Raychel Lean Discusses Unconventional Career Paths, Effective Storytelling on Around the Ladder Podcast

Raychel Lean, account manager at Reputation Ink and an award-winning former legal journalist, was recently featured as a guest on the Around the Ladder podcast, hosted by Erika Steinberg.

Around the Ladder spotlights professionals whose career paths don’t follow a traditional journey. In the episode, Lean shares her unconventional journey from a small coastal village in northwestern England to becoming a nationally recognized legal journalist and, ultimately, a public relations and marketing strategist working with law firms across the United States.

Originally from Freckleton, England, Lean moved to the U.S. at 18 to attend Barry University in Miami, where she studied literature and professional writing. After graduation, she navigated significant challenges as an immigrant before landing an entry-level reporting role with Law.com. Despite having no prior legal background, she built a successful reporting career at The Daily Business Review, eventually serving as managing editor.

Lean has earned national recognition for her coverage of South Florida’s affordable housing crisis, climate change and its impact on the legal profession and local economy. She credits her early lack of legal knowledge as a strength, allowing her to approach complex topics from a reader’s perspective and explain them clearly, accurately and without unnecessary legal jargon.

Lean also discusses her transition into PR and marketing, where she now helps law firms build visibility and credibility by focusing on client needs rather than self-promotion. She addresses common misconceptions about PR, including the expectation of quick results and emphasizes that effective marketing and reputation-building are long-term investments grounded in strategy, consistency and relevance.

In addition to her work at Reputation Ink, Lean serves as chair of the South Florida Legal Marketing Association, which involves organizing educational programming for legal marketing professionals. She is also a regular contributor to the Reputation Ink blog and publishes a monthly newsletter tracking award and rankings opportunities for law firms and legal marketers.

Watch the Around the Ladder podcast episode featuring Raychel Lean below or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.