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Lawyer Launcher - Behind the Bar
Law school teaches you the law. This podcast teaches you how to succeed inside a law firm.
Lawyer Launcher – Behind the Bar is for law students and newly called lawyers who want to thrive and build confidence when they start practice. Hosted by Susan Van Dyke, a trusted advisor to law firms and a guide for new lawyers navigating their first year, this show offers an insider perspective from the other side of the hiring table.
With over 30 years of experience working with law firms and their leadership teams, Susan knows exactly what firms expect from new hires—and what they rarely explain. This podcast fills that gap, with practical advice, candid conversations, and tools to help you build confidence, credibility, and competence from day one.
New episodes drop every two weeks. Because landing the job is just the beginning.
Episodes
17 episodes
Signs You Won’t Get Hired Back at a Law Firm (Part 1 of 2)
How do you actually know if you’re on track to get hired back at your law firm?The answer isn’t obvious. Firms rarely tell you directly. But they do signal it — quietly, consistently, and early.In this episode, I walk you throug...
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What 75 lawyers say about legal careers
In this episode of Lawyer Launcher, Behind the Bar, Susan speaks with Claudio Klaus, a Brazilian trained lawyer now articling in Ontario and host of Studying Law Around the World. Claudio shares what he learned from speaking with more than 75 U...
How to Network in a Law Firm
Most law students think networking means being charming, confident, and effortlessly good at small talk.It doesn’t.It means not knowing what to say.It means standing in a room full of lawyers and wondering how to enter a conve...
What Happens on Your First Day at a Law Firm?
Starting at your first law firm can feel exciting, awkward, intimidating, and strangely high stakes, all at the same time.In this solo episode of Lawyer Launcher, I break down what orientation is really about, what law firms are actually...
How to Get Hired Back at a Law Firm
This episode breaks down what actually determines whether law students get hired back after a summer, articling, or internship position.Susan cuts through three persistent myths that mislead students from day one: that good work is enough, ...
Why Emotional Intelligence Is the Real Career Differentiator
In this episode of Lawyer Launcher: Behind the Bar, Susan Van Dyke sits down with leadership coach and former Big Law professional Megan Mallister to unpack one of the most misunderstood success factors in law firms: emotional intellig...
What every law student should know about mediation
In this episode of Lawyer Launcher, mediator Mark Tweedy, K.C, discusses the rapid growth of mediation across Canada and the U.S., particularly since 2020, and why it has become central to modern dispute resolution.He expl...
Law school to law firm: the career strategy no one teaches you
This episode is not about résumés.It’s about how you run your job search — and who you become in the process.In this solo episode of Lawyer Launcher - Behind the Bar, I’m speaking directly to law students and junior lawye...
How Law Firms Really Hire: A Recruiter’s Insider Guide for Law Students with Marketta Jokinen
In this episode of the Lawyer Launcher podcast, Susan Van Dyke and Johanna Mills sit down with Marketta Jokinen, former national-firm lawyer, law firm recruiter, and career coach, to unpack what law students really need to know about law firm r...
The playbook for new lawyers that actually works with David Brown
Behind the Bar with David Brown — Ascent Employment Law In this episode, Susan sits down with employment lawyer and Ascent Employment Law co-founder David Brown for an honest, grounded, and deeply practical conversation about building ...
Confidence and anxiety: a 30 year litigator tells you the truth with Mark Virgin
In this episode of Behind the Bar, I sit down with litigator, Mark Virgin, who brings more than 30 years of practice experience—and an extraordinary level of candor—to a conversation every law student and junior lawyer needs to hear.Mark sh...
Retired Managing Partner Tells the Truth About Starting in Law with Murray Gottheil
Behind the Bar – Lawyer Launcher Real advice from real experience — the things law school never told you.In this episode, Susan sits down with retired business lawyer and former managing partn...
How to build trust and set yourself apart with Linda Lucas
In this episode, I’m joined by Linda Lucas—a longtime law firm and professional services executive and now a sought-after leadership coach and trainer. With 25+ years of strategic, operational, and financial leadership experience,...
The Four Steps You Need to Recover from a Setback with Jayne Rossworn
How do you come back from a setback? Most of us have experienced a setback - at work, in sport or our personal life. How do you regain confidence and develop resiliency when you’ve been knocked off your path? High achieving law students, ...
The Truth About How Law Firms Make Money (And Why You Should Care) with Colin Cameron
Colin Cameron, CPA, CA, takes us through the basics of law firm compensation and profitability and why it's important for law students and new lawyers to understand how billing rates and recording time tie into profits. We discuss the evolution...
The Rainmaker Roadmap with Kimberly Rice
Kimberly Rice joins us to discuss how law students and new lawyers can learn how to become firm rainmakers. Legal competence is the price of admission to law firms these days. To succeed you must set yourself apart, and Kimberly has amazing tip...
Bridging the Confidence Gap with Bena Stock
Bena Stock spent over 24 years as a litigator before turning her talents to counselling others. In this episode she draws upon her personal experience, sharing tools that new and aspiring lawyers can use to quiet anxiety, grow confidence, and b...