Law Life Balance Caitlin McFee

I can't BELIEVE we're 18 episodes in and at the season one finale of the podcast. It's been such a journey, and I'm so incredibly grateful for all of your support, and the time of my amazing guests.

I wanted to take a little time to reflect on some of the themes that have come up, and what has happened in the legal industry during the course of season one. I also wanted to take the opportunity to tell you why I'm closing up here for the first season, and to explain what I'm going to be focussing my efforts on for the next few months.

Thank you again for all of your support, and I hope to see you back here very soon.

If you want to stay up to date with me and my work supporting lawyer wellbeing, you can find me via my website, Instagram, or on LinkedIn.

Mary Bonsor was a property litigator in a top city firm before starting Flex Legal in August 2016. Flex is an online platform which connects pre-vetted lawyers and law students to law firms and general counsel for a flexible, on demand service. Flex has over 5,000 candidates on its platform and over 250 clients including magic circle firms, FTSE 250 companies and SMEs. In 2020 Mary was recognised as one of Management Today's 35 Women under 35. 

Mary is passionate about the future education of the profession and how tomorrow's lawyers will qualify.  She sees the SQE offering a huge opportunity to law students to get relevant work experience during their studies and is also very interested in how law firms can retain and attract the future generation.

We talked about:


Being a new mum whilst running your own business
Flex Legal and the rise of legal consultancy
How platforms like Flex can help someone transition into a completely new area of law
How to help lawyers have more autonomy and control over their workloads
Starting a tech platform without any tech expertise
The importance of trying to solve problems by yourself first
Some of the lowest moments of starting a company
The importance of looking after employee mental health
How the pandemic has shaped Flex’s attitude to wellbeing
Reforming how we train solicitors
And don’t miss the moment Mary offered to mentor me (and I OBVIOUSLY said yes)!

If you’re keen to keep up with Mary and Flex legal you can find out everything you need via their website.

Firstly, I'm sorry this episode is a little bit late this week. Well, actually, I'm not sorry at all - I'm on holiday and having a lovely time so I decided to release it later. But I've found some time to do it so here you go! Please also excuse the audio quality change towards the end, Zoom crashed and failed to recognise my microphone - it's just a bit of a week for this one!

On the podcast this week is wonder-woman herself, Lori Mihalich-Levin, JD. Lori believes in inspiring and empowering working parents.  She is the founder and CEO of Mindful Return, author of Back to Work After Baby: How to Plan and Navigate a Mindful Return from Maternity Leave, and co-host of the Parents at Work Podcast.  She is mama to two wonderful red-headed boys (ages 8 and 10) and is a health care lawyer in private practice.  Her thought leadership has been featured in publications including Forbes, Fortune, The Washington Post, New York Times Parenting, Thrive Global, and The Huffington Post.

In our discussion about all things working parenthood, we cover:


How to return to work mindfully after having a baby
Setting up your own business whilst simultaneously being a lawyer
The importance of community
Why an inter-organisational approach is the best one
How to deal with the guilt of leaving your children to go back to work
Supporting dads through working parenthood
How to be an ambitious career woman and a mother

To find out more about Lori and Mindful Return, check out their website.

Meet Charlotte Smith, aka the professional Executive Coach for Limitless Lawyers. After an impressive 7 year career at a top boutique law firm in the UK, a prestigious 30 Under 30 Award, and an offer of partnership, Charlotte upped sticks and moved to California with her husband and pursue an alternative dream: to help other lawyers ignite their self belief and reach their, well, limitless potential! Charlotte now works with lawyers and silicon valley tech professionals to help them become limitless leaders.

Some of the many topics we covered include:


The differences and commonalities between lawyers around the world
How lawyers think - the helpful and the not-so-helpful
Boutique or Big Law firm?
Finding your ‘zone of genius’
How to start your personal transformative journey
Procrastination, perfectionism, and decision paralysis
What makes a great leader
The importance of self-awareness
The 80:20 rule - when good enough is good enough
Why people leave and what firms can learn from it

If you want to learn more about Charlotte, or even work with her (which I highly recommend), you can find her on LinkedIn or via her website.

Meet Nikki Alderson, a former barrister with a 19 year career at the Criminal Bar and now a highly successful coach for women and keynote speaker. After reaching a career crossroads whilst representing two men on death row in Jamaica (trust me it’s a good episode), Nikki decided to pursue some coaching to help her figure out her next steps. That led, ultimately, to her becoming a coach herself, and she now works to help retain women in the legal profession.

Nikki is also an experienced public speaker and has spoken at a whole host of national Conferences and events, such as Women in the Law UK and Criminal Law Friends Society Conferences, for a variety of legal organisations, such as Women in Criminal Law, Women Lawyers and Mothers, Midlands Circuit Women's Forum, Leeds Law Society & North Eastern Circuit.

She is also the author of the brilliant book, “Raising The Bar”, where you can read more about her story and test out some of the coaching exercises she uses with her clients. Useful for anyone currently at a bit of a career-crossroads!

In one of my favourite conversations to date (I know, I always say this - and I genuinely mean it every time!), Nikki and I talked about:


Nikki’s life-changing career-crossroads moment whilst representing two men on death row in Jamaica
Her work with female professionals, helping them to reach their full potential in their careers and be retained in the profession
The purpose of coaching and what people can expect from it
How to say no without actually saying no (Hint: read chapter 8 of ‘Essentialism’)
Flexible working and remote working
Parenthood and law
Digital distraction
How to be a busy lawyer and still have a social life

If you’re keen to keep up with Nikki you can find her on LinkedIn or check out her website.

This week we have a very exciting guest, and a good friend of mine, Oliver Haddock. Olly is a litigator at Radcliffes Le Brasseur. He is also the Founder and Chair of the London Young Professionals Network, and the Chair of the London Young Lawyers Group. In celebration of his huge dedication to young lawyers, he has been shortlisted for the Law Society Junior Lawyers of the Year award at the upcoming Excellence in Law Awards (for which we wish him lots of luck)!

Obviously this episode contains loads of great information about law and young professionals, but my favourite bit was definitely the rapid fire questions at the end. Olly shares so much about his personal journey here, and I’d highly advise you listen to the end!

Some of the key topics we cover in this episode are:


Networking - why it's important and how to do it
How the pandemic has affected young professionals
Can you ever really know what you’re signing up for?
Where does the pressure come from for lawyers?
Salary wars: is money the solution?
Why are we hearing about more mental health issues in professional services now?
Potential solutions to reduce stress and burnout and improve wellbeing
Projections for the future of the post-pandemic legal industry
Dyslexia and learning difficulties - how to succeed if you’re struggling

If you’re keen to keep up with Olly and his amazing work for young professionals, you can do so by following the London Young Lawyers Group and London Young Professionals Network on Instagram.