Can You Pivot From Big Law To An Academic Career? Austen Parrish, Dean University Of California, Irvine School of Law [E95] episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 9, 2026 · 31 MIN

Can You Pivot From Big Law To An Academic Career? Austen Parrish, Dean University Of California, Irvine School of Law [E95]

from The Legal Department

Have you ever thought about a career in academics? You've learned a lot from practicing law in the "real world," but do these skills translate into the classroom? And without an academic pedigree, can a practicing lawyer even break into the ivory tower?Dean Parrish believes that lawyers (especially in-house counsel) can be great teachers. Parrish says that legal skills are academic skills--writing, public speaking and the ability to distill complex topics make lawyers the best teachers.In this episode, Parrish shares how he pivoted from a career in Big Law into academics, eventually landing leadership positions in top law schools including serving as dean of three different law schools.  He says that teaching can be a natural progression for practicing lawyers.He believes this so strongly that he invited Stacy and other in-house lawyers to develop a certificate program for aspiring general counsel at UCI School of Law.  Learn more about the program called, "From Lawyer to Leader, the Road to the General Counsel Seat," in this episode.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 9, 2026

Embed this episode

Ready to play

Can You Pivot From Big Law To An Academic Career? Austen Parrish, Dean University Of California, Irvine School of Law [E95]

0:00 31:24

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of The Legal Department?

This episode is 31 minutes long.

When was this The Legal Department episode published?

This episode was published on June 9, 2026.

Can I download this The Legal Department episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!