What Makes a Law Degree Valuable feat. Kyla Denanyoh, Interviewed by Vernon Thomas
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
Kyla Denanyoh, founder and host of You Are a Lawyer, steps into the guest seat in this special episode as she is interviewed by her former law school classmate Vernon Thomas. Together, they unpack a question many lawyers quietly ask: how valuable is a law degree, really? Kyla reflects on her own journey, the evolution of the podcast, and why she believes the JD is more expansive than most people realize.
About This Episode
Background
Kyla Denanyoh entered law school with ambition, discipline, and a belief in the traditional markers of legal success. Like many law students, she understood the prestige of the profession and the structure that often defines what a “successful” legal career looks like. But as her career unfolded, she began to notice that the legal world tends to define value very narrowly.
“I always wanted to be a judge," shares Kyla Denanyoh on You Are A Lawyer.
Through conversations with classmates and colleagues, Kyla saw brilliant lawyers leaving practice, launching businesses, working in media, moving into policy, or building careers that did not fit inside traditional law firm pathways. What struck her most was not that they left practice, but that they still carried the mindset, discipline, and analytical training of lawyers into everything they built next.
Why Law School
Law school was not a mistake or a detour for Kyla. It was foundational. It trained her to think critically, to ask better questions, to structure arguments, and to navigate complex systems. Those skills shaped not only her early legal work but also the way she approaches interviews, storytelling, and community building.
“I arrived on campus at midnight… and I’m just like, where the hell am I?" explains Kyla Denanyoh on Episode 235 of You Are a Lawyer.
What this episode makes clear is that the value of law school is not limited to courtroom appearances or billable hours. For Kyla, law school created a lens. It sharpened how she sees opportunity, how she evaluates risk, and how she guides conversations with the lawyers featured on the podcast. Even though her path looks different from what she once imagined, she does not see her JD as wasted or unused.
What Can You Do with a Law Degree
In this conversation, Kyla reframes the JD as a foundation rather than a job description. The degree becomes valuable not because of one specific title, but because of the thinking patterns it instills. Legal training teaches clarity, resilience, and structured reasoning. Those traits transfer seamlessly into entrepreneurship, media, consulting, leadership, and beyond.
“Lawyers should take bigger risks because you know how to mitigate them," shares Kyla Denanyoh on Episode 235 of You Are a Lawyer.
You Are a Lawyer itself is proof of concept. The podcast is built on careful listening, issue spotting, and thoughtful questioning, all skills sharpened in law school. Kyla’s career shows that a law degree can be valuable even when it is not used in the way law students originally expect.
Lawyer Side Hustles
What started as a podcast has grown into a long running platform that includes interviews, newsletters, speaking engagements, and a thriving community of lawyers redefining success. Kyla did not set out to build a media brand, but she followed curiosity and filled a gap she saw in the profession.
“Create the things you wish existed. Create the podcast you wish existed, create the law career you wish existed, create the business you wish existed,” Kyla Denanyoh expresses in Episode 235 of You Are a Lawyer.
The show functions as both storytelling and advocacy. It gives lawyers permission to see themselves reflected in paths that are not traditionally celebrated. In many ways, You Are a Lawyer is Kyla’s entrepreneurial expression of her legal education. It merges analysis with creativity, structure with freedom, and community with clarity.
About Kyla Denanyoh
Kyla is not licensed to practice law.
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