Karen's Corner—January 2024

Welcome to our new subscribers; contemplating the question: "Am I a dance mom?!?"; fighting lawyer burnout; and some great book suggestions!

For those readers who are relatively new to “One First,” welcome to Karen’s Corner—a once-monthly bonus issue of “One First” from Steve’s better half. Consider this less of a nerdy Supreme Court review, and more like the One First After Dark, where we get real about all things in the legal profession, parenthood, and life more generally.

We’ve had LOTS of new subscribers lately (thank you!), so I want to take a minute to introduce myself (more on that below). I am Karen Vladeck—Steve’s wife and the co-founder of this newsletter. One First is something we came up with one night sitting at our dining table because we wanted to have a long-format way to communicate with people who wanted to learn more about the Court (and have some fun along the way). Somehow, we’ve picked up more than 22,000 subscribers in the first year+, and we’re excited to see what’s in store for 2024 (even if we have some trepidation about … what’s in store for 2024).

Although the content of “One First” focuses almost exclusively on the Supreme Court and related topics, we wanted to have at least some content for paid subscribers that focuses a little bit more on our lives. If you’re already a paid subscriber: thank you! And if not, now’s a good time to consider signing up for something that we hope will bring you a mix of education and enjoyment.

Steve will be back Monday with the free, boring stuff (as I’m writing this, he’s muttering something incoherent about “invasions” and “concertina wire”). But if you’d like to hear about spending a weekend at a kids hip-hop dance competition in Bastrop, Texas … read on!