The best thing I did in law school was the 2009 No Pants Light Rail Ride in Phoenix, Arizona. The people I met there opened the doors to the opportunities that made me the lawyer and the person I am today.

Improv Everywhere has been doing the No Pants Subway Ride since 2002. In preparation for the 2009 ride, they invited everyone to organize No Pants Rides on the same day in cities all over the world. Jeff Moriarty conspired with a small group of his friends to do a ride on the newly opened light rail in Phoenix. I was a first-year law student and really a nobody in my school and the greater legal community. I didn’t know Jeff back then, but I saw the event on Facebook and signed up to do it with some of my friends.

On the day of the ride, all of my friends who were supposed to do the No Pants Ride with me chickened out. I wasn’t surprised. I said, “You guys all suck. I’m going without you” and I headed out to Tempe to meet my fellow pantsless riders. I figured Jeff had to be a cool guy for organizing the ride, so I purposely stood next to him on the ride and chatted all the way to our final destination.

The rest is history. I can show you, in 7 connections or less, how participating in the 2009 No Pants Ride led to some of my best professional opportunities and experiences.

No Pants Ride >>> Establishing Myself as a Legal Expert

• Many of the people at the 2009 No Pants Ride are involved in blogging. This inspired me to have a blog.
• Jeff Moriarty helped me create UndeniableRuth.com in January 2010.
• I wrote, and still write, weekly posts about legal issues.
• My posts demonstrated that I have a unique voice and competence in certain areas of law.
• I parlayed my expertise into opportunities to write dozens of guest blog posts; provide quotes for news articles and blogs; participate in TV, radio, and podcast interviews; and give presentations at conferences.

No Pants Ride >>> Sponsor A Law Kid  

• I met Jeff at the 2009 No Pants Ride.
• Jeff is the creator of Ignite Phoenix. He encouraged me to apply to be an Ignite presenter.
• I was selected for Ignite Phoenix #5 to present Frosting the Law.
• Kade Dworkin was one of my fellow presenters at Ignite Phoenix #5.
• Kade had a podcast in 2010 called Meet My Followers where he interviewed his Twitter followers.
• One of Kade’s guests was Jason Sadler, founder of I Wear Your Shirt.
• I Wear Your Shirt inspired me to create Sponsor A Law Kid, that funded part of my final semester of law school in 2011.

No Pants Ride >>> Paid Blogger for Attorney at Work

• A group of us from the 2009 No Pants Ride founded Improv AZ to continue to do flash mobs and pranks in Phoenix.
• Planning events with Improv AZ sparked my interest in flash mob law.
• I asked Ari Kaplan whether this might be a viable niche.
• Ari used my interest in an article for Law Practice Magazine in the fall of 2009.
• The editor of the magazine, Mark Feldman, loved it. He continued to follow me and blog.
• When Mark created Attorney at Work with Joan Feldman and Merrilyn Astin Tarlton, they invited me to be one of their professional bloggers in 2011.

And that’s the tip of the iceberg. I can show how the No Pants Ride led to making some of my best professional connections, writing my first book, developing an interest in podcasting, and meeting some of the most wonderful people in my life.

The 2012 Global No Pants Ride is this Sunday, January 8th in at least 56 cities. If there’s a ride near you, you should go. You never know what will come out of it.

Related articles

• No Pants Subway Ride: Thousands Expected To Turn Up Worldwide (treehugger.com)
• Improv Everywhere Global No Pants Subway Ride 2012 (laughingsquid.com)
• Global No Pants Subway Ride 2012 (improveverywhere.com)