In 2025, I did not plan to write a year long series on legal careers. I was not mapping themes or building a thesis. I was responding to what I kept seeing and hearing from lawyers who were tired, capable, and quietly questioning whether this was really how it was supposed to feel.
Looking back at what I wrote for Above the Law last year, the pattern is now obvious. Different topics. Same problem.
Too many lawyers are surviving careers they should be shaping.
What follows is not meant to be a top 10 list. It is merely a reflection on what kept showing up in my writing and why it still matters.
Joy Is Not A Luxury.
I began 2025 by writing about joy, which felt almost rebellious in a profession that tends to reward exhaustion more than fulfillment.
The point was not that legal work should always feel good. It will not. The point was that many lawyers never question whether the way they are working makes sense for who they are. They assume unhappiness is inevitable, rather than examining the systems and choices that produce it.
Joy is not something you earn after decades of endurance. It is something you build intentionally or not at all.
Chaos Is Part Of The Job. Panic Is Optional.
Several articles grew out of conversations with in-house lawyers whose professional lives felt like constant emergencies.
Reorganizations. Leadership changes. Strategy shifts. Conflicting priorities. None of this is unusual. What is damaging is the belief that you must absorb all of it personally without boundaries.
You do not need perfect control to function well. You need stability in how you respond when things are unstable.
Preparation Is Not Disloyalty.
I wrote about “packing your parachute” because too many in-house lawyers are told that planning for uncertainty means they are not committed enough.
That is nonsense.
Companies change. Roles evolve. Leaders leave. Preparing for the unknown does not mean you expect failure. It means you understand reality. Preparation means making sure you are not one surprise away from crisis.
No One Is Coming To Manage Your Career For You.
One of the most consistent themes this year was ownership.
I see lawyers waiting for permission to grow, to lead, to develop, or to receive recognition. They wait for someone to notice they are ready and for an invitation.
That wait can last forever.
Your general counsel does not own your career. Your company does not either. If you are not actively shaping your trajectory, someone else’s priorities will shape it for you.
High Performance Is A System, Not A Personality Trait.
When I looked to elite athletes for lessons, it was not about motivation or toughness. Lawyers already have plenty of both.
What we lack are systems for recovery, reflection, coaching, and long-term performance. We glorify endurance and call it excellence, then wonder why burnout follows.
Sustainable success is designed. It is not improvised under constant pressure.
In-House Lawyers Are Leaders. Act Like It.
One of the more direct articles I wrote challenged the way in-house lawyers position themselves as “business partners.”
Advisors advise. Leaders lead.
Legal judgment shapes risk, strategy, and outcomes. That is leadership. When lawyers downplay that role, they do not become more collaborative. They become easier to sideline.
If you want influence, you have to step up and accept responsibility.
Survival Mode Is Not A Career Strategy.
Getting through a hard season is sometimes necessary. Living there indefinitely is corrosive.
I focused on the difference between surviving and thriving because too many lawyers normalize exhaustion as the baseline. When merely making it to the end of the week becomes the goal, something has already gone wrong.
Thriving requires intention. It often requires perspective from outside your immediate environment. It always requires honesty about what is and is not working.
Being Right Is Not The Same As Being Effective.
Legal training rewards winning. Business reality rewards outcomes.
I wrote about the tension between the two because I see lawyers win arguments and lose influence. Technical correctness does not automatically translate into trust, progress, or impact.
If the goal is to move the business forward, how you engage matters as much as what you say.
Technology Will Not Save Or Destroy Us. It Will Expose Us.
When I wrote about AI, I was less interested in tools than in people.
As technology absorbs more technical work, the human side of lawyering becomes more visible. Judgment. Communication. Discernment. Self-awareness.
The lawyers who struggle will not be replaced by software. They will be exposed by it.
Gratitude Is Perspective, Not Denial.
I ended the year with gratitude because reflection matters.
Acknowledging what we have learned, who supported us, and how we have grown does not minimize difficulty. It prevents difficulty from becoming the entire story.
The Thread That Ties It Together
Every article I wrote in 2025 came back to the same idea.
A legal career should be owned, intentional, and human. Not endured.
The profession is changing. The only real question is whether we are willing to change with it, deliberately and on our own terms.
Lisa Lang is an accomplished in-house lawyer and thought leader dedicated to empowering fellow legal professionals. She offers insights and resources tailored for in-house counsel through her website and blog, Why This, Not That™ (www.lawyerlisalang.com). Lisa actively engages with the legal community via LinkedIn, sharing her expertise and fostering meaningful connections. You can reach her at lisa@lawyerlisalang.com, connect on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawyerlisalang/).
The post I Didn’t Set Out To Write A Series And Yet It Happened appeared first on Above the Law.