Michael Barbaro

You're not getting any paychecks.

What happened next?

And what ends up happening to your job prospects?

Do you end up finding a job?

And what can you tell me about that work, how you got it, and how it may or may not fit into the way that your last job ended?

I know when you clerk for a judge, this is my sense, you may not be able to discuss a lot of the intricacies of your work.

But it strikes me...

that if you're working for a federal judge, you're potentially interacting with President Trump's agenda to some degree.

And federal judges are the figures in our legal system right now who are seen as really the most powerful and important potential checks on this president.

And I'm sure that hasn't escaped you either.

There is another side.

There is another side.

To quitting a big, prestigious, well-paying job at a law firm on principle.

Thank you once again for your time and your candor.

Oh, well, you changed your own life.

We just chronicled it.

Today's Daily was produced by Olivia Nett, Shannon Lin, and Muj Zaydi.

It was edited by Patricia Willans, Jodi Becker, and Michael Benoit.

Contains music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley, Rowan Emisto, and Chris Wood.

Special thanks to Jessica Silver-Greenberg.