After sold-out runs in London, Tokyo, Sydney and Melbourne, former Brisbane lawyer Nick Abrahams is returning to where it all began.
The career advice that Mr Abrahams most enjoys mocking is also the advice he is least qualified to give.
Follow your dreams, people often say.
“The only people who say that are the people whose dreams worked out,” he said.
It is a line that forms part of The Accidental Lawyer, his unexpectedly successful comedy show, which arrives at Brisbane’s Sit Down Comedy Club on 29 and 30 October.
For Mr Abrahams, however, Brisbane is different. Before the international law firm partnerships, legal technology ventures, artificial intelligence projects, Hollywood stories and comedy festivals, he was simply a Brisbane kid growing up in Wavell Heights.
Now, after spending most of the past 25 years in Sydney as a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, he is bringing his unlikely life story back to Queensland.
“It’s a bit special coming back to Brisbane,” he said.
The story he tells on stage is not the polished version typically found in professional biographies.
Instead, The Accidental Lawyer is built around the twists, detours and happy accidents that shaped a life that rarely followed a predictable path.
In fact, the title is more literal than audiences might realise. He never actually intended to become a lawyer.
Growing up in suburban Brisbane in the 1970s, his ambitions lay somewhere altogether different.
“I wanted to be a Hollywood studio executive,” he said.
It was an unusual dream for a boy growing up thousands of kilometres from Los Angeles. Fascinated by movies, he became obsessed with the names that rolled through the credits long after everyone else had stopped paying attention.
“I saw them and thought, I want to be one of those names that no one reads,” Mr Abrahams said.
At home, however, there were expectations of a more conventional future. His father, a dentist, was keen for his son to follow a professional path and dentistry seemed the likely destination.
Then came a mistake that changed everything. Mr Abrahams achieved the marks to study dentistry but, through a mix-up in his university preferences, found himself accepted into law instead.
“I got my preferences mixed up and ended up getting into law school instead of dental school,” he said. “We couldn’t reverse it.”
The conversation with his father, he admits, was not especially enjoyable. Looking back, he still finds humour in the situation.
“I’ve never been particularly good with detail,” he joked. “Which isn’t necessarily a great trait when you want a career as a lawyer.”
Yet the accidental decision would set the course for much of his professional life.
After graduating, he joined major law firm Blake Dawson Waldron, now Ashurst. He spent four years in Sydney before heading to Tokyo on secondment.
If Brisbane was where the story began, Tokyo was where it took a decidedly unexpected turn. What started as a legal posting soon evolved into something else entirely.
Immersing himself in the city’s comedy scene, Mr Abrahams founded the Tokyo Comedy Store, an English-language comedy club that is still operating almost 30 years later.
One opportunity led to another and before long he was performing stand-up regularly, appearing on Japanese television and earning the nickname “the Seinfeld of Japan”.
At the time, it seemed completely disconnected from the law, but for Mr Abrahams, it represented something bigger.
“I had this epiphany,” he said. “I thought, you know what? That Hollywood studio executive dream, that’s actually what I want to do.”
Comedy led to television, television opened other doors and, eventually, he was accepted into the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts before moving to Los Angeles and working at Warner Bros on productions including ER and The West Wing.
For many people, that might have marked the end of a legal career. Instead, it became another chapter.
He eventually returned to Australia and built what most would consider a remarkably successful legal career. Over the following decades, he became known for his work in legal innovation and technology, founded Lawpath and developed a reputation as one of the profession’s leading voices on artificial intelligence and the future of law. Today, Lawpath serves more than 650,000 clients.
Yet one of the recurring themes of The Accidental Lawyer is that the biggest moments in life rarely feel significant when they are happening. Careers often appear logical in hindsight but living through them feels anything but.
“There are so many people who look back at their careers and make it sound like everything was planned,” Mr Abrahams said.
“When I look back, I can see how things connect. At the time, though, most of it felt completely random.”
That observation appears to resonate with audiences.
The show has sold out at the London, Tokyo, Sydney and Melbourne comedy festivals, while recent Sydney performances attracted crowds of more than 300 people a night.
What audiences quickly discover is that the show is not really about law, nor is it simply stand-up comedy.
The show grew out of what he calls his “Year of Living Creatively” after stepping away from partnership at Norton Rose Fulbright late last year.
After 25 years as a partner, he found himself reflecting on how best to apply the skills he had built throughout his career.
“I like telling stories. I like making people laugh,” he said.
At a time when the world can often feel uncertain and overwhelming, Mr Abrahams wanted to create something uplifting.
“We don’t have a lot of reasons to laugh right at the moment,” he said. “I feel like the world’s an odd and scary place.”
The result is a show that is equal parts comedy and reflection. Beneath the jokes is a broader theme that has emerged throughout his career, the importance of being yourself.
“I’m an odd bird in law,” he said. “I’m not a cookie-cutter lawyer.”
Over time, he discovered that the more authentically he showed up, the more successful he became. It is a message he believes is becoming even more important in an age of artificial intelligence.
“AI can’t be you,” he said. “If you want to succeed, you’ve got to figure out what makes your contribution to the world unique.”
The show explores a question familiar to many professionals about what happens when life refuses to follow the carefully constructed plan.
There are stories about law firms, Hollywood, Tokyo and artificial intelligence. There are stories about reinvention, risk-taking, failure, success and the role that luck often plays in shaping our lives. And there are plenty of laughs.
Mr Abrahams’ approach to comedy has been influenced by some of the world’s best-known performers. He admires Ricky Gervais for his willingness to challenge convention and, in his words, “speak truth to power”, particularly through his Golden Globes monologues.
He also points to English comedian Jimmy Carr as an influence, not just for his jokes but for the observations about life hidden beneath them.
“He has these moments of great insight,” he said.
One observation in particular has stayed with him.
“If you want to find someone of good character, rarely will you find that in a trust-fund kid. You’ll find it in people who’ve been through troubles and challenges.”
It is a sentiment that aligns neatly with the message at the heart of The Accidental Lawyer.
For all the Hollywood stories, international adventures and career successes, the show is ultimately about what people learn from uncertainty. The appeal lies partly in the extraordinary experiences. Beneath the comedy, however, is a reassuring message: success rarely follows a straight line.
Mr Abrahams describes The Accidental Lawyer as a feel-good, family-friendly show with one simple aim, to have audiences leave feeling a little happier than when they arrived.
“It’s guaranteed to make you laugh and feel better about the world or your money back!” he said.
Alongside the comedy tour, he has also begun work on The Spotted Bengoshi, a book inspired by his time as a young lawyer in Tokyo.
As Brisbane audiences are about to discover, his second act may be every bit as entertaining as the first.
The Accidental Lawyer will be performed at the Sit Down Comedy Club, Paddington, on 29 and 30 October. The first Brisbane performance has sold out, with limited tickets remaining for the second show.
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