A pandemic-ruined birthday lead to lawyer Cecillia Xie deciding that she would make a video that went viral and lead to her current position as a TikTok lawyer-influencer.

The Morrison & Foerster privacy lawyer is also a Harvard graduate and has become a significant influencer in terms of legal issues, including recent posts on paying off student debt and related matters of an interest to lawyers or prospective lawyers.

Her video (below) filmed in a music-backed popular meme format has helped amass nearly 190,000 followers, many of whom are those interested in legal study.  It’s a largely educational/entertainment format with a legal theme that also provides some creative relief from the pressures of her current day job.

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@cecexie

but actually grateful i still have a job tho #dayattheoffice #lifeathome #reallifeathome #tigerking #fyp

♬ vibe for this year – user38787037863

Xie interned in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. She was also a summer associate at the law firm Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett, where she worked as an associate for two years. She joined Morrison & Foerster in 2018.

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Her posts regularly feature videos dealing with law school and law issues, including her December video on paying off law school student loans.

She’s posted on a variety of such matters, including choosing a practice area, finding law jobs and internships, working in a biglaw firm and more.

She also posts “day in the life”-style videos, a popular TikTok format where users share chronological video clips of their days with a voiceover explaining what they’re doing. While they take longer to put together, Xie says they’re highly requested by her followers and helped her account explode in the fall.

Xie films TikToks that answer questions about the legal industry using her smart phone and ring light.

Business Insider also report that she is launching a series of small groups called “sidebars”— a reference to judges in court calling lawyers up to the bench for private conversations — in which high schoolers, undergrads, law school students, and early-career lawyers can meet via video chat to ask questions and share advice.

“This is a safe space where people can ask me anything and talk to each other and see what other people are thinking about and have learned,” she said. ” I really like my followers to see that they aren’t alone in whatever part of the legal career process they’re at.”

Other TikTok Lawyer Influencers

Among the others –

#LawbyMike – 3.5m followers – informative and entertaining videos on legal issues;

#LegalBaba – 2.2m followers

#AttorneyTom – 652,000 followers

#legaltips – 451,000 followers

#PortCityAttorney – 289,000 followers

 Other lawyers who have gone viral on TikTok include Marcie Cleary, Irene Lee, and Ryan Pastorek.

For more information, see 10 Lawyers on TikTok to Follow in 2022 – By Aries, 11 Lawyers Going Viral on TikTok Right Now – Enchanting Lawyer, and Attorney-Tok: An Analysis of Lawyers Advertising on TikTok.