more experience for answers. That person would probably know more and can tell me because I don’t have experience in that area. This attorney probably might be able to fix my life and help me be a better attorney because I just graduated from law school. Things like that. But now I know that all of the answers that I needed were within myself. I didn’t need to follow anyone’s advice to start my own side hustle. I didn’t need to look up to any particular attorneys to chart my own path. I just decided what I wanted and went for it. So in this episode, that is what we talk about with Lo Wentworth, a coach for lawyers who want clarity in their next step in life. And the answers are usually somewhere unexpected, and they come with not the best books and podcasts but when we have the most quiet with the right questions. So tune in to hear more about my conversation with Lo on how we can uncover our own knowing without the overwhelm. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Laura on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-wentworth-2b334117/
Visit her website here: https://www.lowentworth.com/
Today, I speak with Dave Strousberg, who was previously in sales and is now a lawyer, shares in this episode how selling is serving. Selling is an art: when you sell, you persuade, and the secret is that when what you have to sell is so good, you don’t have to sell at all. What you have speaks for itself. And the secret to THAT is that you are already so good. So all you have to do is show up as your truest self, and it’s easy to find the best opportunities. The buy-ins you need. The resources you want. So in this episode Dave talks about his journey being in sales and how that has taught him to be the successful lawyer that he is now while running a business and teaching at local schools.
Show notes:
Connect with Dave here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-strousberg-jd-ma-97a418170/
I don’t know if you know the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown, but that last name McKeown is a rare last name. So when I saw Jim McKeown on LinkedIn, I asked him whether he is related to that guy Greg, and he said no. And there our relationship began. Sometimes, your relationships with different people happen in different ways, and sometimes it starts with a silly question. Don’t you love it? I do. Anyway, in this episode we talk about Jim’s journey through fatherhood and lawyerhood and how he is able to harmonize his life at home and at work, especially with the pandemic that, at the time of the recording, we don’t know of how it is going to unfold in the next few months. This is a question we often ask mothers but not fathers, and I loved hearing his story because fathers deserve some spotlight in the work they do, too.
Show notes:
Connect with Jim on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-c-mckeown-esq-ll-m-20803719/
Check out his firm profile here: http://www.maronmarvel.com/attorneys/james-mckeown
Michelle Finch is a managing partner at Gravis Law, a large firm with locations all over the country. And today she shares her story about how she was able to start as a solo practitioner and grow it so that it eventually was merged into a larger firm. She shares her journey on growing her firm while raising and having children and how she was able to take care of herself. I particularly enjoy Michelle because she is in the Fit to Practice Society Membership, and I’ve had the chance to learn more about her as I continue to talk to her and see her each week. So excited that she was able to share her journey with me. Let’s get started.
Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-finch-59b0146/
This episode was recorded a few weeks after the pandemic came to the U.S. Covid-19 has changed the way we parent and lawyer forever. It is still changing. So in this episode, Catherine Brukalo, a trial attorney in the Chicago area shares her daily accounts on how she parents and lawyers (especially as a trial lawyer) while we are all adapting to this change.
Show notes:
Follow Catherine on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/brukalolaw/
Follow Catherine on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/BrukaloLaw
Connect with Catherine on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-r-brukalo-38b5904/
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it is like to be a law student or a new lawyer during these times because I know that it was truly challenging for me even without the pandemic so I am wondering how difficult is it to be a young lawyer right now trying to navigate your career and find that balance and harmony between work and life? I discuss this topic with Ashley Ritter, who recently graduated from law school and has already had such a variety of experiences, from judicial clerk to associate to now solo practice - and in each of them she has seen success and has been able to find that balance. So join me in hearing her journey as a young lawyer making sure you have the right priorities so you start your career as a lawyer on the right foot for long term success.
Show notes:
Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-ritter-esq-01b892172/
Victor Velazquez is the Chief Executive Officer of the Maryland State Bar Association. I invited him to join me on this podcast because I just felt like he has been doing an exceptional job leading so many attorneys across the state and leading an organization that made me feel so welcome because, as I say in the podcast, I am barred in DC and joined the Maryland bar as a voluntary member and at first, I thought I would feel out of place but because of the leaders at the MSBA I felt right at home. So today Victor answers the questions of how he prioritizes the health and wellness of lawyers that he serves, his team, and himself so that we, as lawyers, can maximize our fitness to practice. And this is an important conversation for me to put out there because we don’t really talk about the leadership (at least as much as we should) behind every state bar, who really strive to serve us and bring us together.
Show notes:
Connect with Victor on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/velazquez/
Visit the Maryland State Bar Organization to learn about upcoming events, regardless of whether you are current a member (you can join as a voluntary member!): www.msba.org
Today I am speaking with Colin Levy, who has been in-house counsel in the field of legal technology for a while. He recently lost his job and through this experience he is inspiring so many with his journey and philosophy. In this episode, Colin talks about how he is able to maintain the type of infectious positivity that benefits not only him but others around him, and he talks about how he takes care of himself during the pandemic and yes, I’m going to say it, uncertain times. This has been a really relatable conversation for me because right now everything is up in the air, and it’s so refreshing to hear how other people are going through their own challenges in their own way and I love how Colin describes his own journey on his own terms. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Colin on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cslcorporatecounsel/
Visit Colin’s website here: http://www.colinslevy.com/
Follow Colin on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/clevy_law
I’ve had a few guests on my podcast to discuss mental health and depression specifically. At one point I wondered whether I am talking about one thing too much. But when it comes to mental health and depression specifically, you cannot talk about it enough. Depression is still taboo and still a struggle that many of us lawyers face, and every time we talk about it, we are creating a safer space for anyone who may relate. And so today I am speaking with Dan Lukasik, the founder of Lawyers with Depression and a former lawyer and managing partner prior to becoming a pioneer of the movement toward shedding light on the important of mental health in the workplace as lawyers. In this episode, Dan talks about his journey in managing his depression and the three pillars of the mental health toolbox that he recommends for anyone who may be going through a similar experience.
Show notes:
Connect with Dan on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-lukasik-8b3913b/
Visit his websites here:
www.lawyerswithdepression.com
www.yourdepressioncoach.com
David Meltzer is the co-founder of Sports 1 Marketing and has been growing his influence on social media in his mission to empower over 1 billion people to be happy. I’ve been following David Meltzer for a while now, and one day he randomly commented on one of my posts about how to define success. He commented, “Success for me is the consistent, everyday persistent, without quit, pursuit of your potential.” I was like, what? He commented on my post? So I sent him a connection request and he responded. He invited me to his training, and I got excited and told my podcast editor, the amazing Mark McDonald, about it. And he said, “Invite him to your podcast!” And I said, “Wait, what? I don’t know if he is interested in lawyers.” But he said yes. And then later I find out that he actually went to law school and went through some of the exact same struggles (as he says in the podcast) that I went through as a lawyer. Anyway, after he ok’d being a guest here, I applied for his new pitch competition and I got selected. So I attended, didn’t win, but learned tons. And in this episode, I learn even more about managing stress, discovering purpose, and finding happiness. If you don’t know him yet, definitely worth knowing. His kindness just radiates in every word he says. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Follow David Meltzer on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeltzer2/
Follow David Meltzer on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/davidmeltzer/
Register for his weekly Friday trainings here: https://dmeltzer.com/training/. Highly recommend - at 2pm Eastern. I attended one of them and will continue to attend because he offers so much value and does help me shift my perspective on happiness.
The perception right now may be that it is difficult to find a job or bounce back from losing a job; there’s just generally so much uncertainty about the future. The phrase “these uncertain times” is almost overused. But I hope that my conversation with Emily Witt today will relieve some of the concerns you may have if you are looking for the next opportunity. Emily is a recruiter and managing director at Whistler Partners, which connects companies and firms to the right lawyers across the country. According to what Emily is seeing, there is way more opportunity than we think there may be. And in this episode, we talk about what you could be doing to maximize the chances of landing that next position that is the right fit, where to look, and how to get into the right mindset. Tune in to hear what she has to say.
Show notes:
Connect with Emily on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-witt-3bb1865/
Find Emily’s page on Whistler Partners here: https://www.whistlerpartners.com/who-we-are/emily-witt-0
Email Emily here: emilywitt@whistlerpartners.com
I was debating whether I should put the title as “becoming a female leader” with Delphine O’Rourke or just putting down “becoming a leader” and I decided to go with the latter because right now, there are so many “female” leaders who are breaking ground all over the world and across the country. Why qualify it? Yes, sometimes being a leader as a woman has its own challenges, and we talk about that, too. Because Delphine is a partner at a large law firm in Philadelphia and she also holds several leadership positions as an authority in her field. Her expertise and thought leadership in healthcare really shows because she shares her observations in her work, which is information I think we all should know because it won’t be really the same after the pandemic. And more importantly, she discusses how she got to where she is, and her energy and her wisdom is a testament to the fact that it may be hard, but if you have the right attitude, anything is possible. Tune in to learn more about Delphine and be infected with her positive energy.
Show notes:
Connect with Delphine on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delphineorourke/
Email Delphine here: delphine.orourke@gmail.com
As a minority woman, you go through a lot of stuff to say the least. People doubt you more, question you more, and it makes you feel like you don’t belong. They can’t help it; people have preconceived notions about who you are and your background and your ability as a lawyer. And we have to bear the consequences of those stereotypes. Those kinds of treatment are at the root of many mental health conditions that a lot of us go through, but at the end of the day, as Samorn Selim, my guest today, demonstrates, we come out stronger because of it. Samorn is a lawyer turned coach who has gone through all kinds of struggles as part of an immigrant family and beautifully articulates the ways her own unique experiences have shaped her into who she is today and how she is able to serve her community. Minority women, this is especially for you if you feel like you are not enough or not worthy, because, and I rarely say this outright - you are wrong. You ARE enough and you ARE worthy. And I hope Samorn’s story sheds light on why.
Show notes:
Connect with Samorn on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samornselim/
Email Samorn here: samorn@careerunicorns.com
Sign up for Samorn’s newsletter: careerunicorns.com
I am speaking with a lot of recruiters these days to learn more about the market so I can serve my audience, you guys, with relevant information, and I couldn’t be luckier to be speaking with Natasha Alladina today. In this episode, she answers all the questions about how she arrived at her current job, a job she loves, and in her current capacity, she is able to offer insight on the exact steps to take in networking naturally so that you are prepared for the market when it gradually reopens and if you are looking for a job. And it’s actually easier that you’d think. It starts with being who you are. It can be tricky when there’s so much going on, but Natasha will tell you why it is so important and how you can get there.
Show notes:
Connect with Natasha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashaalladina/
Email Natasha here: nalladina@partners-group.com
Because we are all cooped up in our homes, it’s kind of like throwing spaghetti against the wall. We’re trying out a lot of different things with self care, sleep, having space, raising kids, and managing our health in general. In this episode, Chris Metz, a compliance expert in New York, and I chat about what it’s like and what we’re doing to get through this whole thing. We start the conversation about how he got into compliance, for any law students out there looking into compliance as one of the non-legal fields to consider after law school, and then we talk about what it means to go through all kinds of transitions, including this pandemic, to survive and thrive. So empty that fresh laundry from the dryer and get to folding because we’re just going to hang out and chat. Sound good? Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophertlmetz/
Connect with Chris on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctmetz
Today I am speaking with Joe Milowic, who I met over a year ago, and you’ll learn more about exactly how we met during the episode, but I have learned and grown so much from being part of the Lawyers Depression Project for over a year. The very first meeting I remember, I was talking about how I felt so insecure about my salary, and it was so scary sharing about it. And everybody in the call was so encouraging because it was a complete judgment-free zone. And when you experience a safe space like that, you just keep going. You just keep showing up because you know that you can be completely yourself. And I was able to learn how to do that by being vulnerable, one call at a time. Today Joe talks about his own health journey, how he started LDP, and how LDP has made changes in his own life. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Visit the Lawyers Depression Project here: https://www.lawyersdepressionproject.org/
Connect with Joe on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milowic/
Connect with Joe on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/josephmilowic/
I am really excited about this episode because we crush all the doubts and questions and excuses about maintaining a healthy lifestyle for busy lawyers. This week, I chat with Mara Smith, who made some small changes for huge results, after she realized (following an intense 12-week trial) that something needed to change. In our conversation, she talks about the exact questions she asked herself in order to make those essential changes, what kind of thought process she had when making those changes, and why these changes were so important and critical to her success as a lawyer both as a busy law firm attorney and now an in-house counsel. What kind of mindset, values, and discipline do you need in order to have a satisfying system in place so you can thrive at work? Tune in to listen to her story.
Show notes:
Connect with Mara on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marasmith214/
Connect with Mara on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/marasmith214
Connect with Mara on Instagram here: @mara.smith.214
This one is especially for anyone who has a background in the military because that is Chris Ogle’s background, but even if you are not in the military I highly recommend tuning in. Chris is an in-house counsel at an energy company after being a prosecutor, practicing maritime law, and practicing a host of other specialized areas of the law. And the biggest takeaway for him having a military background is that you get to choose how to lead, how to set an example, how to be healthy, and how to be mindful. It’s not always perfect, but it helps you practice the mindset of finding the right practices that best serve your mind and body. We talk about how every challenge that we face, from his experience in the military, for example, to the current pandemic, it is an opportunity to find what is best for you. So even if you are not in the military, we are all still experiencing this pandemic together. And Chris’s story of how his background has allowed him to prepare for this current situation we are facing is an empowering one. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisoglelaw/
Right now, things are very uncertain, and many law students and younger attorneys are trying to find a way to stand out in the hiring pool. It is stressful. The questions that come up are, “How do I position myself as a valuable hire?” “How do I connect with other lawyers without sounding sleazy?” “How can I find mentors who are willing to help me?” Today, I speak with Conrad Flaczyk to address those questions. Conrad is a junior lawyer at a big law firm in Canada, and he has a big presence on LinkedIn, and he’s only started publishing this year. In this episode, we talk about what it means to engage on LinkedIn, make meaningful connections, and we answer the question of what exactly do we need to start posting about? It is easier that you might think. Tune in to learn more about how to make the most out of our network despite the pandemic.
Show notes:
Connect with Conrad on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conrad-flaczyk-907557163/
If you are new to LinkedIn but you want to use LinkedIn to your advantage, such as finding a job or selling your services or just building a community, start with creating your brand. What does that mean? We discuss this with Andy Foote, who trained as a lawyer and is now a LinkedIn strategist who has helped so many professionals thrive on LinkedIn. We talk A to Z starting with your profile, what kind of posts and engagement is recommended for building your brand, the do’s and don’ts. So even if you have been around the block on LinkedIn for a while now, Andy has some useful insights to share about how to get the most out of LinkedIn. Of course, the best way to succeed on LinkedIn is to just be yourself, as is with everything else. But how do you find your tribe and serve them by showing up as your best self? That is what we discuss today. Hope you enjoy.
Show notes:
Connect with Andy on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfoote/
Follow Andy on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/andyxfoote
Visit Andy’s website here: https://www.linkedinsights.com/
Join Andy’s Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/linkedinheroes/
A lot of you may be familiar with Frank Ramos, who is an authority on all things related to being fit to practice, even if you may not be a lawyer. Almost every day he posts about how to survive and thrive as a law student or a lawyer. One notable thing about Frank is that he just continues to give and give. If you were ever wondering what “no strings attached” really means, this is it. He makes time for fellow legal professionals who are trying to find their path to a fulfilling career, and he offers his time and wisdom with zero expectations because he simply empathizes with where they are coming from. If you are wondering what your next steps are or are frustrated with what’s going on in the world right now and you’re trying to find your footing during these times, this may offer some hope. Tune in to hear what Frank has to say about pursuing your passion, being happy, and being great at what you do.
Show notes:
Follow Frank on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankramosylt/
Connect with Frank on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/frank.ramos.503092
I know the title is bold: how to solve any problem? Are you sure? Because I sure can’t raise anyone from the dead or make problems disappear. But the way Olivia and I approach solutions is slightly different. It’s not about getting rid of the problem; it’s about learning how to manage it and manage your approach to it. You might say, well, I’ve tried so many times and so many ways to approach the problem differently, and it is still there and bothering me. And that is why I believe in step-by-step guidance, which Olivia provides. Olivia Vizachero is a lawyer turned life coach, and she discusses how we can approach any problem we face and turn it into a non-issue. Tune in to learn exactly how she coaches her clients to really solve any problem.
Show notes:
Connect with Olivia on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviavizachero/
Visit Olivia’s website here: www.thelessstressedlawyer.com
Follow Olivia on Instagram here: @thelessstressedlawyer
Sign up for her free summit here: thriveinfivesummit.com/signup
This show was recorded before the outbreak of COVID-19, but it’s been a while since we talked about the good old fashioned work life balance: balancing mental, physical, and professional health so that your whole mind and body have good health. Beth Colombo is an in-house counsel who writes about all of these important topics for the ACC, Association for Corporate Counsel, which, by the way if you are in-house counsel and are yet not part of this group, definitely check it out. So in this episode, Beth unpacks all of the components of your health and how to make it work as in-house counsel. Instead of allowing external circumstances govern her life, she intentionally designs her life based on her personal experiences and, based on this conversation, the secret ingredient for making meaningful change is humility. Listen in to see how Beth does this for a healthy lifestyle as in-house counsel.
Show notes:
Visit Beth’s website here: www.wakelet.com/@lawyerlizzie
Follow Beth on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/lawyerlizzie
Connect with Beth on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawyerlizzie/
Elena Deutsch is a coach and founder of WILL, which is Women Interested in Leaving Law. In her role, as the title implies, she works with anyone who feels like they need to make a change. And in that process, a lot happens. They may change jobs, make smaller transitions, or move entirely out of the law. But what happens internally is the real transformation. In this episode, Elena talks about the transformation that she coaches her clients through with her signature framework, EASE, where lawyers who feel like they need to make a change can approach this step-by-step process to figure out the next step which is most aligned with who they are, what they need, and what they want. And as you listen through the episode, you can do this on your own, too. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Visit her website to either book a call or sign up for free resources here: https://womeninterestedinleavinglaw.com/
Connect with Elena on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-deutsch/
Check out the StrengthsFinder test that we discuss on the episode: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths
I’ve had a few episodes on professional health, particularly in terms of career change, and each time I learn new things. This episode is no different. Here, I speak with Annie Little, a lawyer turned career coach who advises lawyers on how to find their calling. If you are feeling like you are really itching for a new perspective or a new path or just “something” new, this episode is for you. Annie talks about how you can find that “new” in two easy steps: first, excavating your values, for real, so that you know exactly what to look for, and second, building a system where you will find a career that really makes you happy. I mean, doesn’t that sounds pretty neat? Annie is the type of coach who goes above and beyond not just finding your dream job but also making sure that it is aligned with who you are and your dream life. Tune in to find out her crazy amazing stories and strategies in building a fantastic career.
Show notes:
Visit her website here: www.thejdnation.com
Connect with her on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/littleannie
For a while, and probably still, there is a lot of talk about how starting a family is going to get in the way of your career. And it probably does in some ways, but not as much as we all think it does. We call this a limiting belief: believing that a certain circumstance is in the way of you reaching your goals and being the fullest self. In this episode, I chat with Lisa Goldkuhl, who crushes this limiting belief that being a parent gets in the way. In fact, we talk about all the ways being a parent makes you a better parent and all the ways the naysayers are wrong. If you are a parent feeling bogged down or anticipating starting a family, this episode is especially for you. But even if you are feeling like there are so many things in the way of you growing as an attorney or in your professional life, I think you may resonate with this episode and be reminded of how strong, skilled, and worthy you are to go for whatever it is you desire. I mean it! Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-goldkuhl-b7992a163/
Today, I am speaking with Meghan Henry, who is a litigation partner at a large firm on the east coast. If you are litigator and wonder exactly what it looks like to have work life balance, this episode may give you some good clues. We talk about why flexibility allows you to be more present as a lawyer and a parent, how it increases your level of happiness generally, and how it can work for everybody else, too. We also delve a little bit deeper into how that allows us to become more efficient as a parent so that we don’t feel tied down by work, unable to be there for the family. Tune in to hear Meghan’s story.
Show notes:
Connect with Meghan Henry on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-h-8658302/
This episode is about one of the most under-recognized but one of the most important parts of our body wellness: posture. Joseph Gonzalez, a personal trainer who specializes in back issues and posture, starts off the podcast saying that people immediately think of opening up your chest when talking about good posture. He says that that is not the case. It is about aligning your muscles in a natural and comfortable way so that your body wants to have good posture. And this is so important because we usually think how good posture is so hard to maintain and how it is expensive because we need to get all this equipment to make good posture. Joe is different. He helps you fix your posture because you want to, not because you have to. And you might be surprised at some of the core, fundamental parts of his program that make this goal work for his clients. Tune in to learn exactly how you can get better posture for a healthier mind and body today.
Show notes:
Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephfgonzalez/
See his work on his website: www.mejorstrength.com
Check out his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mejorstrength/
Sarah Adkisson is a lawyer who lives in the next neighborhood from me here in Maryland, and she has two jobs as a tax specialist and a trusts and estates lawyer. She also suffers from depression and talks about her current journey working through it with the help of her doctor, her therapist, her nutritionist, and her support system. We just have a candid conversation about how exercise and food has been a big part of depression and what steps she is taking to make exercise and food work for her, not against her. Also, wait until the end to hear what she has to say about how she is fighting depression outside just food and exercise. I loved having this chill conversation on a Saturday afternoon, and I hope you do, too.
Show notes:
Connect with her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-e-adkisson-a54409a4/
We’ve been talking a lot about what it means to leave the law or transition out of the law, but I don’t think we’ve had that conversation yet of what that really looks like. Well, we talk about all of that today with Alex Su, who is a former big law attorney and now a sales and business development leader in a successful startup. How many “failures” do you need to go through in order to get to your dream job? What does that actually look like? What kind of processes do you need to go through to get to where you want to be? How do you take care of your mental and financial health as you make your way to your dream job? What does it look like to have your dream job? These are all questions that Alex answers beautifully in this episode. I loved this episode because it really illustrates that yes, there may be uncertainty and fear, but at the end of the day, every single bit of it is worth it if you find the happiness you are looking for. We also talk about sales and business development as a skill necessary for pretty much all professionals, including lawyers, so if you are a lawyer who is nervous about this particularly if you are trying to improve your skills as an aspiring or current partner, Alex has some great pointers.
Show notes:
Connect with Alex on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-su/
I am so excited to introduce Eve Rodsky, a former lawyer, philanthropy advisor, and also New York Times best selling author. What book did she write? It’s called Fair Play: a game-changing solution for when you have too much to do and more life to live. And I just fell in love with this book because it unpacks a solid system of managing the million things you need to do at home equitably with your partner, especially when you feel like you are taking the brunt of the household work. And as we talk about this in the episode, there are way too many women who fall into that category, and Eve delivers a real solution to making the work equitable and in that process, building a collaborative and harmonious relationship that can prevent separation and divorce, for real. Join us in our super candid conversation about how to be a boss at both at work and at the home.
Show notes:
Connect with her on Instagram: @everodsky @fairplaylife
Find out more about her book and the Fair Play system on her website: www.fairplaylife.com
I posted a few weeks ago about how my boss, Tom, had asked for my registry, and when he got it he secretly forwarded it to everybody in the office, and he bought a crib, and at least half the cost of the registry was accounted for, and then, I didn’t mention this in my post because it happened the day after I posted and before Tom knew about the post, he threw me a surprise baby shower at work, where I got another slew of gifts. Tom and I were pretty surprised to hear that something like this is not as common as we’d like it to be, because almost four thousand people (at the time of this recording) reacted to the post, and hundreds of people commented and shared the post. To him, it was such a natural course of business for him to think of this team and be generous to his team, and in this episode we just get a glimpse of what kind of person he is, his general personality and attitude in how he leads the way he does. I was really proud to share more of Tom with the world and spread the word that kindness is not a weakness but the ultimate strength. For the man behind the viral post, tune in, and I hope you enjoy.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but mindfulness and Ayurveda is a hot topic these days. And we are quick to dismiss them as just another trend or just another thing that you cannot afford to do in your busy schedule. But what if I said that it really only takes 5 seconds? You are probably here not because you are a know it all but likely because you actually probably practice some sort of health and wellness habits and you want to learn more. My listeners are here not because they are starting from scratch but because they want to supplement the good path they are already on. And if that is you, you are in the right place today. As a health practitioner myself, I was curious about what Ayurveda even was, and turns out, it very much closely mirrors what I already practice, which is taking a few moments in your day to make your choices make you healthier. She talks about how she incorporates mindfulness in your daily work and life and simple steps to incorporate Ayurveda into your life for a lifetime of positive change. Tune in for all the details.
Show notes:
Connect with Maighna Jain here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maighna/
If you are at a large firm, have there been moments where you thought, “I’m not sure if this is the right way to do things...but I’ll just let it be because I don’t want to shake the hornet’s nest” or “This doesn’t quite sit right with me, how can I change that? But it’s too hard or I’m too busy.” If you have been feeling like there needs to be some sort of change in your mid-size or large firm, I’ve got a gold mine of an episode for you today. I am speaking with Tricia Baxter, managing partner at Morgan Akins, where she has grown and is managing multiple offices in the east coast for this large law firm. She talks about how she has built her team that takes away the thinking, the pressure, and all the negative energy that is typically associated with being a big law attorney. Tune in to learn more about how she has built an empire by increasing flexibility, communication, and happiness in her culture. Let’s get started.
Show notes:
Connect with Tricia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciabaxterattorney/
Find her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNqH6KDxa_rM_ff2jxln5JQ
Email her at pbaxter@morganakins.com