After the Bar with Shulin Lee

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After the Bar with Shulin Lee

Career navigation, leadership challenges, and the evolving world of work, one conversation at a time.

22/05/2026

Your past doesn’t define your future.

Today, Josephus Tan runs his own law firm and is one of Singapore’s most respected criminal defence lawyers.

But he was once sleeping on the streets.
A gangster.
A violent alcoholic.
A juvenile delinquent who no one believed in.

Then his father slapped him across the face.

And everything changed.

He worked odd jobs by day. Studied by night.

Took out a bank loan, flew to the UK, and made a promise to God in a church on his worst day: “If I pass, I will serve You for the rest of my life.”
He got his Second Upper Honours.

But the road didn’t get easier after that.

Nearly bankrupt. Marriage fell apart. A stroke. Living out of a van.

And yet he rebuilt. Again.

Over 5,000 hours of free legal work. 1,000+ cases.
His own firm. And a life that looks nothing like where he started.

Rock bottom isn’t the end.
For Josephus, it was the beginning.

Watch the full conversation on After the Bar.
🔗 Link in Bio

It’ll move you in ways you won’t expect.

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12/05/2026

You are not powerless.

Even if the system feels broken.
Even if you’re not in charge.
Even if change seems impossible.

You still have choices:

What kind of leader you want to be.
What kind of human you want to be.
What kind of culture you want to create.

Change starts with one step:
→ Ask a difficult question
→ Have a hard conversation
→ Challenge an old pattern

That’s how transformation begins.

Watch the full conversation on After the Bar.
Link in bio.

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08/05/2026

Power reveals who you really are.

William watched colleagues who suffered under bad managers get promoted.

Then they got amnesia.

Forgot the pain.
Forgot their promise to be different.

Instead: “Time for payback.”

Real leadership means:
→ Remembering where you came from
→ Breaking cycles, not continuing them
→ Being the leader you needed

When you get power, you choose:
Repeat the patterns or create new ones.

Be the leader you needed when you were starting out.

Watch William’s story on After the Bar.
Link in bio.

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06/05/2026

One post about workplace bullying changed everything.

Hundreds of people came forward.

All with the same story:
"I thought I was going crazy."

The boss who tests you with late-night emails.
The colleague who withholds praise.
The meetings where everyone sees it but says nothing.

Modern bullying is invisible.
Calculated.
Impossible to prove.

And victims stay silent because:
The system protects the bully, not them.

But when one person speaks up?
Others realize they're not alone.

That's how change starts.

🎥 Watch William's full insights on:
→ YouTube: https://taap.it/rVtcYqy
→ Spotify: https://taap.it/TFRnjkx
→ Apple Podcasts: https://taap.it/24YL8uE

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05/05/2026

Law firms without AI strategy are missing the point.

Clients are already asking:
“How will you use AI to help us?”

This isn’t about junior lawyers only.
This impacts everyone.

But here’s what matters:
AI should amplify your work, not replace it.

Clients want efficiency AND humanity.
Technology AND wisdom.
Speed AND judgment.

The winning firms will master both.

Watch William explain the balance on After the Bar.
Link in bio.

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05/05/2026

The lawyer who cracked LinkedIn made one critical mistake first.

He didn't tell anyone what he was doing.

Three years ago, William Peake started posting on LinkedIn without explaining his strategy to his partners or marketing team.

The result? Chaos.

Partners were confused: "What are you doing?"
Marketing felt left out.
Everyone questioned his approach.

But William had a vision:

Every law firm has smart people and high hourly rates.
They'll all give you the right legal answer.

But will you actually want to work with them?
Will you trust them when things get tough?

That's where most firms fail.

LinkedIn became his differentiator.
Not to show off legal expertise.
But to show the human behind the lawyer.

Three years later?
He’s now speaking on podcasts, sharing his story.

The platform that once caused him problems became his biggest professional asset.

The lesson: Sometimes the best strategies look like mistakes at first.

🎥 Watch the full conversation:
→ YouTube: https://taap.it/rVtcYqy
→ Spotify: https://taap.it/TFRnjkx
→ Apple Podcasts: https://taap.it/24YL8uE

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04/05/2026

Most people who are bullied at work never speak up.

Not because they're weak.
But because they're terrified.

So what happens?

→ They stay silent
→ They quit
→ They carry the trauma with them

And nothing changes.

Because when people don't talk about it, the bully wins.

William Peake shares the real problem:

"Bullies are chameleon-like figures. So good at managing up, bad at managing down."

Leadership sees a star.
The team sees a nightmare.

This is why workplace bullying is so hard to fix.

The system protects the wrong people.

And the victims? They feel like the odds are against them.

So they keep quiet.

We need to change this.

🎧 Catch the full conversation on:
→ YouTube: https://youtu.be/CYEBZk95aV4
→ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2d7ZRkmJ63D6PKneAiGXK1
→ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/workplace-bullying-in-law-firms-the-partner-who-was/id1601559948?i=1000763011322

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30/04/2026

Junior partners look like they've made it.

They haven't.

We forget they're completely new to the role. Most are still glorified senior associates at the start.

William Peake calls it the Maggie Simpson problem.

You're handed a steering wheel but someone else controls the car.

→ Same impossible workload
→ Expected to know everything, told nothing
→ All the pressure, none of the actual power
→ Must appear invincible while feeling lost

I've watched this pattern for 15 years.

The junior partners everyone envies? They're often the ones quietly looking for the exit.

So they do what they've always done:
Suffer in silence.

Until they don't.
Until they quit.

🎥 William Peake breaks this down better than anyone I've heard
→ YouTube: https://taap.it/rVtcYqy
→ Spotify: https://taap.it/TFRnjkx
→ Apple Podcasts: https://taap.it/24YL8uE

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29/04/2026

William is 47. Global Managing Partner.
And he was once bullied at work.

Not the kind that leaves bruises. The kind that leaves no evidence.

He said something I can't stop thinking about:
"Bullies are incredible at managing upwards. Terrible with downwards."

That's how they survive.
That's how they become untouchable.

The bully got promoted.
The victim left.
No one said a word.

We don't call it bullying anymore.
We call it "tough culture."
We call it "just how things are here."

It's not how things should be.
This episode is for everyone who's done staying quiet.

🎧 Catch the full conversation on:
→ YouTube: https://youtu.be/CYEBZk95aV4
→ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2d7ZRkmJ63D6PKneAiGXK1
→ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/workplace-bullying-in-law-firms-the-partner-who-was/id1601559948?i=1000763011322

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