The 15 podcasts all law students should listen to

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The popularity of podcasts has soared in recent years, with 12.3 million people listening to podcasts each week in the UK, according to the BBC. Aspiring lawyers can use podcasts to engage with information through a different medium that offers a new way to learn about issues within and outside of the legal profession, while also supporting their commercial awareness.

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Being able to listen to podcasts on a commute, walk or run, or while cooking enables aspiring lawyers to make the most of the little spare time that they have between studying, applications and vacation schemes. LCN’s Bethany Wren said: “I think podcasts are a great way to top up your knowledge on a subject without even really trying, and to find out something new from those in the know.”

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Here are the 15 podcasts we think all aspiring lawyers should listen to:

1. Law Pod UK – this podcast is brought to you by barristers at One Crown Office Row. It covers developments across aspects of civil and public law in the UK. With more than 200 episodes already, you can stay up to date with recent developments in clinical negligence and gain insights into the role of law in tackling climate change. There are also episodes offering advice on how to get pupillage and interviews with leading professionals, including Robert Keller KC.
    
2. Nothing But The Truth with Elizabeth Bowden – a fairly new podcast, this one is aimed at anyone interested in a career at the Bar and provides honest insights into life as a barrister, helping to decode and demystify this side of the legal profession. You can find out about switching from solicitor to barrister, the role of an expert witness and more. 
    
3. The Linklaters Podcast (Linklaters LLP) – with nearly 400 episodes, this podcast is brought to you from leading global law firm Linklaters. Recent episodes include conversations with experts and legal innovators on a number of topics, including diversity strategy versus diversity policy, how diversity and inclusion fits into environmental, social and governance, and Labour’s employment law reforms.
    
4. The Thinking Legal – founder of The Marketing Legal David Koehne recently launched this podcast, shining a spotlight on the human and psychological aspects of the legal sector. You can find episodes on the human aspects of UX design for lawyers, the lawyer personality and neurodiversity in the legal sector. 
    
5. Legal Directions – this podcast is brought to you by the University of Liverpool Law School. You can listen to episodes on pursuing a career in legal academia and what it’s like to work as an in-house sports lawyer with Adidas.
    
6. The Judges: Power, Politics and the People – a landmark new podcast series brought to you by Frances Gibb in partnership with The University of Law. Launched on 24 October 2023, the podcast will feature conversations with 10 of the most senior former judges in England and Wales from the past three decades. The judges will provide their view on politics, power shifts and prospects for the legal system.
   
   
    
7. Talking Law – Sally Penni, founder and chair of Women in the Law UK and a multi-award-winning barrister, hosts this podcast. It provides insights into the careers of leading figures in UK law, with discussions focusing on the highs and lows of their careers, as well as the challenges and realities they’ve faced in the legal profession. Recent guests include Ann Francke OBE, Joanna Hughes and Sarah Foster.
    
8. Legally Speaking Podcast – this podcast is hosted by Rob Hanna, an expert in legal careers and content creation. It provides listeners with accessible insights from reputable guests, including Dana Denis-Smith, lawyer and founder of the First 100 Years programme, on empowerment of women in the legal profession; Mx Oscar Davies, who spoke about non-binary recognition in the legal system; and Jacqueline Schafer, who discussed how AI is reshaping legal writing.
    
9. UK Law Weekly – a weekly podcast on legal decisions and news. Find out about the latest cases and reviews from the courts with Marcus Cleaver, a former university lecturer in law. The latest episodes include a look at Centrica Overseas Holdings Ltd v Commissioners for HMRC (a corporation tax case regarding a dispute over revenue expenditure versus capital expenditure) and Lipton v BA Cityflyer Ltd (which looks at the compensation available for cancelled flights).
    
10. Get legally speaking with Hatti Suvari – this is a multi-award-winning podcast with insights on various matters, including recording without permission, commercial divorce, capital punishment in the United States and the dos and don’ts of copyright. With more than 150 episodes featuring jargon-free legal knowledge on a variety of topics, this podcast is a great place to start for aspiring lawyers.
    
    
     
11. The Legal Room UK – featuring a diverse range of specialist lawyers, this podcast’s most recent episodes include an introduction to statutory flexible working requests, co-parenting and the importance of a Will. 
     
12. Commercial Awareness with Watson’s Daily business and financial news – former stockbroker Peter Watson hosts this commercial awareness podcast, which offers accessible insights into important business and financial markets news, including AI’s impact on cybersecurity and the recent CrowdStrike issues.
     
13. FT News Briefing – straight from the Financial Times newsroom, this podcast provides regular updates to global business news. The latest episode looks at whether athletics can vault into profitability, Disney’s increase in streaming prices and more.
     
14. The Irwin Mitchell Podcast – a fortnightly podcast, brought to you by full-service law firm Irwin Mitchell. Covering a range of topics, including everything you need to know about Labour’s planning reforms, and family disputes and the divorce process. 
     
15. Obviously we couldn’t write an article about legal podcasts without mentioning our very own The LawCareers.Net Podcast, which is designed to cover a different topic each month, and features interviews with lawyers, recruiters, students, and members of the LCN team. Make sure you listen and subscribe on your favourite podcast app and let us know what you’d like us to talk about by tweeting us with #LCNpodcast. We have various series, including our Practice Area Profile series, which offers students insights into various practice areas with interviews from lawyers at leading law firms across the UK; and our Commercial Connect series in which we analyse recent commercial stories, such as Taylor Swift’s effect on inflation. 

Listen to the latest episodes now!

Looking for more? Here are some other LCN Says articles that you might like:

• 'Nine legal books by Black authors to entertain and inspire you’;
• 'How aspiring lawyers can succeed with no legal work experience';
• ‘Podcasts and influencers you should follow to boost your commercial awareness’;
• ‘How to make the most of LinkedIn as a law student’; and 
• 'More than just careers advice: five things your university’s career service can help you with’.

Olivia Partridge (she/her) is the content manager at LawCareers.Net.