In today's episode I share some reflections with the newest members of the legal profession, the Class of 2024. In these remarks, first delivered to Section 4 of the Georgetown Law Class of 2024, I talk about how career trajectories are rarely linear and I encouraged the graduates to embrace serendipity. It is a message I think we all need to hear.

The Class of 2024 is a special one for this podcast because the graduates today are the first class that has had access to this podcast since the day they began law school. In some ways it's How I Lawyer's first graduation.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by ⁠⁠⁠LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys⁠⁠⁠.

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In today’s episode I speak with Ryan McKeen who is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Connecticut Trial Firm which focuses on representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases. In addition to his expertise and experience in the courtroom, Ryan is a sought after speaker on topics related to law firm leadership and success for personal injury lawyers. He is the author of two books: Tiger Tactics: Powerful Strategies for Winning Law Firms and CEO Edition and is active on LinkedIn where he shares lessons from running his own firm and his lawyer life to his more than 16,000 followers on LinkedIn.

Ryan started his career at Leone, Throwe, Teller & Nagel in East Hartford, Connecticut before opening his own firm. He is a graduate of Framingham State University (Go Rams) and Western New England University School of Law (Go Bears).

In our conversation we discuss his path to becoming a lawyer and his practice area, the life of a personal injury lawyer (and his response to common critiques of the practice area), the shift from being a junior associate at a small firm to founding his own firm, the ways that he leverages technology in his law practice, the story of his firm's landmark 100 million dollar verdict (the largest bodily injury verdict in state history), and more.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by ⁠⁠LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys⁠⁠.

Want to Support the Podcast in 2 minutes or less?

Leave a ⁠⁠Review⁠⁠ (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners)

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Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where it is my job to interview lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.

Today’s guest is Ayyan Zubair, who is a Litigation Associate at Allen & Overy, where he has experience practicing commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, and white-collar investigations, and also maintains a robust pro bono practice. Following his graduation from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Ayyan clerked on the Nevada Supreme Court for the Honorable Justice Lidia Stiglich, before joining Allen & Overy.

In this episode, Ayyan shares valuable insights about the legal profession including:

🎓 How legal internships provide valuable, experiential learning opportunities while still in law school [4:52]

🏛️ How clerking for a state supreme court justice gave him a peak behind the judicial curtain [7:11]

🌍 How being a junior litigation associate involves a multitude of practice areas [14:27]

⏳ How “work life integration” allows him to handle the workload of a big law junior associate [16:13]

🖥️ How to start a new research assignment by asking what is really necessary [22:01]

🔍 How junior litigation associates are often the master of the facts on their cases [26:05]

👂 How to handle feedback as a junior lawyer and how to treat constructive feedback as a gift [29:13]

🤝 How to network by creating personal connections with those at all levels [37:55]

🚪 How to open the doors to new lawyers by refusing to be a gatekeeper and by embracing kindness [42:15]

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

In this episode I speak with appellate lawyer Carl Cecere who owns his own firm in Dallas, Texas. Carl handles cases in state courts (including the Texas Supreme Court) as well as in federal courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court. He represents clients at the certiorari stage, at the merits stage, as well as in filing amicus briefs.

Before opening his own firm seven years ago, Carl practiced appellate advocacy at Akin Gump in Washington, D.C. and Hankinson LLP in Texas. He began his career as a law clerk to Judge Mary Lou Robinson in the Northern District of Texas.  

In our conversation we discuss his path from DC Big Law litigator to solo appellate practitioner in Texas, the business side of being an appellate lawyer, why young lawyers should always have a business plan and can use social media as a professional tool, the importance of networking (even without going to cocktail parties or a website), how a major health scare required him to step back but also allowed him to build a new practice and step up years later, how to become a better writer, the unique skill of writing effective amicus briefs, and the importance of carving out time for family especially as a solo practitioner. 

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with EJ Lee who runs her own entertainment, copyright, and trademark law firm based in Atlanta, Georgia which services clients across the country. EJ has described her practice as where "creativity and legal protection collide" and her firm's motto is "be creatively legal." In addition to her client work, EJ also creates online courses in the area of trademark and copyright protection for those who need only limited legal assistance. She is active on social media (@EJLeeLaw on Twitter) and is famous for her "Referee With a Whistle" uniform. EJ is a graduate of Kaplan University and the Thomas Cooley School of Law of Western Michigan University.

In our conversation we discuss her path to entertainment and intellectual property law, the benefits of running her own law firm, why she builds information products as well as representing clients directly, the importance of the state bar for a solo practitioner, and the value of having a brand as a lawyer dedicated to protecting client's brands. 

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with David Lucking who is a Partner at Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy where he was recently named Head of the firm's Global International Capital Markets Group and where his practice focuses on derivatives and structured finance transactions. David's career path embodies the international focus of his practice. He is a graduate of a King's College London, the Sorbonne, and Oxford and is now based in the firm's New York office and is the firm's first US-based Practice Group Head.. He is also the Global Co-Head of the law firm's LGBT+ allies program where he regularly leads initiatives related to workplace diversity.In our conversation we discuss David's day-to-day life as a transactional lawyer and his path to a practice focused on derivatives law; the differences between learning to practice litigation and transactional law in a large law firm setting; his views on the increasing role of remote practice and technology in the legal profession; and the role his own identity plays in his position as a law firm leader. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Brant Martin who is a civil litigator at the Texas-based law firm Wick Phillips where he has been a partner for the past 17 years. Before joining Wick Phillips and helping to grow the firm to more than 60 attorneys across multiple offices, Brant worked in Corporate and Securities Law at a Vault 50 law firm, as a corporate counsel at a startup in New York City, and as a plaintiff-side trial lawyer in Texas. He started his legal career as a law clerk to Chief Judge Schell of the Eastern District of Texas. Brant is a graduate of SMU Law, the Yale Divinity School, and Washington & Lee University.In our conversation we discuss Brant's path from divinity school to law school; what he does as a trial lawyer representing businesses in litigation against other businesses; his approach to building a law firm and book of business; his approach to training junior lawyers; the importance of building deep, meaningful relationships with clients; and how he prepares for trial and depositions in efficient and effective ways.If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Mike Yaghmai who is a Director and Associate General Counsel at Facebook where he heads up the company's legal work related to the company's brand and marketing. In this capacity Mike and his team are responsible for clearance, prosecution, and enforcement of the company's brand portfolio as well as the legal elements of Facebook's marketing policies. Before working at Facebook for the past 8 years, Mike worked at eBay for almost seven years and before that he worked as an intellectual property associate at Willdman Harrolld and then Howrey LLP. Mike is a Bay Area native and graduate of San Jose State University. After college, he worked in the San Jose mayor's office before moving to Chicago to complete his law degree at the DePaul University School of Law.

In our conversation we discuss Mike's (largely unplanned) path to becoming a brand and marketing lawyer, what a brand and marketing lawyer does on a day-to-day basis (especially at a large company like Facebook), ways to stand out as part of an in-house legal team or as outside counsel servicing in-house legal teams, and techniques for transitioning into management roles where leadership skills become as important if not more important than legal skills.

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to How I Lawyer! Today's special episode is third in a series called "Panel Opinion" where I bring together experts on a particular topic (don't worry, there will be a new interview episode later this week or early next). Today's topic is on the mind of many How I Lawyer: how to succeed in your 1L year.  I am grateful to the three incredible professional academic success professionals who agreed to join me and share such incredible wisdom for those just starting their legal education:  Maura Demouy is the Director of Academic Success at Georgetown Law. At Georgetown, Maura provides personal and academic advising; develops and presents the 1L 101 workshop series; and oversees the peer tutoring program. She is also the head of the innovative RISE Program, which is designed to serve incoming JD students from backgrounds historically underrepresented in law school and the legal profession, including but not limited to underrepresented racial, ethnic, geographic, socioeconomic, and first generation college backgrounds. Prior to coming to Georgetown, Maura was the Dean of Students at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. She started her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Catherine Blake of the United States District Court for Maryland and as an associate in private practice at two law firms in Baltimore.  She is a graduate of Maryland’s Carey School of Law. Professor O.J. Salinas from the University of North Carolina School of Law where he is a Clinical Professor and Director of Academic Excellence. A native of South Texas, O.J. Salinas is the first Hispanic to hold a full-time faculty position at the University of North Carolina School of Law. His teaching and research interests include academic and bar support, legal writing, and client counseling. He has written several essays and blog posts on academic and bar support, and he is the author of A Short and Happy Guide to Effective Client Interviewing and Counseling (West 2016) and the upcoming book, MBEs for the MBE: Mnemonics, Blueprints, and Examples for the Multistate Bar Examination. Salinas is a graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law and St. Mary’s University. Before joining the academic ranks, Salinas practiced civil litigation in Texas and received a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he worked with individuals suffering from severe mental illness to students seeking educational academic support.  Professor Sarah Schendel from Suffolk Law. Sarah is an Associate Professor in the Law School's Academic Support Program where she teaches and writes in the areas of academic success, legal writing, negotiation and professional responsibility. She was previously an instructor at Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Northeastern University School of Law. Before that, she was an immigration attorney for 7 years, representing immigrants facing deportation, seeking security and safety in the United States, and reuniting their families. She was previously a Board Member of the Irish International Immigrant Center, and the Co-Chair of the Immigration Section of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association. She is a graduate of Bard College and Northeastern Law. Other Resources: - Rachel Gurvich's Article: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1402&context=faculty_publications - Jonah's Tweet Thread on Law School Success: https://twitter.com/JonahPerlin/status/1425809608606507014?s=20

In this episode I speak with Cory Isaacson who works for the non-profit Georgia Resource Center where she represents indigent people on Georgia’s death row in their state and federal habeas corpus proceedings. Before coming to the Center, Cory was an attorney at Georgia Justice Project, where she represented people facing barriers to employment and housing because of their criminal history and advocated for reforms to the state’s record restriction laws in the legislature. Cory started her career in public interest lawyering as a student in and later an attorney and clinical supervisor at the Youth Defender Clinic at the East Bay Community Law Center, part of the clinical program at UC Berkeley School of Law where she represented young people in juvenile court and in school discipline proceedings. 

In our conversation we discuss the importance of representing those who have been convicted of capital crimes, the benefit of clinical programs, the challenges of breaking into public interest lawyering, and the power of protecting everyone's humanity and dignity in the legal system.

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In most episodes of the How I Lawyer Podcast I interview individual lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. This special episode is the second in a series called "Panel Opinion" where I bring together experts on a particular topic. This episode is focused on how to succeed in on-campus interviewing in 2021. In this episode we discuss the current state of the legal market. It is also chock full of information for those who are about to start interviewing with law firms, those who may interview at law firms in the future, and even those doing the interviews.  I am grateful to have two incredible panelists for this episode: Donna Harris and Rob Cacace.  Donna Harris is the Director of Legal Recruiting based in the New York Office of Cleary Gottlieb. In that role, she advises firm leadership on recruiting strategy and is responsible for the recruiting, hiring and integration of all levels of legal talent across Cleary’s many offices and over 1,000 lawyers. She is also responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with law schools and search firms throughout the country. A recognized leader in the field of law firm talent management, she has served the legal industry continuously for over twenty years. She has held several elected positions in both NALP and NYCRA and is a frequent conference panelist and speaker on topics related to legal recruiting, professional development and diversity initiatives. She is a graduate of Pace University. Rob Cacace is the Executive Director of Professional Development in the Office of Career Strategy at Georgetown Law where he also serves as an adjunct professor. Before entering the Georgetown Law career strategy office about ten years ago Rob was a law clerk to Judge Gladys Kessler (DDC) and a plaintiff-side litigator. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law, and Oxford. One final programming note: traditional interviews will return next week. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or suggestions for this occasional episode format or ideas for "Panel Opinion" episodes please let me know at howilawyer@gmail.com or @JonahPerlin on Twitter. Finally if you are interested in listening to previous episodes or want to be notified of future episodes they are all available at www.howilawyer.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Judge Robert Bacharach who is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Prior to becoming a federal appeals court judge in 2013, Judge Bacharach served as a Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma for 14 years and before that as a litigator at the Oklahoma City law firm of Crowe & Dunlevy. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Judge Bacharach started his legal career as a law clerk on the 10th Circuit for Judge William Holloway Jr., whose seat he now holds. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and the Washington University Law School.

Judge Bacharach also recently published the book, Legal Writing: A Judge's Perspective on the Science and Rhetoric of the Written Word published by the ABA. 

In our conversation we discuss his path to the bench, his process for hearing cases and crafting judicial opinions, and his general approach to legal writing as embodied in his recent book which draws on his years of experience on the bench as well as the fields of rhetoric and psycholinguistics.

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Megan Siddall who is a founder and the managing partner of the women-owned, Boston-based, criminal litigation boutique Miner Siddall LLP. Her practice focuses primarily on white collar criminal defense and criminal appeals but she also has extensive experience in civil litigation and government enforcement actions. She has practiced in a number of different kinds of law firms including a large law firm in Washington, D.C. and a medium-sized litigation boutique in Boston. Megan started her career as a law clerk to Judge John G. Koeltl of the Southern District of New York. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Law School.

In our conversation we discuss her work as a white collar criminal litigator, her experience founding and now running her women-owned litigation boutique, and her approach to handling cases large and small. 

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where it is my job to interview lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.

Today’s guest is Danielle Garno, who is a Partner and Co-Chair of the Entertainment Practice at Holland & Knight, where she focuses on legal issues faced by fashion, beauty, and luxury brands. Danielle also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law and has written and lectured extensively on topics relating to fashion law. Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Danielle was a Partner at two big law firms, Cozen O’Connor and Reed Smith.

In this episode, Danielle shares valuable insights about the legal profession including:

💡 How to develop technical skills in your first job after graduating law school [5:06]

💼 How she transitioned from employment law to commercial litigation at her first law firm [7:38]

👠 How advocating for herself led to her career in fashion law [11:44]

📚 How her fashion law practice involves both transactional and litigation legal work [17:11]

🤹‍♂️ How her practice involves a focus on servicing industry clients [21:18]

💻 How to build your brand as a lawyer and the importance of maintaining a great reputation [26:44]

🤝 How she landed her first client in the fashion industry [28:32]

🎤 How she prepared for her first public speaking event and how that helped shape her brand [32:09]

🌐 How to successfully market yourself on LinkedIn [35:27]

👩‍👧‍👧‍👧‍👧 How to balance a robust legal practice while being a mother to four daughters [37:30]

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

In this episode I speak with legal commentator David Lat. For more than a decade David has been one of the country's foremost legal commentators and legal bloggers. He started his legal blogging career with the blog Underneath Their Robes where he wrote about the federal judiciary pseudonymously. He then went on to found Above the Law (one the country's most well-known legal media blogs) which he led for more than ten years. After a brief period working in legal recruiting, David recently returned to writing about law and the legal profession full-time with his newsletter Original Jurisdiction (davidlat.substack.com). 

David started his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain (9th Circuit). He then worked as an associate at Wachtell and as an Assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey before shifting to a full-time career writing about the law. 

In our conversation we discuss the his path to becoming a legal blogger; the importance of finding the intersection of what you like to do, what you are good at, and what your experience makes you uniquely qualified to do; some of his favorite Above the Law stories; and how lawyers can (and should) promote themselves and their work on the internet.

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Robert Tembeckjian, the Administrator and Counsel at the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The Commission is the independent state agency responsible for reviewing complaints of ethical misconduct against the more than 3,000 judges and justices in the New York Unified Court System. As the Chief Judicial Ethics Enforcement Officer in New York, he runs the day-to-day operations for the commission and leads a team of more than 40 based in New York City, Albany and Rochester. He is also an important leader in the field of judicial ethics having worked for the Commission for more than 40 years. 

In our conversation we discuss the importance of judicial ethics enforcement, the process for conducting investigations, and some of the common ethical mistakes that judges make. We also discuss the types of skills and experiences that lend themselves to effective judicial enforcement lawyers.

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Patrice Sulton, the Founder and Executive Director of the DC Justice Lab, a nonprofit dedicated to researching, organizing, and advocating for large-scale change to Washington D.C.'s criminal justice system. Patrice not only has experience advocating for changes to the law. She has extensive experience actually rewriting these laws having served as a Senior Attorney Advisor to DC's Criminal Code Reform Commission, an independent agency within the District of Columbia government established to comprehensively revise the District’s Criminal Code. She also has experience representing clients in court and teaching both in the community and at the George Washington University School of Law where she has won a number of awards for her teaching. 

In our conversation we talk about the process of drafting criminal laws and how to most effectively advocate for progressive changes to those laws, the importance of diversity and representation in the criminal justice non-profit community, how to balance the need to do individual representation and systems change work, the power of arguing from first principles, how to succeed as a young lawyer or law student in a new legal area, creating a "discipline of rest" to prevent burn out, and the ways that all lawyers--regardless of their primary role--can support organizations that serve their communities.  

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Matt Blumenstein, the Head of Underwriting and Deputy General Counsel at Statera Capital, a leading commercial litigation financing firm based in Chicago, Illinois. At Statera, Matt is responsible for leading the firm's investment underwriting and confirmatory diligence process and acts as the firm's Deputy General Counsel. Before joining Statera last year, Matt was an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. where he litigated civil and criminal cases. He started his career as a law clerk to Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

In our conversation we take a deep dive on litigation finance: what it is, the role it plays in litigation today, and some of the potential benefits and challenges that it presents. We also discuss Matt's move from Big Law practice to entrepreneurial start up, and why it is important to build networks, bet on yourself, and take chances when presented with them.

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Karen Vladeck, an employment lawyer at the law firm Wittliff Cutter PLLC based in Austin, Texas. Karen represents corporate, start-up, and non-profit clients in the resolution of employment disputes and counsels clients from many different industries on  employment-related issues. Before moving to Texas, Karen practiced employment law at Arent Fox LLP in Washington, D.C. After graduating from the University of Miami Law School, Karen started her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Mary Ellen Barbera of the Court of Appeals of Maryland (Maryland's highest court). In addition to her practice, Karen co-hosts a podcast called In Loco Parent(i)s with her husband Steve who is a professor at the University of Texas School of Law where they "discuss parenting and lawyering — in that order."    

In our conversation we discuss what employment lawyers do (and what she loves about that practice area), her unplanned path to Texas, the importance of both being lucky and making your own luck in finding career success, what its like to practice at a small, start-up-style law firm, strategies for balancing both personal and professional fulfillment in two-lawyer parent families, and what she loves and has learned from both podcasting and maintaining an active social media presence. 

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In most episodes of the How I Lawyer Podcast I interview individual lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. 

This special episode is a little bit different. It is the first in a new, occasional series called "Panel Opinion," where I host a panel of experts about a discreet topic as opposed to sharing the story of a single lawyer. In this episode, we tackle the question that is on the minds of many as we head into the summer: how can a law student succeed as a legal intern or summer associate especially in a remote or hybrid world?

The panelists include: 

Natasha Zech who is the Director of Attorney Recruiting, Diversity, and Development at my old law firm, Williams & Connolly LLP here in Washington, D.C. In that role, Natasha wears a number of hats, but most important for today’s episode she is the coordinator of hiring and the summer associate program--which as I can attest as both a former summer associate and firm lawyer are absolutely stellar. Natasha has been at Williams & Connolly for the past eleven years and before that was a litigator at several firms in the D.C. area and was a law clerk on the D.C. Superior Court. She is a graduate of UVA (Go Cavaliers) and the Georgetown University Law Center (Go Hoyas). 

Professor Rachel Gurvich who is a clinical associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Professor Gurvich teaches legal research and writing and has also served as the co-chair of the Clerkship Committee. She is well known on social media for her work supporting law students not just at UNC but across the country, often under the Twitter hashtag #PracticeTuesday. Before UNC, she clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and practiced for seven years at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Boston, where she specialized in patent and appellate litigation and helped coordinate that office’s summer associate program. She is a graduate of UNC (Go Heels) and Harvard Law (Go Crimson). 

Jean Yin Crews who is a counsel at Venable LLP in Washington, D.C. where she practices real estate law. Jean started at Venable as a summer associate a decade ago and has been practicing there since graduation! Jean also spent two years co-running the office’s summer program and has served on the firm’s hiring committee. She is a graduate of Princeton (Go Tigers) and Penn Law (Go Quakers).

One final programming note: traditional interviews will return on Thursday. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or suggestions for this new occasional episode format or ideas for "Panel Opinion" episodes please let me know at howilawyer@gmail.com or @JonahPerlin on Twitter. 

Finally if you are interested in listening to previous episodes they are all available at www.howilawyer.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Collin Seguin, an insurance lawyer and business executive at Travelers Insurance in Hartford, Connecticut. Collin currently serves as the Assistant Vice President and Regional Director for the Subrogation Major Case Unit where he leads a team that handles many of the most complex subrogation cases in the company. He has also served in many different roles in his 15-year tenure at Travelers including as an in-house litigation counsel, paralegal, and customer service's professional. He completed his JD at the University of Connecticut School of law in the evening while working full-time at Travelers as well. In 2019, Collin was named to the Hartford Business Journal's 40 under 40 for his professional accomplishments and his work in the community including serving as an alumni mentor to first-year law students at his alma mater. 

In our conversation we discuss the different roles one can play in insurance law, how he survived full-time work and being a full-time law student, what he learned from his time as a litigator that assists him in his managerial role, the techniques he uses to manage remote teams in non-pandemic times, the importance of building skills from both strength areas and areas of potential improvement as a lawyer, how to speak to different audiences, and techniques for staying engaged in areas of the law outside of his specific professional niche. 

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Kannon Shanmugam who is a Partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP where he is both the Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group and the Managing Partner of the Washington D.C. office. Kannon is one of our generations most prominent and prolific Supreme Court advocates. He was recently named 2021 Appellate Litigator of the Year by Benchmark Litigation and has argued 32 cases before the United States Supreme Court. Prior to joining Paul Weiss, he spent ten years as a Partner at Williams & Connolly LLP and more than four years as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. Kannon clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig (Fourth Circuit) and Justice Antonin Scalia. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School as well as Oxford where he earned an M.Litt. in Classics as a Marshall Scholar. In our conversation we discuss his path to appellate and Supreme Court advocacy, the role that his clerkships play in his approach to advocacy, how he prepares for and conducts oral argument, and how to stand out both as a young associate and as a more senior lawyer tasked with transforming the work of others into his own.Make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or wherever you get your podcasts. 

In this episode I speak with Paul Grewal who currently serves as the Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the United States where he and his team were recently responsible for overseeing the company's massively successful IPO. Before joining Coinbase in September 2020, Paul spent four years as a Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Facebook. Before that, Paul was an accomplished intellectual property litigator, law firm partner, and federal Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of California. Early in Paul's legal career he served as a law clerk both in the Northern District of Ohio and on the Federal Circuit. Paul is a graduate of MIT and the University of Chicago Law School. 

In our conversation we discuss what it is like to work as a lawyer for companies focused on emerging technologies such as Coinbase and Facebook, how to stand out as a junior lawyer even in these new industries, what he learned as a federal Magistrate Judge before moving in-house, the reasons that he thinks we are in a "golden age" for lawyers, and the future of "remote first" practice of law. 

Sign up for alerts about future episodes at howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts (pod.link/howilawyer).

In this episode I speak with Mark Joseph Stern who is a legal analyst and the Supreme Court Correspondent for Slate magazine. He is also the author of the book, American Justice 2019: The Roberts Court Arrives. Mark is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Georgetown University Law Center. His writing is available at slate.com and @mjs_DC on Twitter.

In our conversation we discuss his path to legal journalism, the similarities and differences between writing as a lawyer and writing as a journalist, how he learns and writes about complex legal topics for non-legal audiences, the role of social media for lawyers and legal journalists--and how legal journalists can amplify otherwise forgotten legal stories.

Sign up for alerts about future episodes at howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts (pod.link/howilawyer).

Welcome back to How I Lawyer, where I interview lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.

Today’s guest is Lindsay Barnes who is a Senior Counsel at Capital One, where he advises on consumer financial services for one of the largest credit card issuers in the United States. Lindsay began his legal career clerking for both state and federal judges, Judge Pamela White in Maryland State Court followed by Judge Ronald Buckwalter in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  After clerking, he spent seven years as a commercial litigation associate at two big law firms, DLA Piper and Cadwalader, before going in-house at Capital One in 2021.

In this episode, Lindsay shares valuable insights about the legal profession including:

• How his background as a journalist shaped the way he communicates as a lawyer [1:51].
• How sending over 200 tailored cover letters landed him a federal clerkship [11:10].
• How clerking for both state and federal judges taught him the difference between litigating in state versus federal court [14:02].
• How to manage a broad commercial litigation practice at two big law firms [21:58].
• How to develop subject area expertise alongside continuing to acquire new legal skills [27:47].
• How he transitioned from working in private practice to in-house counsel [30:23].
• How the role of in-house counsel involves a different type of legal work [34:53].
• How to create effective visual presentations and how to learn to say more with less [37:38].
• How his experience as in-house counsel taught him the importance of respecting people’s time [42:45].
• How to take a 10,000-foot view of your career [44:11].

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

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In this episode I speak with Liz Glazer who is a former lawyer and tenured law professor who is now a full-time, professional stand-up comedian and actress. Liz is graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago Law School. After law school, she worked in the real estate department at Fried Frank in New York City before joining the faculty and receiving tenure at Hofstra University Law School. At Hofstra, her scholarship focused on issues facing the LGBTQ community. Her work is published in the Northwestern Law Review and the Georgetown Law Journal among others. But in 2015, Liz left her position at Hofstra to pursue a full-time career in stand-up comedy where she recently won the 2020 Boston Comedy Festival. She performs all around the country in-person and now via Zoom. You can learn more about at her at dealizglazer.com or on Twitter at @ElizabethGlazer.

In our conversation we discuss success, rejection, and serendipity; how her student note allowed her to follow her dream to become a law professor; and then how a combination of a magical first stand up act, an academic disappointment, and a once-in-a-career financial opportunity led her to find her true professional calling and more importantly true joy as a comedian. 

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In this episode I speak with Pia Owens. Pia has worked as a technology lawyer at a big law firm, in state government, and now for a technology company based in Massachusetts where she is responsible for commercial agreements, software licensing, cybersecurity, and data privacy. Pia is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law. Before attending law school in her late 20s, Pia was a software engineer.  In our conversation, we discuss how Pia handles new and complex cybersecurity regulatory regimes, how she drafts contracts, the differences between practicing as a technology layer in an in-house setting as outside counsel and as a government attorney. We also discuss some of the professional jumps that she took to find a career that was fulfilling both personally and professionally.  Sign up for alerts about future episodes at howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts (pod.link/howilawyer).

In this episode I speak with Ken Basin. Ken is a seasoned Hollywood lawyer who is currently the Executive Vice President and Head of Business Affairs at Paramount Television Studios. He began his legal career at the law firm Greenberg Glusker where he practiced both litigation and transactional law as the Associate Chair of the Entertainment Department. After leaving the firm he became a business affairs executive at Amazon, then at Sony, and now at Paramount Television Studios. In addition to his practical experience in the field, Ken is the author of the book The Business of Television. He also has served as an adjunct professor or lecturer at Harvard, UCLA, and Southwestern Law Schools.

In our conversation we talk about how to break into entertainment law, the dual business-legal role of a business affairs executive, the importance of learning "the business" to the success of any lawyer, negotiating from a position that everyone can win, and how to shift your mindset as a lawyer from "no" to "no but."  

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In this episode I speak with Tiffany Wright. Tiffany is the Co-Director of the Howard University Law School's Human and Civil Right's Clinic. Tiffany is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Georgetown University Law Center where she completed her law degree at night while also serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Law Journal's Annual Review of Criminal Procedure and working full time as a law clerk and paralegal at the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.

Before her position at Howard, Tiffany worked as an associate at two prominent DC law firms: WilmerHale and Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe LLP (where she remains a Managing Associate). 

Tiffany started her legal career as a law clerk to three federal judges in Washington, D.C.: Judge Royce Lamberth (DDC), Judge David Tatel (DC Circuit), and Justice Sonia Sotomayor (U.S. Supreme Court). 

In our conversation, we discussed her remarkable path to becoming a lawyer that began with a family tragedy, took a detour with some helpful advice from a lawyer who came to her aid as a child, and continues today with her role leading the charge to protect the rights of those who need that protection the most. We also discussed how Tiffany was able to complete law school at night with a full-time job and a young son at home, the many skills she learned as a law clerk including how to write opinions in complex and technical areas, the role and strategy behind amicus briefs including those drafted by her clinic, the power of representation and diversity in our profession, and how to best integrate the policy behind the law, into written legal advocacy. 

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In this episode I speak with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser about his career in public service. Attorney General Weiser is a graduate of Swarthmore College and NYU Law School. After graduation he clerked for Judge Ebel on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Colorado and then on the United States Supreme Court for Justice White and Justice Ginsburg.

After completing his three clerkships he worked at the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division for two years before returning to Colorado and entering academia at the University of Colorado Law School where he worked for ten years teaching and directing the Silicon Flatirons Center. After that, he returned to DC to work as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust at the Department of Justice under President Obama and then as a Senior Advisor at the National Economic Council before returning to the University of Colorado where he taught for ten more years including five five as dean. In May 2017 he successfully ran for Attorney General of the State of Colorado. 

In our conversation we discuss his path from law clerk to government attorney to academic and then ultimately state attorney general and the skills along the way that led him to success at each step: a desire to serve, a commitment to empathy, a focus on the task at hand, and a helpful dose of willingness to take risks and see where serendipity took him. 

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In this episode I speak with Lieutenant Joshua Fiveson, Senior Appellate Counsel in the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps and former law clerk on the Texas State Supreme Court and the military's highest court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. In our conversation we discuss what it is like to be a military lawyer and the path to that career, what he learned from his clerkships (and how he thinks about applying for clerkships and how to succeed once there), and the importance of working hard as a new lawyer while also not forgetting that there is more to life than professional success. 

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In this episode I speak with Juvaria Khan, the founder and director of the Appellate Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering law students of color to thrive in the appellate field. In our conversation we discuss what it is like to found and run a non-profit, her path to becoming a non-profit founder including stints at Big Law firms, a district court clerkship, and several years as an impact litigator at Muslim Advocates. We also discuss the goals of the Appellate Project and the importance and potential impact of better representation in the field of appellate advocacy. 

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In this episode I speak with Andrew Trask, a Partner at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington D.C. where he practices patent litigation. Andrew has played practically every professional role in the patent process. He started his career as a scientist/chemist where he was the co-inventor on a number of patents. He then went on to work as a non-lawyer Patent Agent at a large law firm in New York City while he completed law school at night. After graduation he clerked on the Federal Circuit (the federal court of appeals responsible for hearing patent appeals) and then after a few years at Williams & Connolly as a patent litigator he moved in-house to work at Google. He returned to the firm several years ago where he was just elected to the partnership this year.In our conversation, we discuss his path from scientist to lawyer, what it was like to simultaneously work as a big law patent agent and complete law school at night, the unique nature of practicing before the federal circuit, the differences of working in-house and at a private law firm, and some tips and tricks to succeed as a patent litigator. Sign up for future episodes at howilawyer.com or wherever you get your podcasts (pod.link/howilawyer).

In this episode I speak with Khalida Sims, an Assistant Federal Defender in the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland. Before her current position she worked as a public defender in Cuyahoga County, Ohio for seven years. 

In our conversation, we discuss her path to becoming a public defender, the roles she plays both inside and outside the courtroom, the importance of building rapport with clients (especially those who are currently incarcerated), the centrality of representing the person and not the conduct, and how a trip to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina changed her professional life.

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In this episode I speak with Zarena Sita who is an Assistant State's Attorney in Baltimore County, Maryland. 

In our conversation, we discuss her path to becoming a prosecutor, how she reviews case files, makes plea offers, and prepares her opening statements, the role of on-the-job training, some of her most memorable moments in trial, and the importance of diversity in prosecutor's offices. 

In today’s episode I am excited to speak Scott Oliver. Scott is a Partner at Lewis Kappes in Indianapolis where he represents banks and non-bank lenders in SBA transactions nationwide. Scott became the youngest equity partner in his firm’s history after closing thousands of SBA loans and has counseled clients at every stage in the lending process. In addition to his busy practice, Scott is a frequent speaker on business development, personal branding, and supporting the “human” side of practice. Scott is an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law where he teaches Legal Communication & Analysis.

In our conversation we discuss the importance of finding a practice area that “fits and fills your cup,” what SBA lawyers do and why the practice area is growing, the unique nature of doing transactional work in a regulated area of law, ways to build your personal brand and book of business even as a new lawyer, why taking ownership of a case and a task (even if it is something as simple as ripping out staples) is the ticket to a successful legal career, the power of sharing publicly and building a brand, and more.

You can follow Scott on LinkedIn.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

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In this episode I speak with Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. Judge Huvelle recently retired from the bench after twenty years of service on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (federal trial court) and ten years on the D.C. Superior Court before that.

In our conversation, we discuss her pioneering career as the first woman elected to the partnership at Williams & Connolly LLP, the shifts in the practice of law over the past forty years, her path to the bench, why she loved working with juries, how she kept up with the hundreds of cases on her docket, her approach to writing opinions, conducting oral arguments, and sentencing criminal defendants, and how she selected and worked with law clerks.

In this episode I speak with Nick Boyle who is a litigation partner at Latham & Watkin’s Washington D.C. Office. Before that he was a litigator at Williams & Connolly for almost twenty years. Nick hails from Scotland and came to America after completing degrees at King's College and Cambridge to study at Harvard for an LLM. His international practice focuses on commercial litigation where he has represented business to business data providers, software companies, movie studios, investment banks, private equity funds, and even a Hall of Fame NBA basketball coach. In an age of specialization and silos, Nick has done it all: corporate work, arbitrations, trials, appeals, and strategic advising for individuals and institutions. But what makes Nick standout in a world of excellent civil litigators is not just the breadth and depth of his practice but also his focus on mentoring and developing junior associates.In our conversation we talk about the nature of his Big Law civil litigation practice, how a kid from Scotland became an American litigator, the importance of learning from experience, the central role of networking and getting to know people as a lawyer, best practices for how to mentor younger lawyers, how younger lawyers can stand out by taking ownership of their cases, and the importance of law at this moment of national challenges. (Seriously don’t miss the end of this episode.)

In this episode I speak with Jay Hyne who is a Director of U.S. Regulatory Relations at American Express. Before transitioning to regulatory work at Amex, Jay worked in the Financial Intelligence Unit where he conducted anti-money laundering investigations. He started his career as a law clerk to Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith in Hartford, Connecticut and then worked a litigation associate at an AmLaw 200 firm in New York City. Jay is a graduate of Brandies University and the University of Connecticut Law School. 

In the conversation we discuss his path from litigation to investigations to regulatory work, the importance of emotional intelligence and reputation in the life of a lawyer, the importance of taking parental leave when its offered, and the ways that a legal skillset can extend from the courtroom to the boardroom. 

In this episode I speak with Raffi Melkonian who is a Partner at Wright Close & Barger LLP in Houston, Texas. Raffi is an experienced appellate litigator who practices in Texas state courts, the federal courts of appeal, and the United States Supreme Court. When he is not drafting legal briefs, arguing at the lectern, or cooking up feasts for his family, you can find him on Twitter @RMFifthCircuit where has been dubbed the "so-called Dean" of #AppellateTwitter. In the conversation we discuss his path from New York Big Law corporate lawyer to Texas appellate litigator, the personal and professional benefits of social media, the unique nature of appellate practice in Texas, what he learned from his trial and appellate clerkships, and how he writes briefs and prepares for oral argument.

In this episode I speak with Andrea Stagg (@AndreaStagg) who is the Deputy General Counsel at Barnard College in New York City. In the conversation we discuss how a college internship led her to a career in higher education law, the unique joys (and challenges) of working in the general counsel's office at a college or university, and the power of e-mail as a means to convey concise and kind legal advice.  

In this episode I tell a little bit about my story and the story of my new podcast, How I Lawyer.

In today’s episode, I speak with Jason Mehta & Natalie Adams who are partners in Foley & Lardner LLP’s Tampa, Florida office where they defend companies and individuals facing government investigation and civil and criminal prosecution. Between the two of them, they have represented clients in healthcare, defense contracting, procurement, higher education, as well as Title IX complaints and in the financial service industries.

Both Jason & Natalie are also former Assistant United States Attorneys who received a number of accolades and awards for their work on behalf of the United States Government. They both started their legal careers as judicial law clerks and at large law firms in DC.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

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In today’s episode I speak with Peter Orlowicz who is Senior Counsel and an Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official at the United States Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) speaking in his personal capacity. Peter previously served as a General Attorney for the RRB for 8 years before being promoted to Senior Counsel in 2022. He started his career in government as an attorney advisor at the Social Security Administration. He was honored by the RBB with the Special Act of Service award in 2020, recognizing his significant individual contribution to the Board's efforts. Peter is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and Illinois State University.

In our conversation we discuss his path to the law after earning an undergraduate degree in criminal justice, the challenges with getting his first government job during a difficult hiring market (and what he learned from that experience), why taking a first job in government helped him get the government job he has today in a different agency, what the RBB does and his role at that agency, some quirks of being a government train lawyer, why benefits work is not as boring as it might seem on first glance, and more.

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In today’s episode I speak with Hilary Gerzhoy who is a Vice Chair of HWG LLP’s Legal Ethics and Malpractice group where she focuses her work on legal ethics, white collar defense, and complex civil litigation.

She has represented lawyers before various disciplinary bodies at both state and federal levels, including the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline and the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility. Hilary is deeply involved in the legal community. She is the Vice Chair of the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee, she is on the ABA’s Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, and she is on the DC Circuit Admissions and Grievances Committee.

Hilary uses her expertise in legal ethics to teach as an adjunct professor of professional responsibility at Georgetown Law (Hoya Saxa) and she is also a regular author in the legal and popular press on topics related to legal ethics. Hilary earned her JD from the University of California Berkeley School of Law and her BA from the University of Chicago.

In our conversation we discuss her path to the law, the unique nature of legal ethics and malpractice work, what it is like to be a lawyer representing lawyers, her public facing writing and publishing, the importance of her volunteer work serving legal organizations and on bar committees, and more.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

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In today’s episode I speak with Aliza Shatzman who is the Founder and President of the non-profit Legal Accountability Project based in Washington, DC an organization dedicated to ensuring that law clerks have positive clerkship experiences while extending support and resources to those who do not.

Aliza writes and speaks about judicial accountability, clerkships, and diversity in the courts and has submitted written testimony before Congress and published extensively in both academic publications and in the popular press.

She is a graduate of Williams College where she was a member of the golf team. Prior to Law School she worked on Capitol Hill of three years. She then graduated from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and following law school, Aliza clerked in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

In our conversation we discuss her decision to become a lawyer, her own clerkship experience and why she founded LAP as a result, her mission to improve the judicial clerkship system by making it a safer and more transparent training ground for junior lawyers, the ups and downs of founding a non-profit advocacy group as a young lawyer, and more.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

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In today’s episode I speak with Josh Scharff who is the General Counsel & Director, Programs at Brady, the Campaign to End Gun Violence.

Before joining Brady more than 5.5 years ago, Joshua served as an associate at Peer, Gan, & Gisler LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm with a nationwide litigation practice and a special focus on effective resolution of labor and employment disputes. Joshua is a graduate of Rutgers (Go Scarlett Knights), the George Washington University Law School(Go Colonials), and holds a Masters in International Studies from John Hopkins School of Advanced Internal Studies (Go Blue Jays). 

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

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In today’s episode I speak with Allison J. Snyder, a long-time construction attorney, arbitrator, and mediator based in Houston, Texas. She has over 35 years of experience as a construction attorney specializing in construction and commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation, construction contract negotiation and drafting and the resolution of various construction claims/work-outs. After 22 years at the Law Firm of Porter Hedges LLP, she went out on her own in May 2023 and will continue to focus on her own ADR practice focused on the construction industry.

Ms. Snyder is a Fellow in the American College of Construction Lawyers and the College of Commercial Arbitrators. She has served as Chair of the State Bar of Texas Construction Law Section and as Chair of the Houston Bar Association ADR Section. She is listed as one of America’s leading lawyers in construction law by Chambers USA.

Allison was recommended by a longtime How I Lawyer listener who wrote the following: Allison is one of the absolute best construction lawyers in Texas, if not nationwide, and is a personal role model of mine. The first thing out of every single person’s mouth when her name comes up is invariably “Allison is so smart. . . Her demeanor is very calm and thoughtful, she comes across so well and authoritative without ever having to appear to push for it — accomplished, aggressive lawyers from all ages and backgrounds seem to just listen when she speaks." With that intro, how could I not interview her.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

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Hello & Welcome Back! In today’s episode I am excited to speak with Mike Spivey who is the Founding Partner and CEO of The Spivey Consulting Group LLC and previously a senior level administrator and admissions dean at Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, and The University of Colorado.

Mike is an expert on law school administration and admissions and has been a featured speaker and panelist. In addition to his law school consulting work, he hosts the Status Check with Spivey Podcast. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University from which he holds a BA and a Doctorate in Education and the University of Alabama where he earned his MBA.

After learning a little bit about Mike, I am excited to chat with him about three topics near and dear to this podcast and its listeners: mental health, admission, and the 2024 US News rankings which are scheduled to be released very soon.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by ⁠⁠LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys⁠⁠.

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In today’s episode I am excited to speak with Betsy Philpott who is a Senior Vice President & General Counsel of my hometown Major League baseball team the Washington Nationals.

After starting her career as an associate in BigLaw for 4.5 years, she took a career pivot by starting over as an intern and going back to school for her Masters in Sports Industry Management. She has now been with the Nationals Organization for more than 9 years starting as a Legal Affairs Specialist and working her way up to General Counsel.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

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