Dr. Jan Newman: From Biglaw Associate to Clinical Psychologist

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In Episode 037 of The Former Lawyer Podcast, I’m sharing my conversation with Dr. Jan Newman.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Jan is a licensed clinical psychologist and executive coach who works with multi-passionate high achievers who want to level up their lives. She is a published author and researcher and a frequent speaker on topics related to emotional intelligence, interpersonal effectiveness, and psychological flexibility.  In her former life, she was an intellectual property attorney in Biglaw.</span></p> <p><strong>In this conversation, Jan shares about:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Going to law school because people told her she was good at persuading people;</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Hearing her family talk about law being a prestigious profession, and telling her that she would make a good lawyer (although her mom vehemently denies that this happened!);</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why she thinks the legal profession can’t live up to its hype;</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Deciding she was going to leave the law before she actually left (and what that means);</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Realizing her first day of law school that it was a mistake;</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The moment that she realized law was not for her (and also that everyone she worked with had lost their minds);</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why, after she decided she was going to leave the law, she lateraled from her regional law firm to biglaw;</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Approaching her decision to leave law like a series of experiments;</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Reali