The Lawyer's Escape Pod

Megan Smiley interviews recovering lawyers, career advisors, and other professionals for advice and inspiration on transitioning out of law practice.

Last refreshed: July 5th, 2025 at 5:21 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Travis Hornsby tells us how to break free from the student loan albatross

Travis Hornsby is a Chartered Financial Analyst and the founder of Student Loan Planner, a company that helps analyze the best repayment paths for people with significant student debt. Travis gets into detail about strategies that will allow you to manage those loans without having to be stuck in a job you hate. This means getting into quite a bit of math - and it’s a complicated system. But don’t be turned off! Travis does a great job of outlining the basic principles. If you take nothing else ...

Jan 27, 2020•52 min•Ep. 19

Clara Jung leans into her impulsivity and leaves litigation to build her own interior design firm

After almost 5 years in litigation practice, Clara Jung found herself dissatisfied with practicing and considering her next steps. Initially, she looked into legal recruiting. But, after not getting any traction there, she didn’t give up - she just went back to the drawing board. She thought about what genuinely interested her - whether or not it had any legal connection. She realized that interior design was something she’s always enjoyed, but had dismissed as an unrealistic career option. She ...

Jan 20, 2020•32 min•Ep. 18

Annie Little helps rid us of lawyer-brain and get on the path to a happier career

Today's guest is Annie Little. She is a former lawyer, and now a career coach specializing in coaching lawyers. Annie walks us through a very helpful framework on thinking through a career shift. It means going back to the drawing board and asking ourselves about our core values. It means training ourselves to think differently. It’s not a quick fix, but a helpful approach for long-term satisfaction. In this episode, we discuss: Taking care of your physical and mental health The difference betwe...

Jan 13, 2020•57 min•Ep. 17

Year-End Wrap-Up and Top 6 Lessons (I know it should be 5 or 10, but 6 is what I’ve got)

This mini episode is a quick season/year-end wrap-up. I wanted to thank you all for listening. It's been great hearing from some of you, and I'm glad you're finding it helpful. Please be in touch if you have any thoughts on topics, careers paths, or other questions you'd like me to cover. Top 6 Lessons: (1) You are smart. You can learn how to do something new, and to succeed. (2) Take Action. As lawyers, we are thinkers, planners, researchers. But the only way to really make a change is to act. ...

Dec 16, 2019•6 min•Ep. 16

Adam Oliver tries multiple law firms and practice areas before leaving practice to run his own legal recruiting company

Adam Oliver is the Managing Director of Firm Prospects, which offers data-driven market intelligence for legal search professionals. Out of law school, Adam practiced corporate law in a number of firms before deciding it was time to pull the plug. His experience working with legal recruiters during his firm jumps opened his eyes to that profession. He took the leap and started his own legal recruiting company. After years of doing that, he saw a pain point in the industry and decided he could so...

Dec 10, 2019•46 min•Ep. 15

Jonathan Laubinger has no regrets about leaving practice before he even started for a career as an actuary

Jonathan Laubinger is an actuary at Argonaut Insurance Company. Jon earned his JD/MBA thinking he’d go into politics or antitrust law. But before he ever even practiced law, his path took a turn towards insurance and the actuarial field. I think Jon has a really interesting perspective. For him, leaving the practice of law wasn’t wasting all the effort he put into earning his degree. It was just part of an ongoing learning journey. Mindset and perspective matter so much in how we experience our ...

Dec 03, 2019•40 min•Ep. 14

Jonathan Liu leaves employment law to become a real estate agent and investor

Jonathan Liu is a realtor at H&M Realty Group and President of Res Ipsa Real Estate Solutions. As his company name hints, he’s a lawyer turned real estate agent and investor. Jonathan practiced primarily in the employment law area. For a while it was the sensible decision to stick with something secure in light of his growing family. On the side, though, he had begun investing in rental properties. Eventually, it became clear to him that taking the riskier road was more aligned with what he ...

Nov 25, 2019•35 min•Ep. 13

Rachel Solomon leaves litigation to pursue storytelling: first as a freelance writer, then as a novelist, and ultimately through brand creation at her own firm

My guest today is Rachel Solomon, who is the Founder and Creative Director at Honor Code Creative, a branding company that offers a full spectrum of creative, design, copy, editorial, PR and marketing services for her clients. Rachel started off in big law litigation, but realized after a few different positions that practicing law just wasn’t the right fit. She pursued her interests in writing and fashion, which put her on a path from copywriter to PR strategist and ultimately to company founde...

Nov 19, 2019•45 min•Ep. 12

Adam Friedl tells us how he transitioned from public interest law to software engineering

Adam Friedl spent many years practicing in various public interest organizations. One of these organizations was a non-profit technology company with the mission of improving access to justice. Working there sparked an interest in the tech side of things, and he started teaching himself to code on the side. Fast forward a few years, and he’s left the law completely to be a full time software engineer. The topics we touch on: Going to law school because it seemed practical, not because he felt un...

Nov 12, 2019•31 min•Ep. 11

Melissa Lorenzo-Herve tells us how she ditched big law for a dual career in legal publishing and fashion

Melissa Lorenzo-Herve is a Senior Attorney Editor at the Practical Law Company (a division of Thompson Reuters), as well as the CEO and Creative Director of Pirouette NYC, a clothing line for the professional woman. Melissa tells us about how she built this dual career after leaving the practice of law. In this episode we discuss: That the area of law that attracted you is often not where you end up practicing How, even if you work with nice people, it may not be enough to keep you going if you’...

Nov 07, 2019•37 min•Ep. 10

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