Leaving Biglaw Without a Plan for The Unbillable Life with Marissa Geannette

In Episode 018 of The Former Lawyer Podcast, Sarah talks with Marissa Geannette. Marissa walked away from a successful biglaw career after nearly eight years, and now works as a freelance writer and blogs on her site, The Unbillable Life. In this conversation, Marissa shares about: Why she started blogging after leaving biglaw, but kept the blog anonymous at first; Why she no longer blogs anonymously (you can read her blog post about it here); How she just sort of fell into her practice area; Why she started thinking about leaving the law after only one year of practice, but stayed for over 6 more years after that point; How preoccupied she was with what people would think if she left legal practice; Why she doesn’t think you need to know what you want to do next in order to leave the law; How she started getting freelance writing jobs; What led her to write a book for junior associates; Why she wishes she had been more open about how unhappy she was working in biglaw before she left; What held her back from leaving the law, and why she doesn’t want you to make the same mistake; and much more! Show Notes: Get Sarah’s free guide, First Steps to Leaving the Law  Connect with Marissa on her website or on Twitter Buy the Former Lawyer Jump Start I'm closing enrollment for my self-paced group program, the Former Lawyer Collaborative, permanently on August 31st, 2026. If you've been thinking about joining now is the time. Head to formerlawyer.com/collab to join before doors close on August 31st.