Powerhouse Lawyers

Daffney Allwein has spent more than a decade inside large law firms watching some of the highest performing people in the country run themselves into the ground. Her words for it: lawyers have made burnout an art form. She's a performance physiologist and the founder of Lift Pro Wellness, where she works with partners, senior partners, and executives who show up at a crossroads. She also went back to school at American University for executive leadership coaching, which means she stopped meeting her clients only at the level of their bodies and started meeting them at the level of their nervous systems too. Her coaching happens while you're moving. No sitting in a room talking about your feelings. This conversation gets into what chronic stress actually does to a body, why the signals are so easy to misread, and what it takes to get off a pace you set for yourself. In this episode we cover: Why she fell for the law firm population and never left What lawyers are actually coming to her for, and why it's almost never what they say it is The bear that isn't chasing you Why law school wires a nervous system for threat, starting day one What a dysregulated nervous system actually looks like, from sleep to digestion to posture Why she asks hard questions during balance exercises, and what happens next Chronic stress, autoimmune issues, and what shifts for women in their forties Set priorities, not goals, and why goals can't hold you to anything The room full of powerful women that gave her podcast its name Why asking for help is so hard when your whole job is being the expert Connect with Daffney Allwein: Website: liftprowellness.com Instagram: @daffneyallwein Podcast: Don't F**ing Shrink, available on YouTube and everywhere you listen Work with Erin Gerner: Erin coaches high-achieving female attorneys who are successful on paper but struggling with burnout, identity, and what's next, helping them redefine success on their own terms. Book a connection call: https://calendly.com/eringerner/connectioncall Stay connected with Erin Gerner: Website: eringerner.com LinkedIn: Erin Gerner Instagram: @eringerner Facebook: Erin Gerner Don't forget to subscribe to Powerhouse Lawyers wherever you listen. And if this episode gave you something, leave a rating and a review. It takes about a minute and it's the single biggest thing that puts this show in front of the next lawyer who needs to hear it.

Jennifer Long never planned to leave the Philadelphia DA's office. She was an assistant district attorney handling child sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, stalking, and exploitation cases, and she calls it the best job she's ever had. She expected to be in that unit for life. Then life made leaving the only option, and she cried about it in her boss's office. What she built from there is the first and only nonprofit in the country dedicated to training and equipping prosecutors who handle sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and human trafficking. Since co-founding AEquitas in 2009, Jennifer and her team of former prosecutors have trained more than 220,000 legal and allied professionals across all fifty states and around the world. This conversation is about heavy work, honest leadership, and what happens when the path you planned disappears underneath you. In this episode we cover: The thing she kept hearing from survivors that made her want to become a prosecutor in the first place What it's like to cut your teeth in a packed Philadelphia courtroom against the best defense attorneys in the city Why she says getting humbled early is a gift Leaving the job she loved before she was ready, and what came after Teresa Scalzo, the legend who gave her a seat at the national table Founding AEquitas with no credit history, no track record, and partners who took grants on their behalf to make it exist What AEquitas actually does, from a single legal question before trial to building a community's entire response The Supreme Court line at the core of their work: strike hard blows, not foul ones Why she wants her team to be brutal with her internally How she thinks about the long road, and the emergency room versus the research institute What she misses about the courtroom Her advice for any lawyer whose path just disappeared underneath them A legally blonde moment involving her very first preliminary hearing Connect with Jennifer Long and AEquitas: Website: aequitasresource.org Podcasts: Just Champions and The Traffic Report Also at AEquitas: the National Resource Center on Cybercrimes Against Individuals, and SPARC, the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center Work with Erin Gerner: Erin coaches high-achieving female attorneys who are successful on paper but struggling with burnout, identity, and what's next, helping them redefine success on their own terms. Book a connection call: https://calendly.com/eringerner/connectioncall Stay connected with Erin Gerner: Website: eringerner.com LinkedIn: Erin Gerner Instagram: @eringerner Facebook: Erin Gerner Don't forget to subscribe to Powerhouse Lawyers wherever you listen.

Ariella Cohen Coleman was going to work in fashion. She wanted to be a Bloomingdale's buyer. Then her dad was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer when she was thirteen, and he died when she was seventeen, and by the time she got to college her entire world had reoriented around advocacy. She went to law school to fix healthcare. Not to practice law. To fix the system that had her mother spending every day of her father's illness fighting insurance companies just to get covered care covered. Then she got sick herself, got told never to talk about it professionally, and spent years believing she was the only lawyer in the country with a complex health history. Today she's the founder of The Wellness Esquire and host of its podcast, and she runs Ariella Law with no billable hours from beaches around the world. In this episode we cover: Why she went to law school with no intention of ever practicing Watching her mom become her first example of an advocate Getting diagnosed during her first year of law school and what she learned about staying safe Six concussions, and the one that finally made her stop Working through a concussion for a month because stopping felt like weakness How boredom turned into the first real questions she'd ever asked herself Being told never to discuss her health professionally, and what happened when she finally did The law student who messaged her after that first post, and where she is now Why we're too quiet about the options, and how many ways there actually are to be a lawyer Her two pieces of advice for any lawyer who knows something is wrong Building a firm with no billable hours, chosen clients, and a written mistakes policy The Wellness Esquire directory and why community is the missing piece Connect with Ariella Cohen Coleman: Website: thewellnessesquire.com Also: ariellacohencoleman.com LinkedIn: Ariella Cohen Coleman Podcast: The Wellness Esquire, available everywhere and on YouTube Work with Erin Gerner: Erin coaches high-achieving female attorneys who are successful on paper but struggling with burnout, identity, and what's next, helping them redefine success on their own terms. 📅 Book a connection call: https://calendly.com/eringerner/connectioncall Stay connected with Erin Gerner: Website: eringerner.com LinkedIn: Erin Gerner Instagram: @eringerner Facebook: Erin Gerner Don't forget to subscribe to Powerhouse Lawyers wherever you listen. 🎙️

Jessie Brown wanted to be a writer. She was an English major doing an MFA in creative nonfiction when she lost both of her parents and realized she had no financial safety net. So she did the practical thing and went to law school. That pattern, choosing the safe path over the one that actually fit, followed her for the next two decades. It picked her practice area. It kept her in litigation long after her body was telling her something was wrong. It even had her enrolled in a backup master's program while she was already building the business she actually wanted. Today Jessie is a coach and retreat facilitator working with attorneys at every stage, from brand new associates to partners planning their exit. She's also a trained forest bathing guide, sound healer, breathwork facilitator, and meditation teacher, and she leads nature-based retreats in Sedona. This conversation is about what it takes to finally stop letting fear pick your life for you. In this episode we cover: Why she chose law school after losing both parents and having no safety net The senior partner who told a room of young female associates the truth about how she "had it all" The annual review where she offered to resign and was told to hire a second nanny Leaving, staying home, moving across the country, and sitting for a second bar exam on her own dime The deposition that made her physically ill and changed her practice area Stepping down from the partner track and taking a pay cut to do work that fit her The Clifton Strengths result that finally explained why everything felt so hard Being the unofficial office therapist for her entire career and what it was telling her The safety-seeking part of her that picks every path, and how she learned to spot it What actually happens to a nervous system on a retreat, and why in-person still matters Connect with Jessie Brown: Website: jessiebrown.org Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: Jessie Brown Podcast: Aligned Work with Erin Gerner: Erin coaches high-achieving female attorneys who are successful on paper but struggling with burnout, identity, and what's next, helping them redefine success on their own terms. 📅 Book a connection call: https://calendly.com/eringerner/connectioncall Stay connected with Erin Gerner: Website: eringerner.com LinkedIn: Erin Gerner Instagram: @eringerner Facebook: Erin Gerner Don't forget to subscribe to Powerhouse Lawyers wherever you listen. 🎙️

Sydney Segal is a lot of things. Brooklyn Law grad. Public defender in New York. Survivor 41 competitor. Runner-up on The Challenge: Vets and New Threats. Former Division I track athlete and California state cross-country champion. Five-language speaker. Solo backpacker through 60+ countries. And someone who has figured out how to be all of those things at once — without apologizing for any of them. She didn't stumble into this life. She built it deliberately, starting with two gap years, a very clear sense of what she didn't want, and the willingness to bet on herself before anyone told her she was allowed to. This episode is about what it looks like to refuse the box — and actually pull it off. In this episode we cover: Why she took two gap years before law school — and why she'd tell every young lawyer to do the same How she ended up on Survivor during a COVID semester and never looked back The comp day strategy that made reality TV possible — twice — without leaving her job Why she chose public defense over big law and has never once regretted it What it actually feels like to be on reality TV — and what it exposed about herself she didn't expect How being a D1 athlete shaped how she handles the mental weight of criminal defense work Her rule for the work phone: it stays home, every time, no guilt What she means when she calls it a life resume — not a bucket list "Bet on yourself" — what that actually looked like in practice before she had a safety net Leaving for China solo in ten days to check off her seventh wonder of the world Connect with Sydney HERE Work with Erin Gerner: Erin coaches high-achieving female attorneys who are successful on paper but struggling with burnout, identity, and what's next — helping them redefine success on their own terms. 📅 Book a connection call: https://calendly.com/eringerner/connectioncall Stay connected with Erin Gerner: Website: eringerner.com LinkedIn: Erin Gerner Instagram: @eringerner Facebook: Erin Gerner Don't forget to subscribe to Powerhouse Lawyers wherever you listen. 🎙️