Who is the lockpickinglawyer

Who Is the LockPickingLawyer? All The Facts

The LockPickingLawyer, despite being a YouTube celebrity with over 4 Million subscribers

He is one of the most secretive YouTube creators and has never revealed his face or complete identity in any of his videos or on the internet.

With his own memes, catchphrases, and more, the LockPickingLawyer has spawned a new wave of lockpicking enthusiasts worldwide.

“First we have to turn all the discs as far clockwise as they will go, then I will get the pick that BosnianBill and I made.”

The LockPickingLawyer

His videos range from two minutes up to longer videos of around 10, and in these videos, he mostly picks open different locks showing their weaknesses. But the LockPickingLawyer also has many other videos showing how poorly built many security products are.

He has tested safes, bike locks, gun locks, padlocks, and much more on the LockPickingLawyer’s channel, and this is one of the things that makes his channel so entertaining.

We know you want to know who the LockPickingLawyer is, so we put together this article with all the available information about him and his life we could get.

About the LockPickingLawyer

lockpickinglawyer best

The LockPickingLawyer is the most popular and widely known lockpicker in the world. 

His videos have inspired many people to start lockpicking and take more interest in security overall. His focus is to educate consumers on the problems with many security devices for sale today.

He lives in the Washington DC area with his family and is not too far from BosnianBill, who you can learn more about here.

Harry is approximately 39 years old (in 2022) and has a wife and 1 child, but little is known about his family and personal life.

Side note: The LockPickingLawyer is not a Locksmith, but he is an active member of the Lockpicking Community.

Is The LockPickingLawyer Really A Lawyer?

Yes, well, he was… The Lock Picking Lawyer retired as a lawyer in 2021 after 15 years of practicing law in corporate governance based in the Washington, DC, area.

This is how he originally came up with the name the LockPickingLawyer.

So while he was a lawyer when he started his YouTube channel, he is not a practicing lawyer anymore. Not that this has affected his lockpicking skills at all. He now works in the security industry, where he consults with companies on locks and security products and also maintains his YouTube channel, uploading regularly.

He did say that he was a lawyer in this post on Reddit back near the start of his YouTube channel.

is the lockpickinglawyer a lawyer

The LockPickingLawyer’s Mission

Harry has long been passionate about locks and the failures of the lock industry. Various times he has mentioned how unhappy he is with the state of the security industry, and some of the largest companies in it seem so set in their ways and the apparent unwillingness to improve their products.

He spoke of security-by-obscurity in a keynote at SAINTCON, where he performed numerous live demonstrations to highlight the issue in the industry. The problem is that many lock makers rely on consumers not knowing about significant security issues in their products to keep them “safe”. It won’t be used or exploited if no one knows about the problem.

The biggest problem with assuming this is that it is simply not true. These issues are known about and exploited, so the basis of security-by-obscurity falls apart from the outset, except for the average consumer who doesn’t know better.

This is not sound logic and affects many people daily. However, this is precisely why we here at LockJudge are committed to this same mission as the LockPickingLawyer, to promote good products with high levels of security and not just the top-selling ones.

In practice, the LockPickingLawyer has had two kinds of responses to his videos from the makers of the locks.

  1. The “MasterLock” response:
    This is where they try to threaten legal action and order a cease and desist on the videos. Fortunately, this usually works against them because the LockPickingLawyer was a lawyer, so these empty threats had no effect. Furthermore, he will usually highlight that this has happened in future videos, so it actively works against the companies in question.
  2. The right response:
    The correct response to having a lock shamed by the LockPickingLawyer is to try to improve your design and ask him to try again. Responding positively and engaging with the issue has meant that companies have received praise from Harry, even when their new designs still have problems. This is because they have shown the correct attitude and are willing to improve.

If only more companies engaged with the feedback and improved their designs, the industry would be making much more progress.

How did the LockPickingLawyer get started?

Harry, the Lock Picking Lawyer, has been interested in lockpicking since he was a child but never had enough knowledge to become anything serious until he came across the YouTube account of BosnianBill.

After finding BosnianBill’s account, he began picking locks more seriously and getting involved with locksport. About four months later, after realizing that he was good at lockpicking, he started his YouTube channel and posted his first video on June 25, 2015.

lockpickinglawyer youtube account

In the early days of the LockPickingLawyers channel on YouTube, he created several videos showing some terrible security flaws in Masterlock padlocks. In response, Master Lock sent him firmly worded cease and desist letters from their legal team.

For most people, this would probably scare them away, and they would remove those videos and stop creating videos like that in the future.

But not the LockPickingLawyer…

As a lawyer, he knew his rights and the company’s capabilities. Nothing really, so this served more as a battle cry rather than a deterrent.

He has made many more videos like this since he is safe in the knowledge that Master Lock or companies like them can’t take any action against him.

This was the source of his passion for showing the flaws in security products in the hopes of moving the security industry forward.

Contacting the LockPickingLawyer

You can email the LockPickingLawyer at the following email address: 

Email: lockpickinglawyer@gmail.com

You can send him a lock or a package to this address:

LockPickingLawyer 
P.O. Box 215
Damascus, MD 20872
USA

Note: If you plan to send him a package, you must get his approval first!

Alternatively, you can send him a direct message via one of his social media profiles mentioned above, like Reddit, Facebook, or Instagram, where you can open a chat with him. 

LockPickingLaywer’s Social Media accounts

The LockPickingLawyer is active on several social networks with these accounts. While YouTube is where he posts all his videos, he is most active on other accounts like Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter:

He is most active on Twitter and Reddit.

LockPickingLawyer’s Website

The LockPickingLawyer has also created an online store where you can buy lockpicking tools designed by him along with other tools that he uses himself and recommends.

You can find some products in the store like the LockPickingLawyer pick set and other LockPickingLawyer tools.

Website: CovertInstruments.com

Pictures of the LockPickingLawyer

While shooting a video with BosnianBill, we see some of the biggest reveals of the LockPickingLawyer on the internet. In the photo below, you can see him attempting to pick the garage lock owned by BosnianBill.

who is the lockpickinglawyer
Lockpickinglawyer face

This next image is one of the best shots of the LockPickingLawyer’s face that we have found. Our article about the LockPickingLawyer’s face here has some other information and pictures.

What locks does LockPickingLawyer recommend?

While the LockPickingLawyer does not recommend locks directly, we have put together a list of the ones he believes are some of the best on the market.

The LockPickingLawyer is a lawyer in real life, so he would avoid making direct recommendations apart from locks that are something special.

What Tools Does the LockPickingLawyer Use?

The LockPickingLawyer has many tools. We know he also has a work shed where we have seen him cut safes in half and use his ramset gun to blast through many padlocks and other locks.

We have also seen him use a lot of different lock picks. We have seen almost all lockpicks currently available online.

We made an extensive list of the tools the LockPickingLawyer uses. You can find them here, including the daily-carry toolkit he keeps in his pocket.

lockpickinglawyer tools

Other Facts about the LockPickingLawyer

Here are a few other interesting facts we found while researching the LockPickingLawyer that you might like.

What is the LockPickingLawyer’s Favorite Drink?

As mentioned in several of his videos, one of the LockPickingLawyer’s favorite drinks is Lagavulin 16, and he also likes Bushmills 21. Several viewers have sent him bottles, including one with a puzzle lock.

Who is the LockPickingLawyer’s Wife?

If you have been wondering who the lockpicking lawyer’s wife is, unfortunately, there is little information known about her.

We do know that she speaks Russian, and she has assisted the LockPickingLawyer with translations for some of the Russian locks that he has in his collection.

We also know that she is not overly interested in lockpicking, and when challenged by her husband with a lock placed on the ice cream, she ingeniously bypassed the lock completely. You can see that here.

The LockPickingLawyer prefers to keep his identity hidden something he has mentioned that his wife is very much in favor of.

While it doesn’t happen often, this is one video where the LockPickingLawyer mentions his wife. Although not in a way we think she would enjoy.

While we are sure she is ultimately supportive of her husband’s work in creating these videos, obviously, this one she finds a little embarrassing, to show friends at least. As shown in this tweet by the LockPickingLawyer.

lockpickinglawyer wife

What Is The LockPickingLawyer’s Net Worth?

We will start by saying that as far as we know, the LockPickingLawyer has never revealed his income, so we can only speculate on his income.

The website Networth.com says that the overall net worth of the LockPickingLawyer is around $4.58 Million. If you want to see how they worked that out, you can visit their page here.

Youtube income

According to the website Socialblade, with 4.1 million subscribers, the LockPickingLawyer earns from YouTube $7k to $124k per month (at the time of writing this article).

Other income

As we learned above, the LockPickingLaywer is no longer a lawyer as a day job. Instead, he has left the world of law to work primarily in the security industry. We expect that at least part of his income will come from consulting and working with lock manufacturers.

Lastly, there is his income from his website covertinstruments.com, but again, it is almost impossible to make any assumptions without knowing the cost and volume of users on the site.

While the LockPickingLawyer does undoubtedly make quite a bit of money, he has openly said in interviews that he is not interested in making lockpicking and YouTube his primary job. Instead, it has always been a hobby for him and one that he finds fun.

Questions about the LockPickingLawyer

Is there a lock the LockPickingLawyer couldn’t pick?

Yes, the LockPickingLawyer has never picked the Bowley Lock and has his own “naughty bucket” of locks that he is yet to defeat.

While it is known that there are locks that he is yet to defeat, there is little known about what locks and how many there are that he cannot pick.

What is LockPickingLawyer’s Real Name?

The LockPickingLawyer’s first name is Harry. His last name is not known and this is because Harry prefers to be only known by his YouTube name and not have his identity linked to his YouTube profile.

There are several tweets that name the LockPickingLawyer by his first name but there are no sources we have discovered that show his full name. 

Bosnian Bill also calls him by his first name, harry, in this video where the LockPickingLawyer goes to get some challenging locks that Bosnian Bill has been unable to pick.

What Lock Pick Set Does The LockPickingLawyer Use?

The LockPickingLawyer uses a variety of lock picks and tools from various sets. But he mainly uses the standard hook from CovertInstruments.

You can find a complete list of the tools he uses here.

What happened to the LockPickingLawyer?

Harry, the LockPickingLawyer, retired as a lawyer to focus on his YouTube channel and a career in security.

He continues to make YouTube videos and has his online lock pick store, CovertInstruments.

Summary

We hope this article about the LockPickingLawyer has given you the information you were after. 

If you have any more info that we still need to include or want us to find more information, leave a comment or email us.

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Jared

I honestly thought it was just a name and he wasn’t really a lawyer. Thanks for the info it was interesting cuz he keeps his information really guarded.

Won Tu

Hey, I figured out who he is. Let me know if you’d like to know

ABG

What are his initials, then?

Won Tu

H.T.

Jay Carter

You overstate what he does. He does not test locks on camera. He tests them off camera and then after he gets it down, he opens it on camera. There is a reason he has never failed to open a lock on camera, and it isn’t that he has never failed to open a lock.

E. Zach Lee Wright

Having watched many (but not all) of LPL’s videos, it appears to me that he is very transparent about his work, does not claim to be able to pick all locks, and uses editing to improve the “watchability” of his videos. He spends hours on each video which we don’t have to (or in your case “get to”) watch. If he cannot pick a lock or disasymble it he simply does not put the video up. I doubt you would either. Salute to Harry!

Lorrie

I read elsewhere his name is Preston? There’s a picture of him.