How I Lawyer Podcast: Review of 2021 and Planning for 2022

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ONE YEAR! This week last year I announced the #HowILawyer Podcast. I had NO CLUE how to record or edit. I had NO CLUE if anyone would listen. I had NO CLUE it would change my life. Curious about how it started and where it’s going? 🧵 👇 twitter.com/JonahPerlin/status/1341779701648347136?s=20

1/ I talked about why I started the pod in the thread above and on @TexAppLawPod. TL;dr. I wanted to do something creative that helped law students and junior lawyers learn from the paths of those who came before esp. in a challenging time. 2/ twitter.com/TexAppLawPod/status/1458812205328211969?s=20

2/ What happened first? 👨‍🏫 I quickly learned podcasting from @jayclouse 🙏. 🎙️ Got @Squadcast to record quality audio. 💻 Subscribed to @DescriptApp which was THE GAMECHANGER because it allowed me to edit audio through text 🤯 (seriously I couldn't have done this without it)

3/ Then I called upon friends from real life and Twitter who agreed to be guests and connect me to others. I could not have done it without @StaggAndrea, @RMFifthCircuit, @avtrask, @JayHyne, @nicholasjboyle and others who let me interview them even with no experience or audience.

4/ And it worked! Folks subscribed to the pod and e-mail list EVERY DAY in 2021 Lots (and I mean lots) of people offered to be guests and supported the show with reviews and ❤️ on social media. The show has 47 published eps (3 more in 2021) & more than 43,000 downloads!

5/ But most importantly it changed my life. I am more connected to the profession. I met TONS of cool people which opened new opportunities. E.g. I cold messaged @brianhpotts who agreed to be a guest and then asked me to join the board of @legalmentors.

6/ It also was a good reminder of the adage: the only way to eat an elephant 🐘 is a bite at a time. I could never have recorded & edited 40+ hours of content in one year if I saw it as one task. I had to break it into tiny tasks EVERY week (even when it was hard to show up).

7/ Now there is a library 📚 of evergreen content (that grows every week) of stories about lawyers and what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. Anyone can discover the pod any time. Some of my most popular episodes are just the ones that have been up the longest.

8/ And #legalwriting professors like @Joe_Fore and @ProfessorAtkins even introduced the podcast into their classrooms. As a professional legal educator this is so exciting! See, e.g., twitter.com/Joe_Fore/status/1468320837761646602?s=20

9/ And I have connected with listeners such as @stnylan, @BrianDFarkas, @cseguin03, @LindsayRBarnes and others who share episodes. The 🌎 is big but the internet can actually help shrink it and connect you to the right 👥. I am a better lawyer and teacher thanks to the pod.

10/ So where is the podcast going in 2022? As @howappealing noted on day 1, I labeled the episodes with three digits on purpose (001, 002, etc.). And after I hit my 50 episodes in 2021 goal I plan to keep publishing regularly (although the pace might slow a smidge).

11/ I also hope to expand the group of lawyers I interview and the audience who listens. I want to better capture the diversity of our profession and everything you can do with a JD. Want to help? Leave a review on iTunes (tinyurl.com/HILiTunes) or share on social media!

12/ If you have a guest or practice you'd like to recommend please use this form or DM me. 👉👉 forms.gle/ajN9MmRCRUvtDDSG7 I won't get to everybody but it helps me draw on a bigger population of potential guests. Other ideas to connect to law students? Let me know that too!

13/ The biggest challenge for me is time, especially editing. 📢 Thankfully I am pleased to announce today that the INAUGURAL SPONSOR for the #HowILawyer podcast is leading legal podcast producer, LawPods (@lawpods). LawPods will be providing editing for future episodes!

14/ They don't teach you how to podcast in law school (although maybe they should) and so I am super excited to work with and learn from @lawpods founder @robertbingalls! Robert has already provided incredible advice for better content and how to connect to potential audiences.

15/ I am also considering future sponsors for individual episodes or projects. For example, I'd love to offer high-quality verbatim transcripts of every episode but that is costly for a free show. If you want to chat about sponsorship or collaboration drop me a DM.

16/ And I will absolutely keep the podcast 100% free for listeners as this is my passion project/side hustle. If you've enjoyed the show you can help by: 1️⃣ Signing up for the e-mail list at howilawyer.com 2️⃣ Subscribing on iTunes/Spotify & 3️⃣ Leaving a review on iTunes

17/ And some final thank yous: 1. My wife (@DebraPerlin) and kids for supporting me on this major project in the middle of a difficult year. 2. All the guests and listeners. 3. My supportive colleagues. 4. #appellatetwitter / #lawtwitter community.

18/ I am not sure what 2022 holds for me but I am glad the #HowILawyer podcast and all of you will be a part of it. I'll be taking January off from publishing to recharge and get some more interviews done but there are lots of episodes to listen to at howilawyer.com.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: typefully.com/u/JonahPerlin/t/bSq7FtMKELVS