One thing that I appreciate that Gabe emphasized (that many still don’t get) is that Rekieta was never an experienced attorney, and he had no business giving out legal advice or legal opinions (either back during the genesis of Lawtube or during his trial streams now).
He graduated law school at age 33 (in 2015) and passed the bar exam during the same year. I have no compunctions for late bloomers or career changes in one’s 30’s (especially for a pivot that requires the courage to undertake the significant time investment of education and licensing), but he seems to have immediately gone into solo general practice after passing the bar. He then only took on a low volume of legal work for 2 - 3 years, before he felt comfortable LARPing as Alan Dershowitz on YouTube. Now, for a profession that is apprenticeship-oriented and relies SO much on courtroom procedure, accumulated legal knowledge, crystallized intellect, and experiential wisdom in general (derived from ACTUALLY PRACTICING LAW rather than listening to a professor’s lecture in law school), it seems dishonest to present yourself as an informed legal voice to the public, when you don’t have the background or experience to actually provide informed legal advice.
He’s not the only person to do this (many congressmen have touted their law degrees and legal knowledge, even though they never practiced more than a year or two), but it is just sort of shocking that so many people fell for this initial grift of him as an informed legal expert (when it was obvious that he was not from a cursory glance at his LinkedIn profile).
This is also why I shake my head when people tell him to “just do his legal analysis” or “put his head down and practice law”, like those are actually realistic options. The YouTube market is now saturated with channels with ACTUALLY EXPERIENCED attorneys (that would make Rekieta’s analysis look entry-level in comparison) and there is no way he will be retained as a private attorney, given his limited practice and his recent criminal history. If anything, he needs to lean into this gonzo “shock jock” entertainment domain of online Lawtube (where the lack of respectability serves a barrier of entry to all of his potential competition - respectable lawyers), provided he can keep within the limits of his probation. I just don’t see his former career of PG-13 legal analysis being a potential avenue for him anymore (unless he finds some improbable way to clean up, repair his burnt Lawtube bridges, genuinely apologize to the public, and use his platform to serve as a talk-show host for other legal influencers).
I have a feeling that he will start to lean into Innocence Project type work (where they are likely more accepting of criminal backgrounds), and try to mine clout from the legions of true crime housewives online. It would probably be his best chance of regaining online success.