Podcast

What happens when a life-changing diagnosis forces you to rethink every assumption you’ve made about time?

For most lawyers, career decisions are delayed. The partnership track can wait. The move in-house can wait. The marathon can wait. The personal goals can wait. There will always be another year.

Then Alex Wilson was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

In this episode of That One Lawyer Podcast, Neal Goldstein sits down with Alex Wilson, Senior Director and Head of Strategy for the International Advisory Legal Team at CBRE and Law Society Council Member representing disabled solicitors across England and Wales.

Alex shares the moment everything changed.

After experiencing unexplained symptoms including vision loss, double vision, fatigue, and neurological issues, she spent months moving through hospitals and specialists before receiving a diagnosis of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. What followed was not the reaction most people would expect.

Instead of shrinking her ambitions, she adopted a new philosophy:

Why wait?

That mindset transformed both her personal and professional life.

Alex discusses how her diagnosis accelerated her move from private practice into an in-house legal career, why she stopped postponing experiences she cared about, and how she learned to build a life around possibility rather than uncertainty.

The conversation explores what living with MS actually looks like beyond public perception. Alex explains the reality of fatigue, mobility challenges, fluctuating symptoms, and the uncertainty that comes with a condition that affects every person differently.

She also shares the practical side of navigating a demanding legal career while managing a disability.

Topics include:

• Receiving an MS diagnosis at the start of a legal career
• The emotional reality of living with uncertainty
• Why she moved from private practice to in-house counsel
• Building resilience through adversity
• The role of support networks in professional success
• Disability disclosure in the legal profession
• Why many lawyers still hesitate to tell employers about disabilities
• Accessibility challenges facing aspiring solicitors
• The difference between performative inclusion and meaningful inclusion
• Creating workplaces where people can bring their whole selves to work
• Managing high-performance expectations while protecting personal wellbeing
• Work-life balance versus life-work balance
• Why lawyers struggle with perfectionism
• Networking as a survival tool rather than a business development exercise

One of the most powerful moments in the conversation comes when Alex explains that resilience often develops quietly. Lawyers managing invisible challenges frequently underestimate the strength they’ve already built simply by continuing to move forward.

For young lawyers facing health challenges, caring responsibilities, burnout, or personal struggles that colleagues may never see, this episode offers a perspective rarely discussed openly within the profession.

This is not simply a conversation about disability.

It’s a conversation about identity, ambition, resilience, authenticity, and what happens when life reminds you that tomorrow is never guaranteed.

If you’re a lawyer trying to build a meaningful career while navigating challenges behind the scenes, Alex’s story will resonate deeply.

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Alex Wilson- / alex-wilson-446b63b2