NEW BLOG LAUNCHES FEBRUARY 20

I’m excited to announce that my new blog Sarah K. Kohut: Running from the Law  launches tomorrow, February 20, 2012. I hope you will join me as I leave my thirteen year legal career behind.

News

Happy New Year everyone!  As you may have guessed by now, I’m closing down this blog. Because… I’m launching a new blog to coincide with leaving my thirteen year career as a business litigation attorney and clearing a new path for myself one machete stroke at a time.

While the background, journey and what the new year will bring will be detailed on my new blog sarahkkohut.com, here’s a brief glimpse of why I’m making the change.

A Little Background

When certain members of my family firmly drummed into me that “movie star” was not a realistic career goal and writer was also not acceptable, I did what I was expected to do from childhood.  I went to law school. (My father and grandfather are both attorneys.)

$120,000 in student loans later I became a business litigator. The work was interesting and mentally challenging – sometimes – but beyond my inherent desire to always succeed and excel, the only thing motivating me was paying off those student loans.  Was I passionate about my profession? No.

As I advanced in my career and began working on bigger and bigger cases I grew more dispassionate and just downright frustrated with the legal system.  Here’s the thing: anybody can file a lawsuit against anyone for anything whether it has legal merit or not.  With enough savvy, the lawsuit can be worded well enough to avoid a dismissal at any early stage. Plus, judges give plaintiffs every break in the book for fear of dismissing a case that actually has merit.

For the past ten years, I have spent my time defending companies (yes, “big bad” Fortune 500 and 100 corporations) against frivolous, and I do mean frivolous lawsuits.  Every one of these actions has been attorney driven – my favorite example is the one where in need of a plaintiff (the person who allegedly was harmed) the law firm in question conveniently “found one” in the form of the attorney’s best friend’s boyfriend.  Oh, and then there was the one where the plaintiff was the attorney’s husband. And the plaintiff who was the paralegal for the attorney in question and was the plaintiff in no less than 30 lawsuits.  In the middle of my tenure, California passed Prop 64 in an attempt to stem the tide on these types of lawsuits.  It reduced them from a flood to a rushing river.

But here’s the thing that fundamentally bothers me, these types of cases drag on for years – think 5-10 years – and at the end of the day, the defendant (in this case the “big, bad company”) is left with two options: (1) settle cheap to stem the blood loss from attorney’s fees or (2) win, but several millions dollars poorer because in consumer cases the defendant can rarely receive a dime back of its attorney’s fees and in these types of cases the attorney’s are working constantly (if the plaintiff wins they also win their fees, however - welcome to the world of consumer class actions).  And if you’re thinking, “Whatever, corporations can afford it,” let me remind you that there is a very good chance that you, your parents, and/or your grandparents are shareholders of one or more of these corporations and your pension or retirement fund is tied in part to their profits. In other words, when a corporation has to pay out on a frivolous lawsuit you and your granny lose a little bit too.

The Wake-Up Call

Frustration and disillusionment eventually started making itself known physically.  A “flu” that lasted six months. Lack of focus. An inability to crawl out of bed on workdays in less than an hour.  When my doctor suggested I might want to think about antidepressants, a fire was finally lit. Message received. Forget the pills, I’m going to fix my life.

The Process

Easier said then done.  I implemented extreme saving, set a deadline for myself, and gave nine months notice.  My last day as an attorney was supposed to be December 31, 2011.  Of course it didn’t work out that way. But any day now I will be free and if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to chuck it all and chart a new course, I hope you will join me on my journey at www.sarahkkohut.com (coming late Jan/early Feb) and on twitter @sarahkkohut.

UPDATE: www. sarahkkohut.com launches February 20, 2012.

Wishing you all health, happiness and the best 2012 has to offer.

-Sarah-