Summary
Courtney Teasley, a criminal trial attorney turned certified business coach, author, and speaker, joins Kathryn Rubino to talk about the case that shaped her career: her own mother's, overcharged as a drug seller instead of a user. Courtney traces how that experience, and a mentor who built a practice on her own terms, pushed her into criminal defense and, eventually, out of full-time practice.
The conversation covers why she left the courtroom for coaching and advocacy work, the business lessons law school never taught her, and how her book series, The Easy Way to Learn Your Rights, translates legal literacy into plain, bilingual language for the people who need it most.
Key Takeaways
-
Courtney traces her path to criminal defense directly back to her mother being overcharged as a drug seller instead of a user, a decision that shaped how she practices and teaches law.
-
The pressure of high-stakes cases never fully disappears; the lawyers who care the most are the ones who keep showing up despite it.
-
Courtney left full-time practice after realizing one-on-one casework moves too slowly to shift the systemic patterns behind mass incarceration.
-
A CliftonStrengths certification helped Courtney separate her zone of excellence, practicing law, from her zone of genius, teaching and advocacy.
-
Courtney built her book series and coaching practice around plain, bilingual language, arguing legal jargon keeps clients from understanding their own cases.
Links and Resources
- Above the Law: https://abovethelaw.com/
- The Jabot Podcast: https://abovethelaw.com/tag/the-jabot-podcast/
- Courtney Teasley: https://site-hy4wms4ce.godaddysites.com/
- Email the Jabot: tips@abovethelaw.com
Keywords
criminal defense attorney, legal literacy, financial literacy, social justice, business coaching for lawyers, women in law, Above the Law, The Jabot Podcast, DAMM community, CliftonStrengths, legal entrepreneurship, law practice management, systemic inequality, mass incarceration, career change for lawyers, Black lawyers, legal author, criminal justice reform, pro se litigants, elbow counsel
Episode Highlights
- [00:01:00-00:02:00] Courtney explains how one visit to a hospital as a teenager ended her plan to become a doctor and pointed her toward law instead.
- [00:02:00-00:03:00] Courtney traces her path to criminal defense back to her mother being overcharged as a drug seller instead of a user.
- [00:09:00-00:11:00] Courtney describes using a CliftonStrengths certification to find her zone of genius outside of practicing law.
- [00:12:00-00:14:00] Courtney says the biggest surprise of leaving practice was realizing how few lawyers run their firms like real businesses.
- [00:17:00-00:19:00] Courtney explains why she built her own intellectual property in plain, bilingual language instead of legal jargon.
- [00:20:00-00:22:00] Courtney lays out how clients can act as elbow counsel to their own lawyers without going fully pro se.
- [00:22:00-00:24:00] Courtney's advice for lawyers who want to build a business and keep their ethical grounding at the same time.
