🎤 The Power of Podcasts

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of reading books as a path to growing as a summer associate and future lawyer. Today, I want to highlight the power of podcasts.

I am biased to be sure. I started the How I Lawyer Podcast in January 2021 to share stories about what lawyers do, why they do it, and how they do it well. But almost five years and almost 150 episodes later, I am even more confident that podcasts are one of the most powerful media today for asynchronous, permissionless mentorship that helps grow the legal profession in exciting ways. But don’t take my word for it. Claudio Klaus made this point very well in a recent LinkedIn Post. He wrote:

Law school taught me the law. Podcasts taught me how lawyers actually think.

You can study every case and still miss how lawyers actually communicate, make decisions, and build sustainable careers. That gap between legal knowledge and professional fluency is rarely addressed, but it matters.
For me, podcasts helped fill it.

They sharpened how I speak in interviews and coffee chats. They shaped the questions I ask. They gave me access to ways of thinking that don’t show up in course outlines.

Claudio is right. Podcasts are a uniquely free and accessible way to build knowledge and wisdom as a lawyer today—while you are walking your dog! As a result, they are an incredible way to level up as a summer associate or intern not only for the knowledge they provide but also to provide new ways of thinking and new questions to ask. Some podcasts focus on substantive areas of law. Others—like the podcasts that Claudio and I host—focus on telling lawyer stories.

Claudio offers some of his favorites in the post linked above in addition to his own excellent podcast Studying Law Around the World where he was kind enough to interview me recently. His recommendations have a slightly Canadian-bent given his current location but they are all excellent. Some of my favorites also include Personal Jurisdiction, Agile Attorney, the Texas Appellate Law Podcast, but there are many more—and the legal podcast ecosystem is continually growing.

TL;dr: Podcasts are a free, asynchronous, and hyper-accessible way to grow as a lawyer. Don’t miss the chance to learn from them.

Keep standing out,
Jonah