BY RACHEL HAY
This fall, a new cohort of first-year law students began their arduous three-year journey to becoming attorneys. Like their predecessors, at orientation many of these students had yet to draft a legal memo or slog through a 100-page Supreme Court decision, much less occasion to dwell upon foreign concepts like “IRAC.” But something is also quite different about these future lawyers. Rather than learning about constitutional modalities or how to build an outline through the traditional, institutional channels of law school, many of these students are instead acclimating to the legal profession through video-based digital media platforms like Instagram Reels, YouTube, and, most notably, TikTok.11 See Emily Tomasik & Katerina Eva Matsa, “1 in 5 Americans Now Regularly Get News on TikTok, Up Sharply From 2020,” Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Sept. 25, 2024), www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/17/more-americans-regularly-get-news-on-tiktok-especially-young-adults/.
Whether you consider TikTok—a popular short-form video app owned by the Beijing company ByteDance Ltd.—to be a distraction, a form of entertainment, or a tool of Chinese spyware, its use is ubiquitous among law students and junior practitioners alike.22 See Meghan Tribe, “Big Law Lawyers Are on TikTok. Their Firms Are Conflicted,” Bloomberg Law (May 16, 2023), https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/big-law-lawyers-are-on-tiktok-their-firms-are-conflicted; see also TikTok Inc. v. Garland, 604 U.S. 56, 85, 145 S. Ct. 57, 75, 220 L.Ed.2d 319 (2025) (Gorsuch, J., concurring) (“Speaking with and in favor of a foreign adversary is one thing. Allowing a foreign adversary to spy on Americans is another.”). The cultural ascent of TikTok and the rise of the internet “microcelebrity” has created a whole new category of legal professionals: “lawfluencers.”33 Anthony Song & Justine Rogers, “Lawfluencers: Legal Professionalism on TikTok and YouTube,” 37 Geo. J. of Legal Ethics 507, 515 (2024) (citing Theresa M. Senft, “Microcelebrity and the Branded Self,” in A Companion to New Media Dynamics 346, 346 (John Hartley, Jean Burgess & Axel Bruns eds., 2013)). A play on the words “lawyer” and “influencer,” this term refers to a subset of “knowledge influencers”—video content creators who “build their [social media] brand on both elite, erudite knowledge (professionalism), and relatability (amateurism).”44 Song et al. at 515; see also Wailin Wong et al., “The Origins of the Influencer Industry,” NPR (Apr. 24, 2023), www.npr.org/2023/04/17/1170524071/the-origins-of-the-influencer-industry.
On #LawTok, the popular hashtag used by lawfluencers on TikTok, content creators vlog their morning routines (to the “Suits” theme song, obviously), dissect high-profile cases, post “OOTDS” (outfits of the day), offer LSAT hacks, discuss burnout, share what they eat for lunch at the office, and joke about esoteric legal doctrines. See, e.g., @reesecantdeal (“Going into my Con Law exam knowing that standing is the opposite of sitting, LA v. Lyons is when the Rams play Detroit, and Roe v. Wade is two ways to get through water.”) (capitalization and italicization added).55 See, e.g.,Reese (@reesecantdeal), “(i’m a feeble minded woman) #lawschool #1L #2L #3L #lawyer #law #conlaw #exam #finals,” TikTok (Apr. 30, 2025), www.tiktok.com/@reesecantdeal/video/7499257174011464990 [https://perma.cc/4XUX-8F7J]. And, for the skeptics, #LawTok is not all “brain rot.”66 See Jennifer Schuessler, “Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year Is…Brain Rot,” N.Y. Times (Dec. 1, 2024), www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/arts/brain-rot-oxford-word.html. Instead, this all-out frenzy of unfiltered legal (and legal-adjacent) content, available at the swipe of a finger, is upending and democratizing the American law school model as we know it. Law students today need not necessarily pay for an overpriced Quimbee subscription or parse through dense Examples & Explanations to better understand personal jurisdiction or Bush v. Gore.77 See, e.g., Daria Rose (@dariarosereal), “The Supreme Court picked the President in Bush v. Gore: Explained by a Yale Law Grad,” TikTok (Oct. 20, 2024), www.tiktok.com/@dariarosereal/video/7428044079419755807 [https://perma.cc/7KNK-L553]. Instead, the algorithm is reflexively curating this information for students on their “For You” pages and in their suggested searches in real time, influencing how they understand the conventions, ethos, and aesthetics of what it means to be an attorney.88 See Louise Matsakis, “TikTok Finally Explains How The ‘For You’ Algorithm Works,” WIRED (June 18, 2020), www.wired.com/story/tiktok-finally-explains-for-you-algorithm-works/.
The algorithm is not just disrupting the conventional channels through which legal knowledge is disseminated; it’s also upending the hierarchical flow of knowledge from institution to student. On TikTok, lawfluencers are cultivating peer-based communities and forging relationships with the general public by expertly melding legal material with “lifestyle” content, highlighting everything from their daily routines to their pointers for landing a summer firm position and handling cold calls.99 See, e.g., Christiana de Borja (@christianadeborja), “1L Big Law Summer Associate Recruiting 101,” TikTok (Nov. 8, 2023), http://www.tiktok.com/@christianadeborja/photo/7299296717004967198 [https://perma.cc/F598-QN7A]; see also, e.g., Caroline Remick (@sconeclone), “Fully Briefing the Case and Still Bombing the Cold Call,” TikTok (Feb. 21, 2024), www.tiktok.com/@sconeclone/video/7338112743817399594 [https://perma.cc/66V9-7QSS]. The wide appeal of this media has gained some lawfluencers a cult following. Creator Averie Bishop, for example, rose to TikTok stardom while she was a student at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law by streaming her study sessions as well as posting about her pageant preparation and later work as Miss Texas.1010 See, e.g., Averie Bishop (@averiebishop), “law library ASMR,” TikTok (Oct. 6, 2021), www.tiktok.com/@averiebishop/video/7016042110625402117 [https://perma.cc/B6MS-84JX]; see also, e.g., @averiebishop, “Lets get to work Texas !!
#missamerica #texas,” TikTok (June 26, 2022), www.tiktok.com/@averiebishop/video/7113666750801136942?_r=1&_t=ZP-91US8LOXSBj [https://perma.cc/65KW-CBAY]. Today, Bishop has over 770,000 followers and continues to rack up thousands of views on her videos, where she posts about her political advocacy and bar studies.
Several successful former student-influencers have even turned their lawtokking into full-fledged careers. For instance, lawfluencer Christina Stratton began her career as an influencer by posting “get ready with me” and “outfit of the day” videos during her 1L year at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, along with clips of her beloved dog, Franklin.1111 See Amanda Perelli, “How A Law Student Channeling ‘Legally Blonde’ Built a TikTok Audience of Over 300k Followers and Got Deals With Brands Like Juicy Couture and Alo Yoga,” Business Insider (Apr. 11, 2022), www.businessinsider.com/law-student-tiktok-and-rise-of-college-influencers-making-money-2022-3. Although Stratton passed the bar after graduation, she opted to begin her career by pursuing the less conventional path of working as a digital content creator.1212 See Christina Stratton (@christinastrat), “Better Than I Could’ve Planned,” TikTok (Oct. 8, 2024), www.tiktok.com/@christinastrat/photo/7423586563210120494 [https://perma.cc/M9ZM-PUTW]; see also, e.g., Rachel Chapman, “Meet Your New Bestie, Callie Wilson,” Elite Daily (last updated Feb. 20, 2024) (summarizing the journey of influencer Callie Wilson, who built her brand by posting TikToks as a law student during the pandemic).
The stuff TikTok is made of—filters, hashtags, clickbait, brand deals, and clout chasing—may seem antithetical to the high-minded and solemn nature of our practice. No doubt, there is something uncanny, not to say “cringe,” about opening TikTok to find a judge lip-synching to Rihanna or a Big Law associate humblebragging about how they spent their annual bonus.1313 See Alex Ebert, “TikToking NJ Judge Suspended for In-Chambers Lip Sync Videos,” Bloomberg Law (Oct. 8, 2024), https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/tiktoking-nj-judge-suspended-for-in-chambers-lip-sync-videos. Even lawfluencers themselves appear conflicted about whether law students should be creating #LawTok content. In a recent viral video that sparked a firestorm of comments and response videos, a D.C. attorney urged students to “stop trying to be an influencer,” explaining, “You did not go to law school, get your degree, [and] pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to risk your legal reputation on TikTok.”1414 See @domhdc, “Law students STOP trying to be influencers…Sorry! #biglaw #lawtok #lawschool #legal #barexam #lawyer #attorney #attorneysoftiktok,” TikTok (Mar. 11, 2025), www.tiktok.com/@domhdc/video/7480687039365762347 [https://perma.cc/MD6C-TQFM]; see also, e.g., Harvard Law School, Professionalism Guide (last accessed June 4, 2025), https://hls.harvard.edu/bernard-koteen-office-of-public-interest-advising/opia-job-search-toolkit/professionalism-guide/ (advising prospective summer associates and interns against posting pictures or videos about their employers or jobs). In fact, one well-known lawfluencer, Eni Popoola, was given the ultimatum from her corporate law firm to either give up her TikTok account or resign from her associate position.1515 See Eni (@enigivensunday), “Life Update: I Resigned From My Position at a Corporate Law Firm,” TikTok (Mar. 21, 2023), www.tiktok.com/@enigivensunday/video/7213015627143892267 [https://perma.cc/2VXK-YZ7X]. She elected to leave the firm.1616 Id.
No one disputes that the advent of #LawTok begets a host of normative quandaries and regulatory issues. But, speaking plainly, anyone who thinks that students or young lawyers are simply going to stay off the app while the issues iron themselves out is very far removed from their law school days indeed. Instead of ruminating about how to keep law students off TikTok or similar platforms, legal institutions might find that their efforts are better spent counseling students how to maintain a professional identity while existing in these digital spaces.1717 See, e.g., Julia Jacobs, “Sean Combs’s Legal Team Takes His Case to TikTok,” N.Y. Times (Sept. 12, 2024), www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-tiktok-lawyers.html (reporting on TikToks posted by Sean Combs’s attorney, Teny Geragos, who defended the posts by stating, “I don’t see the difference here in doing this video versus going on TV. No one would bat an eye if I had gone on NewsNation or CNN.”); see also, e.g., CT Jones, “Karen Read Murder Trial: Inside TikTok’s Newest True Crime Obsession,” Rolling Stone (July 1, 2024), www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/karen-read-murder-trial-tiktok-charges-1235050976/.
The Washington Rules of Professional Conduct stress that a lawyer is not merely a representative of clients and an officer of the court, but “a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.”1818 See Preamble and Scope: A Lawyer’s Responsibilities, Washington Rules of Professional Conduct. On balance, it seems that #LawTok, harnessed responsibly, could help young lawyers realize this promise. But even if one reasonably believes otherwise, the fact remains that the once seemingly impermeable barrier between “law student” and “internet celebrity” is becoming ever more porous. We should think about what lessons we can take from the law students who are bringing what they learn in the classroom to the internet masses.
About the author
Rachel Hay is a litigation associate at Stoel Rives LLP in Seattle and a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law.
NOTES
1. See Emily Tomasik & Katerina Eva Matsa, “1 in 5 Americans Now Regularly Get News on TikTok, Up Sharply From 2020,” Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Sept. 25, 2024), www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/17/more-americans-regularly-get-news-on-tiktok-especially-young-adults/.
2. See Meghan Tribe, “Big Law Lawyers Are on TikTok. Their Firms Are Conflicted,” Bloomberg Law (May 16, 2023), https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/big-law-lawyers-are-on-tiktok-their-firms-are-conflicted; see also TikTok Inc. v. Garland, 604 U.S. 56, 85, 145 S. Ct. 57, 75, 220 L.Ed.2d 319 (2025) (Gorsuch, J., concurring) (“Speaking with and in favor of a foreign adversary is one thing. Allowing a foreign adversary to spy on Americans is another.”).
3. Anthony Song & Justine Rogers, “Lawfluencers: Legal Professionalism on TikTok and YouTube,” 37 Geo. J. of Legal Ethics 507, 515 (2024) (citing Theresa M. Senft, “Microcelebrity and the Branded Self,” in A Companion to New Media Dynamics 346, 346 (John Hartley, Jean Burgess & Axel Bruns eds., 2013)).
4. Song et al. at 515; see also Wailin Wong et al., “The Origins of the Influencer Industry,” NPR (Apr. 24, 2023), www.npr.org/2023/04/17/1170524071/the-origins-of-the-influencer-industry.
5. See, e.g.,Reese (@reesecantdeal), “(i’m a feeble minded woman) #lawschool #1L #2L #3L #lawyer #law #conlaw #exam #finals,” TikTok (Apr. 30, 2025), www.tiktok.com/@reesecantdeal/video/7499257174011464990 [https://perma.cc/4XUX-8F7J].
6. See Jennifer Schuessler, “Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year Is…Brain Rot,” N.Y. Times (Dec. 1, 2024), www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/arts/brain-rot-oxford-word.html.
7. See, e.g., Daria Rose (@dariarosereal), “The Supreme Court picked the President in Bush v. Gore: Explained by a Yale Law Grad,” TikTok (Oct. 20, 2024), www.tiktok.com/@dariarosereal/video/7428044079419755807 [https://perma.cc/7KNK-L553].
8. See Louise Matsakis, “TikTok Finally Explains How The ‘For You’ Algorithm Works,” WIRED (June 18, 2020), www.wired.com/story/tiktok-finally-explains-for-you-algorithm-works/.
9. See, e.g., Christiana de Borja (@christianadeborja), “1L Big Law Summer Associate Recruiting 101,” TikTok (Nov. 8, 2023), http://www.tiktok.com/@christianadeborja/photo/7299296717004967198 [https://perma.cc/F598-QN7A]; see also, e.g., Caroline Remick (@sconeclone), “Fully Briefing the Case and Still Bombing the Cold Call,” TikTok (Feb. 21, 2024), www.tiktok.com/@sconeclone/video/7338112743817399594 [https://perma.cc/66V9-7QSS].
10. See, e.g., Averie Bishop (@averiebishop), “law library ASMR,” TikTok (Oct. 6, 2021), www.tiktok.com/@averiebishop/video/7016042110625402117 [https://perma.cc/B6MS-84JX]; see also, e.g., @averiebishop, “Lets get to work Texas !!
#missamerica #texas,” TikTok (June 26, 2022), www.tiktok.com/@averiebishop/video/7113666750801136942?_r=1&_t=ZP-91US8LOXSBj [https://perma.cc/65KW-CBAY].
11. See Amanda Perelli, “How A Law Student Channeling ‘Legally Blonde’ Built a TikTok Audience of Over 300k Followers and Got Deals With Brands Like Juicy Couture and Alo Yoga,” Business Insider (Apr. 11, 2022), www.businessinsider.com/law-student-tiktok-and-rise-of-college-influencers-making-money-2022-3.
12. See Christina Stratton (@christinastrat), “Better Than I Could’ve Planned,” TikTok (Oct. 8, 2024), www.tiktok.com/@christinastrat/photo/7423586563210120494 [https://perma.cc/M9ZM-PUTW]; see also, e.g., Rachel Chapman, “Meet Your New Bestie, Callie Wilson,” Elite Daily (last updated Feb. 20, 2024) (summarizing the journey of influencer Callie Wilson, who built her brand by posting TikToks as a law student during the pandemic).
13. See Alex Ebert, “TikToking NJ Judge Suspended for In-Chambers Lip Sync Videos,” Bloomberg Law (Oct. 8, 2024), https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/tiktoking-nj-judge-suspended-for-in-chambers-lip-sync-videos.
14. See @domhdc, “Law students STOP trying to be influencers…Sorry! #biglaw #lawtok #lawschool #legal #barexam #lawyer #attorney #attorneysoftiktok,” TikTok (Mar. 11, 2025), www.tiktok.com/@domhdc/video/7480687039365762347 [https://perma.cc/MD6C-TQFM]; see also, e.g., Harvard Law School, Professionalism Guide (last accessed June 4, 2025), https://hls.harvard.edu/bernard-koteen-office-of-public-interest-advising/opia-job-search-toolkit/professionalism-guide/ (advising prospective summer associates and interns against posting pictures or videos about their employers or jobs).
15. See Eni (@enigivensunday), “Life Update: I Resigned From My Position at a Corporate Law Firm,” TikTok (Mar. 21, 2023), www.tiktok.com/@enigivensunday/video/7213015627143892267 [https://perma.cc/2VXK-YZ7X].
16. Id.
17. See, e.g., Julia Jacobs, “Sean Combs’s Legal Team Takes His Case to TikTok,” N.Y. Times (Sept. 12, 2024), www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-tiktok-lawyers.html (reporting on TikToks posted by Sean Combs’s attorney, Teny Geragos, who defended the posts by stating, “I don’t see the difference here in doing this video versus going on TV. No one would bat an eye if I had gone on NewsNation or CNN.”); see also, e.g., CT Jones, “Karen Read Murder Trial: Inside TikTok’s Newest True Crime Obsession,” Rolling Stone (July 1, 2024), www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/karen-read-murder-trial-tiktok-charges-1235050976/.
18. See Preamble and Scope: A Lawyer’s Responsibilities, Washington Rules of Professional Conduct.