Many of us lawyers didn't have it all figured out from the start. It takes time to find your way in law. This podcast sheds light on some of the challenges people face in the earliest part of building their careers. Each week, Anjie Vichayanonda, a first-generation Asian-American Lawyer and CEO/Founder of Leg Up Legal, sits down with members of the legal profession to chat about the paths they took to get where they are now, including the times they stumbled, the times they fell, and the times they needed a little help. To encourage candor, the attorney guests remain nameless, but their stories are laid bare.
Hello listeners! My name is Brooke, and I'm an undergraduate student at Oklahoma State University. I'm majoring in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and planning to apply to law school this fall. I'm interning for Leg Up Legal and I'll be today's guest host for The Law Lives Project. This week's guest had a rough start to law school due to a bad relationship, but managed to find her way. She got exposure to law by working for a jury consulting company and she decided to continue working for that company and go to law school part-time. After law school, she started working for an insurance defense law firm, and she utilized the early years of her career to explore lots of different practice areas and practicing different law firms. Eventually, she found her way in-house and she primarily focuses on regulatory practice in consumer finance. Listen to the episode to hear all of the ups and downs of her career.
8/12/21 • 49:22
This week's guest is a full-time lawyer and life coach. She went to a T-14 law school admittedly to make money, but quickly found out that her path would not be an easy one. After graduating law school and having difficulty finding her first job and struggling with her own health, she decided to get certified in personal training and became a fitness coach while working in a fellowship. After her fellowship, she landed an in-house job and started building her life coaching practice on the side. I can't wait for you to learn her lessons of perseverance as she charts her own untraditional path.
4/27/21 • 36:53
Today's guest started off with humble beginnings and eventually earned her way into working in a highly competitive commercial litigation boutique. Although she developed an interest in law school during college, she had very limited financial resources and had difficulty applying to law school. She discusses her experiences in attending a low-ranked law school and her difficulties in obtaining her first job. But, with hard work she found a passion in litigation and found her way into working in a very competitive commercial litigation boutique and finally achieving the financial stability she wanted. Keep listening to hear her frank words about how to find your first legal job and what you should do to survive law school when the odds are stacked against you.
4/3/21 • 62:37
This week, I'm sitting down with a tax attorney who found herself going to a law school that she didn't ever apply to due to some unforeseen circumstances. After believing that she would be hired by her mentor at a large law firm after law school, she received tough advice from her mentor that ultimately led her to land a job with a solo practitioner. The solo practitioner initially rejected her requests for interviews and meetings, but eventually he saw her passion and tenacity. They grew their practice to be the third largest practice in their niche in the country and eventually he invited her to be his business partner. This week's guest has a path that is anything but traditional, but I can't wait for you to hear about it so let's jump right in.
3/11/21 • 40:33
This week's guest gets up close and personal with us about the struggles of balancing her career with an abusive relationship, divorce, and a professional conflict at work. She was able to gain tons of skills early on in her career from sampling many different in-house roles, but her greatest challenges came from people problems at work and at home. There's no way for me to express how thankful I am that she was willing to discuss these tough issues that not many people are willing to articulate so let's just jump right in so that you can hear her story in her own words.
3/2/21 • 65:01
Today's guest had two major surprises while attending Columbia Law School. Specifically, she found out that she was pregnant with twins in her 2L year. Thankfully, she had a strong support system of family and friends that helped her finish law school on time and land a job in BigLaw in litigation. She managed to juggle the demands of work and single parenting for eight years in BigLaw before transitioning to a role in the investigations department of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Eventually, she left the SEC to become an accredited Financial Counselor to help lawyers and others learn how to pay down their debt and make wise financial decisions that will enable them to live the lifestyle that they want. I was blown away by her grit and honesty and I'm sure you will be, too.
2/23/21 • 63:31
We are so excited to kick off Season 2 of The Law Lives Project! Our very first guest of the season is an attorney who has truly charted her own path focused on sports and entertainment law. She managed to snag several sports-related internships in law school, despite struggling with several personal challenges. Early on in her career, she realized the importance of finding an employer who shares her values, so she has spent lots of time exploring different roles to design a career that truly aligns with her passions and beliefs.
2/12/21 • 62:38
This week, Anjie chats with a young lawyer who practices intellectual property law with a solo practitioner, and together they help small business owners. Our guest shares some details about his challenges of keeping up with the curve in law school while having dyslexia, and dealing with the learning disability during his practice. Despite these challenges, he passed the bar on his first try, and he's had a wonderful start to his career.
11/13/20 • 64:16
Our guest this week is a paralegal, who is training to be an attorney. We'll discuss her path from going to law school, to working as a paralegal. We'll also touch on how she decided to go into personal injury law.
11/6/20 • 25:59
Today’s guest is a civil litigator. We’ll discuss his career path from law school to working as a personal injury attorney. We’ll also touch on his experience of attending law school while working full time as a teacher.
10/30/20 • 39:15
In today’s episode, I’ll be chatting with an attorney in private practice at a boutique law firm. She obtained a master’s degree while pursuing her law degree. And she’s held practically every legal job in the book to working at the North Carolina Department of Justice, transitioning to municipal law practice, moving in-house to serve a business, starting her own firm, and finally joining a boutique firm. We’ll also discuss how she navigated becoming a new mother during her first year of law school.
10/23/20 • 46:19
A Texas lawyer describes his journey from Law School to the Attorney General's Office, and how to make friends and contacts from opposing sides on the way. He explains how most cases are settled before they come to court, and how much he loves his work and professional friendships with the Texas judges and lawyers.
10/16/20 • 59:11
In this episode, Anjie will be speaking with another state civil court trial judge. We’ll be going over his career path from law school to working in personal injury law to his current role. We’ll also touch on his decision to transfer law schools after his first semester and the ins and outs of being a civil trial judge.
10/10/20 • 41:31
In this episode, a military veteran tells the story of his journey to law school, discovering a passion for litigation during law school, interning with the district attorney's office, working for a boutique litigation firm doing admiralty and maritime work, and finally getting recruited into an in-house position in a small company in the energy industry. He explains that he had some misconceptions of being an in-house lawyer when he first started and he learned that being in-house really means serving a lot of different clients and stakeholders within a single organization. Our guest host this week, Nefertari Elshiekh, is a sophomore at the University of Central Florida Burnett Honors College where she is majoring in economics and international & global studies. Nefertari has interned with Washington Council of Lawyers, the public-interest bar association for the District of Columbia, the New York Times, and Leg Up Legal. She is on the editorial board for the UCF Undergraduate Law Journal and is a researcher with the Institute for Economic Forecasting. She plans to go to law school after college.
10/3/20 • 54:21
In this episode, a lawyer discusses her journey from a state law school, to being a prosecutor, to running her own practice specializing in criminal defense. She was waitlisted or rejected by every law school she applied to, but she applied again in the next cycle and received an offer of admission. Attending a state law school and commuting from home gave her the opportunity to save money and obtain her law degree without incurring a lot of debt. She describes her experiences as a white woman attending a historically black law school as "the best experience that she could have imagined." We hope you enjoy listening to her story. Our guest host this week is Samina Haneef! Samina is a senior majoring in political science at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is a prospective law student and also an intern at Leg Up Legal.
9/25/20 • 39:33
This week, a CEO of a contracts management company describes her journey from law school to running her own company. She knew she wasn't made for the traditional law firm environment. As a white woman who learned Chinese, she new at a very early age that she wanted to be involved in international business. Shortly after law school, she went in-house for a tubing manufacturing company and eventually made her way to one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, eventually leaving to create her own company in a niche that most people don't even know exists--Contracts Management & Alternative Legal Services Providers. She discusses with Anjie the challenge she faced to express her femininity - a metaphorical and literal "pink dress" surrounded by men in "blue and black shirts" who told her to "smile less." She explains how she survived the sexism to assert, and thrive, as the founder of her own contracts management company, and still be her own professional self.
9/18/20 • 47:01
This week, Anjie chats with an African-American State Court Judge about his journey from Harvard Law School to the bench. Our guest discusses what he learned about litigation and being a lawyer, how he decided to run for election to the bench, the joy he feels from helping individuals achieve justice, and how he rejects the overtures from people who crave influence through compliments. He also shares some candid thoughts about how hard our profession still needs to work at diversifying its ranks.
9/11/20 • 30:19
This week, Anjie sits down with an attorney who had an unlikely start as a broadcast communications student, but she pivoted to a 20-year career in law culminating in a job with a big firm, working as an employment attorney. This week's guest has lots of advice about working hard, finding an area of practice you like, choosing a group of colleagues who work well together, and balancing work and family.
9/4/20 • 41:50
This week, Anjie V. speaks with an intellectual property attorney about the pros and cons of running her own solo practice. Her career path from law school took her through both criminal and civil law. About the Law Lives Project: Many of us lawyers didn't have it all figured out from the start. It takes time to find your way in law. This podcast sheds light on some of the challenges people face in the earliest part of building their careers. Each week, Anjie Vichayanonda sits down with members of the legal profession, to chat about the paths they took to get where they are now, including the times they stumbled, the times they fell, and the times they needed a little help. To encourage candor, the attorney guests remain nameless, but their stories are laid bare. Connect with Anjie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjievichayanonda Follow the Law Lives Project LinkedIn Showcase Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/the-law-lives-project-podcast Follow the Law Lives Project on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawlivesproject Learn More about Leg Up Legal: https://www.leguplegal.com Follow Leg Up Legal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leguplegal Follow Leg Up Legal on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leguplegal Follow Leg Up Legal on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leguplegal Follow Leg Up Legal on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/leg_up_legal Subscribe to Leg Up Legal's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/leguplegal?sub_confirmation=1 Sign-up for Leg Up Legal's email newsletter with info about free weekly events for prospective and current law students and new Law Lives Project episodes: https://www.leguplegal.com/free-zoom-meetups
8/30/20 • 41:04
