How to Be an Employment Lawyer

In this episode I speak with Karen Vladeck, an employment lawyer at the law firm Wittliff Cutter PLLC based in Austin, Texas. Karen represents corporate, start-up, and non-profit clients in the resolution of employment disputes and counsels clients from many different industries on  employment-related issues. Before moving to Texas, Karen practiced employment law at Arent Fox LLP in Washington, D.C. After graduating from the University of Miami Law School, Karen started her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Mary Ellen Barbera of the Court of Appeals of Maryland (Maryland's highest court). In addition to her practice, Karen co-hosts a podcast called In Loco Parent(i)s with her husband Steve who is a professor at the University of Texas School of Law where they "discuss parenting and lawyering — in that order."    

In our conversation we discuss what employment lawyers do (and what she loves about that practice area), her unplanned path to Texas, the importance of both being lucky and making your own luck in finding career success, what its like to practice at a small, start-up-style law firm, strategies for balancing both personal and professional fulfillment in two-lawyer parent families, and what she loves and has learned from both podcasting and maintaining an active social media presence. 

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