The conversation this profession
needs happens off the record.
Sidebar is a community where attorneys talk to attorneys like human beings — small peer circles, casual gatherings, and an open conversation about the weight this work puts on the people who do it. No networking agenda. No CLE pitch. Just colleagues who get it.
Why we call it Sidebar
A sidebar is where lawyers drop the performance.
In a courtroom, the sidebar is the conversation that happens away from the jury — quieter, more candid, human. That's the room we're building. Being a lawyer means carrying other people's worst days and pretending it doesn't weigh anything. In here, you can set it down.
Small circles, real colleagues
Recurring peer groups of six to eight attorneys who actually know each other's names and stories — not a listserv, not a happy hour with strangers.
No agenda, no posturing
Nobody's rainmaking, nobody's recruiting, and nobody's selling CLE credits. You don't have to be impressive here. You just have to show up.
We look out for each other
The point is to make “how are you actually doing?” a normal question between lawyers — and to notice when a colleague's answer needs more than a nod.
The mission
Make it normal for lawyers to be human.
The numbers aren't a secret — they're just not said out loud. A landmark 2016 study of nearly 13,000 practicing attorneys found 28% struggling with depression, 19% with anxiety, and roughly one in five drinking at problematic levels — rates far above the general population. The profession that argues for everyone else mostly suffers in silence.
Zachariah has been open — on podcasts and everywhere else — about his own hardest seasons in this profession, because silence is the part of the problem we can actually fix. Sidebar is that conversation made into a place: attorneys connecting before the breaking point, not after.
What Sidebar looks like
Three rooms, one conversation.
Peer circles
A standing hour with people who get it
Small virtual groups that meet on a regular rhythm. Same faces every time, so trust actually builds. Attorneys anywhere can join a circle.
Front Range gatherings
In person, off the clock
Casual meetups around Colorado Springs, Denver, and the Front Range. Coffee, trails, tables — venues where nobody hands out a business card.
The conversation
Saying it out loud, on the record too
Zachariah takes this conversation to podcasts and stages — his story and the profession's numbers — so the stigma loses ground in public, not just in private. If you heard him on a show and ended up here: this is that, made real.
Sidebar is community, not crisis care. If you're struggling right now, call or text 988— the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. And the Colorado Lawyer Assistance Program (COLAP) offers free, confidential support built specifically for legal professionals. Reaching out is a strength this profession should treat like one.
Questions, answered
Sidebar is Available Law's community for attorneys. In a courtroom, a sidebar is the conversation that happens away from the jury — and that's the idea: a place where lawyers can talk to other lawyers honestly, without the posture the job usually demands. It's three things: small recurring peer circles, casual in-person gatherings along Colorado's Front Range, and an ongoing public conversation — on podcasts and beyond — aimed at making mental-health struggles in the legal profession something we actually talk about.
You don't have to carry this profession alone.
The founding circles are forming now. Tell us a little about where you are in your career, and we'll reach out as your circle comes together and the first gatherings land on the calendar.