Are the traditional days of the "tournament of lawyers" finally over? In this episode of the Law and Beyond Show, Chantal McNaught speaks with Mel Storey - Founder of Council Media, host of the Council Podcast, and the internet's favourite "Career Big Sis" - to pull back the curtain on the realities of the legal profession.

Mel has spent 15 years in commercial practice and shares her journey from private practice to in-house Head of Legal in tech, and why she's now taking a "permanent corporate gap year". We get into the nitty-gritty of what private practice lawyers get wrong about going in-house, the hidden hurdles for first-generation lawyers, why Gen Z law students are refusing to inherit broken systems, and why putting yourself out there online requires paying the "cringe tax" every. Single. Day.

We also cover:

• Practical advice for law students trying to navigate opaque clerkship processes.
• How AI is democratising legal knowledge and disrupting tertiary education.
• Navigating the ethical frameworks and governance of LLMs in legal practice.
• Overcoming the fear of new technology and staying curious.
• The reality of corporate restructuring and why blind loyalty doesn't pay off.
• Why law firms need to be more transparent in their hiring (and why the "Gen Z stare" isn't what you think it is).

Follow Mel:

• @careerbigsis (Instagram)
• @mel.a.storey (TikTok)