The Former Lawyer Podcast

Listen, it's the summer of 2026. Everything is a dumpster fire, and there are a lot of people who have been struggling a lot with their mental health, especially in the last two years. Sarah's seen a lot of clients take mental health leave or after taking mental health leave. This episode serves as a reminder that even though it's not available to everyone, because it depends a lot on your particular employer, if it is something that your employer offers, and if you are struggling, it c...

Lawyers thinking about leaving often get stuck on a question that feels practical but actually keeps them waiting longer than they need to. Do I need to quit my job before I start figuring out what I want to do instead? It sounds responsible, but for most people, it's part of what keeps them in a holding pattern. Sarah Cottrell frequently gets this question from lawyers considering The Former Lawyer Collaborative, and her answer might change how you think about the timing of your next move. S...

Being good at your job and being in the right job are not the same thing. For lawyers who are high achievers, that distinction can be almost impossible to see when every external signal, strong reviews, steady advancement, a reputation for getting things done, is telling you that you must be in the right place. That disconnect often has roots in neurodiversity or trauma history. Both can produce someone who is exceptionally good at pushing through, sublimating their own needs, and performing ...

For lawyers who know they are unhappy but are not ready to make any real moves yet, the waiting period can feel like dead time. There are things you can be doing right now, though, that will set you up for success when you are ready to go through the process of figuring out what comes next. One of those things is reconnecting with a hobby. Not in a hardcore, train-for-a-marathon way, but in a small, low-stakes way that starts to rebuild the muscle of knowing what you actually like and what ac...

2026 is kicking a lot of people's asses, including Sarah's. She gets into what the last few weeks have actually looked like, and shares the reminder she keeps coming back to. Hard things feel hard because they are hard. Not because you're doing anything wrong. She also talks about what Former Lawyer stands for, where your money goes if you work with her, and why she will probably never stop telling you to go to therapy. See show notes at formerlawyer.com/296

When Sarah looks back at her time in practice, she can see a pattern that shows up for almost every lawyer who thinks about leaving the law. She would have a kernel of interest in a career path outside of the law, but her brain would immediately start telling her why it was a bad fit. It became an instant cycle of negativity. If you find yourself doing this, you are "lawyering yourself". You are taking an idea and prematurely deciding it is impossible before you have actually spent any time l...

Former litigator David Sazant spent years bouncing between practice areas, convinced that if he just worked hard enough and found the right fit, everything would click into place. He moved from insurance defense to construction and commercial litigation, dealing with persistent imposter syndrome the entire time. But the problem wasn't the type of law he practiced—it was that litigation fundamentally contradicted his core values of authenticity and meaningful connection. In this co...

When the world feels unstable, the idea of introducing more instability into your life by leaving your job can feel impossible. But waiting for things to stabilize before you address your career unhappiness might mean waiting forever. 2025 was a difficult year. If you're already in an overwhelming job, everything else happening in the world makes it even harder to think clearly about your career. But even in difficult years, lawyers leave the legal profession and find work they actually want ...