1/ THREAD. I’m not in the self-help or self-improvement space — I write about #SCOTUS, law firms, and other legal stuff — but if you’ll indulge me, I have some life advice to share.
2/ This is a bit cliched, but your life is YOUR LIFE — and if you’re not happy with it, it’s on you to change it.

You care the most about it, and you’re in the best position to improve it.
3/ Last year, I had a near-death experience with #COVID19, which put me in @NYULangone for three weeks, including a week on a ventilator.

It sucked, obviously, but it was a wake-up call.
4/ At the time that I got sick with Covid, I was a bit adrift.

I was humming with a low-level dissatisfaction — something wasn’t right in my life, but I wasn’t quite sure what.
5/ I was working at the time as a legal recruiter at @LateralLink. It’s a great recruiting company, and my then-colleagues were (and are) awesome — but recruiting as a job wasn’t fulfilling me completely.
6/ One thing I did learn doing my Covid-19 experience, which I live-tweeted and wrote about for the @WashingtonPost, @LATimes, and @Slate, was how much I missed writing.

So I thought during the pandemic, “Maybe I should do more writing again.”
7/ Kind of on a whim, I started a “side hustle” in December 2020 — writing Original Jurisdiction ("OJ"), a @SubstackInc newsletter/blog about law and the legal profession, my main topics pre-Covid.

bit.ly/3mSdSMG
8/ Original Jurisdiction started getting traction. I started spending more time on it. And I was enjoying it -- more than my day job.

(I had the same experience when I first started blogging in 2004 at Underneath Their Robes, while still practicing law.)
9/ This spring, I started toying with the idea of leaving legal recruiting to work on OJ full-time.

But it was daunting. Recruiting has been relatively lucrative, and my husband and I have a mortgage, a 3-year-old who’s in private school (and diapers), etc.
10/ But I decided to, as Nike says, just do it. I gave notice at Lateral Link, with my last official day as April 30 (I'm still finishing up a few final projects), and as of last Monday, May 3, I became a full-time writer once again.

nyti.ms/3e3m2y6
11/ I’ve been back to writing full-time for just a week, and so far, so good. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many people have signed up as paid subscribers to Original Jurisdiction (which is now how I make a living).

bit.ly/3nQyDJj
12/ I’m cautiously optimistic that writing will work out financially. But more importantly than the money, I’m happier, on a day to day level, and I'm more engaged with my work.
13/ These days I wake up in the morning and I’m energized and excited (well, except when our three-year-old wakes us up too early).

And sometimes at night I’m so into what I’m doing, I wind up staying way past my bedtime.
14/ I’m also a much more likable and enjoyable person to be around (or so my husband Zach tells me).

Now our dinner talk consists of brainstorming about projects I’m excited to tackle -- Zach is also my editor -- and not my venting.
15/ I’ve had this experience before. I was scared when I left practicing law to write full-time at @Wonkette, and I was scared when I left Wonkette, at the time a very established blog, to start Above the Law (@ATLblog).
16/ But years later, I can say that both things worked out. I don't regret taking either risk -- and I would have regretted NOT making those jumps.

In my experience (and I admit I'm a very fortunate person), things often have a way of working out.
17/ Now, I’m very, very lucky. I have no student loans. My husband makes a good living as a lawyer. We have savings that could get us by for a while. Not everyone is in such a fortunate position.
18/ If you, like me, are fortunate enough to have a safety net, don’t let it go to waste.

Yet another cliche, but true (as I know as an alum of the ventilator): Life is too short. Follow your dreams.
19/ And if you’re not yet able to follow your dreams, perhaps for financial reasons, do what you can to make that possible eventually. Downsize your lifestyle. Save like a maniac. Marry rich (or richer). ;-)
20/ Remember: it’s up to YOU to fix your life.

And for those of you with safety nets -- e.g., frustrated white-collar workers with tons in savings -- you’re like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. You’ve had the power to save yourself all along.
21/ This advice isn’t just about your career.

If you’re unhappy in a relationship, END IT.

If you’re not satisfied with your home, MOVE (which we are in the midst of doing, from Manhattan to the New Jersey suburbs -- yay for a home office).
22/ If you’re scared, ask for help. Ask family and friends for advice or support.

I haven't been shy about asking folks to subscribe to OJ, for example (even if it feels a bit awkward, like hitting up friends to buy your daughter's Girl Scout cookies).
23/ So if you’re not happy with your career or your life, don’t just whine and whine -- as I did, for months.

Take action. You have the power to change your own life. Good luck!

P.S. And please check out Original Jurisdiction!

davidlat.substack.com

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More from @DavidLat

10 May
1/ Here are the latest "winners" of the awards I give out in Judicial Notice, my weekly legal news roundup for Original Jurisdiction:

Lawyer of the Week: Todd Bank.

Judge of the Week: Justice Clarence Thomas.

#SCOTUS #appellatetwitter
2/ Ruling of the Week: Sierra v. Hallandale Beach.

Litigation of the Week: Epic v. Apple.

Deal of the Week: Apollo’s acquisition of Verizon Media.

Law Firms of the Week: @RopesGray and @LowensteinLLP

Lateral Moves: 5 top govt. lawyers to Biglaw.
Read 4 tweets
4 May
1/ An interesting and important piece by @whignewtons for @politico about the trend of having multiple lower-court clerkships before clerking for the Supreme Court — and how it’s contributing to the lack of diversity among #SCOTUS clerks. #appellatetwitter
2/ I tend to agree with @whignewtons that this emerging preference among the justices for multiple feeder-judge clerkships is hurting diversity — especially gender diversity — among #scotus clerks. #appellatetwitter
3/ Sure, there can be advantages to having more-experienced clerks at #scotus. It can be helpful to have clerked at both the trial and appellate levels, or state and federal (although the latter is uncommon). #appellatetwitter
Read 5 tweets
4 May
1/ THREAD. For legal nerds wondering if Bill and Melinda Gates have a prenuptial agreement aka prenup, apparently the answer is no. From the petition for divorce that @melindagates filed against @BillGates:
2/ Here’s the full petition for divorce, via @TMZ.

The @nytimes reported that Bill Gates and Melinda Gates are believed to have a prenup, but question 11 seems pretty clear to me — there’s a separation agreement but no prenup.

dam.tmz.com/document/96/o/…
3/ The Gates divorce petition refers to a separation agreement under RCW 26.09.060, which is “a written separation contract providing for the maintenance of either of them, the disposition of any property,” etc.

app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.as…
Read 8 tweets
22 Apr
1/ THREAD. So this is FASCINATING.

After a life-threatening case of #covid19, and more than a month after shot #2 of the #COVID19Vaccine, I’m barely positive for antibodies.👇👇👇

In this thread, some background and a few thoughts.

#covid #coronavirus
2/ As some of you might recall, I was hospitalized from 3/16/20-4/1/20 at @nyulangone with a critical case of #covid19, spending almost a week on a ventilator.

In 6/20 and 9/20, I tested positive for #covid antibodies, in decreasing amounts — 4.3 and 3.2:
3/ In 11/20, my last #covid19 antibody test before this one, I was still positive, but not strongly so — titer of 2.3, where above 1.4 is positive.
Read 14 tweets
22 Apr
1/ THREAD. Today, about 7 months after my last visit and a year after getting out of the hospital, I went to the pulmonologist for a check-up (a new pulmonologist who works with many post-Covid patients). #covid19 #covid #coronavirus #longcovid
2/ One of the @nyulangone pulmonologists who treated me while I was in the ICU on a ventilator last March dropped by to say hello — and I got a little teary as I thanked her. #Covid #covid19 #coronavirus #longcovid
3/ The good news is that my lungs have continued to improve since my last visit in September (which my pulmonologist said is consistent with what they’re seeing with many post-Covid patients a year out). #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #longcovid
Read 11 tweets
20 Apr
1/ Justice Amy Coney Barrett has landed a $2 million advance for her first book. #SCOTUS #appellatetwitter #books
2/ ACB's advance is more than the $1.5 million that Justice Clarence Thomas received for his memoir, My Grandfather's Son (but that was back in 2007). CT's book went on to become a #1 bestseller.

bit.ly/32tQT1n #SCOTUS #appellatetwitter #books
3/ ACB's advance is also more than the $1.2 million that Justice Sonia Sotomayor received in 2010 for her memoir, My Beloved World, which also went on to become a #1 bestseller.

on.wsj.com/3egKkVe #SCOTUS #appellatetwitter #books
Read 15 tweets

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