Episode 205 – Becoming Legally Bold with Toya Gavin The Happy Lawyer Happy Life Podcast

In this week’s episode of the ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life Podcast’ I had the pleasure of interviewing a wonderful lawyer from all the way over the other side of the world, Toya Gavin.  I interviewed Toya in the week before this year’s US Presidential election so it sure was an interesting time to be talking and I concluded mid-interview that Toya needs to throw her had in the political ring for the future.  Toya is one smart, articulate and thoughtful person and someone I learned so much from in just this hour.

Toya is of course a lawyer and has a background working in New York in criminal law.  Life in #lawland has not always been easy for Toya and she shared openly with me the impact of many years of hard work culminating in a significant health event that left her managing depression and anxiety.  As is so often the case though, that very difficult period in Toya’s professional life has led to her finding a new string to her career bow and these days she runs a successful online legal practice while also operating a coaching and consulting business, Legally Bold.

This is the perfect interview to see out 2020- it has something for everyone and my podcast silver lining for 2020 has been the chance to move some of these interviews online and connect worldwide with a bunch of amazing legal professionals!

Thank you for your continued support during the very strange year that has been 2020!  I am taking a short Podcast break and will be back on the airwaves in February 2021.  Have a wonderful Christmas Break and I wish you all the best for the New Year.

In this interview, Toya and I also chatted about-



* Toya joined us all the way from Washington DC and we discuss this beautiful city.

* If Toya was not a lawyer she would have been an entrepreneur, which she is now her side-hustle!

* Growing up in New Jersey, about 20 minutes outside of New York City.

* The Black Lives Matter Movement and the impact of living in a country built on slavery.

* Righting injustice and removing the barriers of generational prejudice.

* Entrepreneurs and Toya’s tips for how to make a change in the world.

* Changing the little things is what makes for the compounding difference.

* The truth brings light to everything and I vote ‘Toya for President’.

* Toya completed an engineering undergrad before the social rights aspect of the law drew Toya to study at George Washington Law School.

* The differences between engineering and law school, not only in practice but in the thinking process.

* Toya explains she completed her undergrad of 4 years, and then 3 years of law school ending in a six-figure education bill.

* The differences between Individual Rights and the Collective Rights of our different nations.

* After leaving law school Toya took the bar exam and started working for the City of New York.

* Her time working as a prosecutor on criminal cases with the likes of Judge Victoria Pratt, who brought in the concept for a community court in New York.

* As a criminal lawyer, you meet people in their worst moments and Toya’s time working in the Domestic Violence Court.

* Several years after Toya started her own practice in New Jersey she had a breakdown and moved to Washington to be with her sister and 3 children.

* Toya intentionally took a break and found spending time with children eased her depression and anxiety.

* We discuss the legal field and the impact it can have on your mental health. If you’re not anxious you’re not lawyering- apparently.

* The reason for the culture of overwork, alcoholism and contempt between lawyers, all of which create psychological ill-health in law-land.

* Toya’s tips for managing your mental health being sleep and exercise!

* Seeing the disconnect between law and our personal lives Toya moved into...