How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin
143 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★★ - 141 ratingsIn this podcast Professor Jonah Perlin (Georgetown Law) interviews lawyers from across the profession about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.
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Episodes
#040: Jared Knicley - Environmental Litigator
November 03, 2021 08:00 - 38 minutes - 35.2 MBIn this episode I speak with Jared Knicley who is a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, DC. Jared's practice focuses on defending imperiled species, protecting communities from chemical spills, ensuring public access to government records, and enforcing federal environmental laws in courts across the country. Jared first joined NRDC as a Beagle Litigation Fellow after clerking for Judge Diana Gribbon Motz of the United States Court of Appeals for th...
#039: Russ Feingold - Former US Senator and President of the American Constitution Society
October 20, 2021 08:00 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBIn this episode I speak with Russ Feingold who is currently the President of the American Constitution Society, the country’s leading progressive legal organization. He previously served as a United States Senator for the state of Wisconsin for eighteen years and for ten years before that as State Senator in Wisconsin. He also served as the Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and as a professor at several colleges and law schools. Russ is a grad...
#038: Brian Potts - Big Firm Environment and Energy Lawyer, Inventor, and Author of The Jobless Lawyer's Handbook
October 13, 2021 08:00 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBIn this episode I speak with Brian Potts. Brian is a Partner at Perkins Coie based in Madison, Wisconsin. He is an environment and energy lawyer with an active pro bono practice but is also an active speaker, writer, and serial entrepreneur (including inventing the LegalBoard (legalkeyboards.com), the world's first computer keyboard made just for lawyers). He is also deeply committed to demystifying the process of getting a legal job and helping young lawyers find their legal path. During th...
#037: Alex Su - Legal Tech Leader and Social Media Maven
October 06, 2021 08:00 - 42 minutes - 38.7 MBIn this episode I speak with Alex Su. Alex is currently the Head of Community Development at Ironclad, a digital contract management company. Before working at Ironclad, Alex was a Sales Team Lead and Director of Business Development at several other legal tech startups and before transitioning to the world of legal tech, Alex was an Associate at the New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell and a law clerk in Chicago to federal district court Judge Edmond Chang. In addition to Alex's work in...
#036: Carl Cecere - Appellate Lawyer and Solo Practitioner
September 29, 2021 08:00 - 42 minutes - 39.2 MBIn 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 beg...
#035: EJ Lee - Solo Trademark and Copyright Attorney
September 21, 2021 08:00 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBIn 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 (@EJ...
#034: David Lucking - Derivatives Lawyer and Head of Global International Capital Markets at Allen & Overy
September 09, 2021 08:00 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBIn 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 Pract...
#34: David Lucking - Derivatives Lawyer and Head of Global International Capital Markets at Allen & Overy
September 09, 2021 08:00 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBIn 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 Pract...
#33: Brant Martin - Commercial Trial Lawyer
September 01, 2021 08:00 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBIn 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...
#033: Brant Martin - Commercial Trial Lawyer
September 01, 2021 08:00 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBIn 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 ...
#032: Mike Yaghmai - Facebook's Head of Brand and Marketing Legal
August 25, 2021 08:00 - 43 minutes - 39.4 MBIn 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 wo...
#031: Panel Opinion (Special Edition) - Tools for Success for New 1Ls
August 16, 2021 08:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBWelcome 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 educa...
#31: Panel Opinion (Special Edition) - Tools for Success for New 1Ls
August 16, 2021 08:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBWelcome 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 edu...
#030: Cory Isaacson - Lawyer for Clients on Death Row
August 04, 2021 08:00 - 49 minutes - 44.9 MBIn 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 c...
#029: Panel Opinion (Special) - On-Campus Interviewing 2021
July 30, 2021 08:42 - 48 minutes - 44.7 MBIn 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 f...
#028: Judge Robert Bacharach - Federal Appeals Court Judge
July 21, 2021 08:00 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBIn 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 sta...
#027: Megan Siddall - White Collar Litigator, Founder and Managing Partner at Woman-Owned Litigation Boutique
July 14, 2021 08:00 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBIn 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...
#026: David Lat - Legal Commentator
July 07, 2021 08:00 - 47 minutes - 43.3 MBIn 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 re...
#025: Robert Tembeckjian - New York Chief Judicial Ethics Enforcement Officer
June 30, 2021 08:00 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MBIn 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,...
#024: Patrice Sulton - Criminal Justice Reformer, Civil Rights Lawyer, Legislative Drafter, and Non-Profit Founder
June 23, 2021 08:00 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBIn 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 Colu...
#023: Matthew Blumenstein - Litigation Finance Director and Underwriter
June 14, 2021 08:00 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBIn 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 ...
#022: Karen Vladeck - Employment Lawyer and Podcaster
June 03, 2021 08:00 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBIn 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...
#021: Panel Opinion (Special) - How To Succeed as a Legal Intern or Summer Associate (Especially in a Remote or Hybrid World)
June 01, 2021 08:00 - 49 minutes - 45 MBIn 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 le...
#020: Collin Seguin - Insurance Lawyer
May 27, 2021 08:00 - 46 minutes - 42.6 MBIn 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 servi...
#019: Kannon Shanmugam - Supreme Court Advocate
May 11, 2021 08:00 - 39 minutes - 36 MBIn 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 Pau...
#018: Paul Grewal - Cryptocurrency Chief Legal Officer, Tech Lawyer, Former Magistrate Judge
May 04, 2021 09:00 - 44 minutes - 40.3 MBIn 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 partn...
#017: Mark Joseph Stern - Legal Journalist
April 26, 2021 08:00 - 53 minutes - 49 MBIn 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...
#016: Liz Glazer - Law Professor Turned Comedian and Actress
April 14, 2021 08:00 - 45 minutes - 41.9 MBIn 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. ...
#015: Pia Owens - In-House Technology Lawyer
March 31, 2021 08:00 - 46 minutes - 42.2 MBIn 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...
#014: Ken Basin - Entertainment Lawyer and Business Affairs Executive
March 24, 2021 08:00 - 42 minutes - 39.4 MBIn 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 ...
#013: Tiffany Wright - Civil Rights Lawyer and Clinic Director
March 16, 2021 08:00 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBIn 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 M...
#012: Phil Weiser - Colorado Attorney General
March 09, 2021 09:00 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBIn 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 b...
#011: Joshua Fiveson - Military Lawyer and Former State Supreme Court and Federal Appellate Law Clerk
March 02, 2021 09:00 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MBIn 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 im...
#010: Juvaria Khan - Founder and Director of the Appellate Project Non-Profit
February 16, 2021 09:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBIn 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 ...
#009: Andrew Trask - Scientist Turned Patent Litigator
February 09, 2021 09:00 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MBIn 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...
#008: Khalida Sims - Public Defender
February 02, 2021 09:00 - 34 minutes - 31.2 MBIn 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 ...
#007: Zarena Sita - Assistant State's Attorney
January 26, 2021 09:00 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MBIn 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.
#006: Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle - Federal District Court Judge (Retired)
January 19, 2021 02:19 - 44 minutes - 40.5 MBIn 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 lo...
#005: Nick Boyle - Accomplished International Litigator
January 10, 2021 04:16 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBIn 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 ba...
#004: Jay Hyne - Director of Regulatory Relations
January 10, 2021 04:09 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MBIn 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...
#003: Raffi Melkonian - Texas Appellate Litigator and #AppellateTwitter Dean
January 03, 2021 02:10 - 51 minutes - 46.8 MBIn 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 ...
#002: Andrea Stagg - College Deputy General Counsel
January 03, 2021 02:09 - 32 minutes - 29.8 MBIn 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.
#001: Welcome to How I Lawyer (Trailer)
December 28, 2020 00:51 - 5 minutes - 4.76 MBIn this episode I tell a little bit about my story and the story of my new podcast, How I Lawyer.