Higher Callings

My most recent guest for Higher Callings is Stephen Seckler. After graduating from law school, Steve took a job with Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, where he organized hundreds of educational programs for lawyers over several years. He then formed his own business, helping lawyers learn how to market their services, serving as a legal recruiter, and serving as a career coach for lawyers. Steve also has an excellent podcast called Counsel to Counsel, where lawyers can find career advice from Steve and the impressive guests he interviews. 

When I spoke with Steve about appearing on this podcast, we agreed that his higher calling is helping lawyers find their callings. Some of his most recent work has focused on coaching senior lawyers about how they can prepare for what lies ahead when the time comes for them to leave their law practices and pursue the next chapter in their professional lives. We talked about that and other topics on this episode of Higher Callings.

You can learn more about Steve Seckler and find his podcast, Counsel to Counsel, at https://www.seckler.com/.

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

In 1963, in a case called Gideon v. Wainwright, the United States Supreme Court held for the first time that a person accused of a crime in a state court has a right to counsel secured by the United States Constitution. Before that decision, a defendant’s federal constitutional right to an attorney in a criminal proceeding applied only in federal cases, by virtue of the Sixth Amendment. In Gideon, the Court applied the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause to extend the same right to state criminal cases. Ever since Gideon, when defendants in state criminal prosecutions cannot afford to hire counsel, the state is obligated to provide counsel for them.  

In Massachusetts, the agency responsible to make sure that happens is the Committee for Public Counsel Services, or CPCS. The Chief Counsel for CPCS is Anthony Benedetti, an attorney who himself served as a public defender before becoming General Counsel and, in 2010, Chief Counsel of this important agency.  

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Anthony for Higher Callings. In the interview, he provided a close look into some of the most significant challenges facing the agency, its key successes, and the work it has been doing in some of the most important battles of recent times, including the fight against systemic racism, the movement to defund the police, the efforts to release thousands of prisoners to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in jails, and the current crisis facing homeless citizens in the tent city in Boston known as “Mass and Cass.” 

I was inspired by Anthony’s passion for caring for and protecting the rights of the poor who are caught up in an overburdened and often impersonal legal system, and am pleased to offer this episode of Higher Callings to shed light into the critically important work of an agency that few citizens, and even few lawyers, understand.

You can find more information about CPCS at the agency's website, https://www.publiccounsel.net/

The Higher Callings website can be found here: https://www.podpage.com/higher-callings/

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

I got to know Michael Bogdanow when we co-chaired the Litigation Section of the Boston Bar Association in the early 2000’s. An alum of Harvard Law School and chair of the appellate practice at a small but powerful personal injury law firm, Michael also is an accomplished artist. His vivid paintings of themes from the Hebrew Bible and his more secular works of colorful skies and flying planets reveal an artist who has always viewed art as a calling, and one that has many parallels with his other calling of appellate law. We explore these topics and more in this art-themed episode of Higher Callings.

You can find examples of Michael's artwork on his website, linked here.
You can find Michael's LinkedIn bio here.

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

Denise Reilly is a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals. As a religion major in college, her passion for justice instilled in her a calling to become a lawyer. While raising a young family, she attended law school. She then served as a law clerk to a federal district judge, joined a large private law firm, and later became a federal prosecutor. 

Denise then heard another calling, this time to become a judge. She applied and was appointed to the state district court bench, and worked for seven years as a judge in Juvenile Court, work that she still considers to be among the most important of her career. In 2009, Denise was selected to serve as one member of the three-judge panel to preside over the trial that resulted in Al Franken’s election to the United States Senate. 

Denise’s work on the bench is just one way in which she has dedicated herself to the public interest. She also has made important contributions to the fight against illegal sex trafficking, serves on the board of the Division of Indian Work, and taught trial practice to law students.  Denise has received several awards and recognitions for her outstanding work on the bench and her service to her community.  

An exemplary career and lifetime of service that all began when a college undergraduate heard a Higher Calling.
 
 You can view Judge Reilly's official bio here: https://www.mncourts.gov/About-The-Courts/Overview/JudicialDirectory/Bio.aspx?jid=1737

You can read about the 2009 trial over the Al Franken - Norm Coleman U.S. Senate contest here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_United_States_Senate_election_in_Minnesota

You can learn more about the Division of Indian Work here: https://www.diw-mn.org/

You can find the Higher Callings website, including other episodes and a transcript of this episode, here: https://www.podpage.com/higher-callings/

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

Last week I had the privilege of publishing portions of my interview of Rev. Pashington Obeng in which he described his work with descendants of Africans living in India, known as the Siddis. In this bonus episode, we shift our focus from India to Africa, as Pash describes an exciting project being built in his home country of Ghana, known as the Pan African Heritage World Museum. 
A link to the Museum's website can be found here: https://pahw.org/

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

Reverend Pashington Obeng, Ph.D. is a Protestant minister and scholar, who was born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, and has been living and working in Massachusetts for more than 30 years. In 1998, he learned of a community of people of African descent, known as the Siddis, who have lived in India for more than 800 years. Some of their ancestors were brought to India as enslaved people, and some have continued to be burdened with working off the inherited debts of their ancestors through an Indian system known as "debt bondage."
In this episode of Higher Callings, Pash tells the story of the Siddi people, and describes some of the work that he and members of his church have done in support of the school for Siddi children run by Catholic nuns and Jesuit priests in Karnataka, India.
You can learn more about the Siddis at this website: https://africanindianalliance.org/
You can learn more about Pash here: https://hillschurch.org/church-staff/pash-obeng/
You can find Pash's book about the African presence in India here: https://www.amazon.com/Shaping-Membership-Defining-Nation-Cultural/dp/073911428X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

Dr. Tom Benninger is a retired physician who lives in Louisville, Kentucky. On more than a dozen occasions, Tom, along with other volunteers, traveled to third world countries where they worked to address the medical needs of people who had little access to healthcare. Motivated by a deep and abiding faith, Tom has participated in medical missions in the Dominican Republic, Afghanistan, and Nicaragua. After briefly discussing Tom’s background, I asked him to describe those experiences and how his faith inspired him to serve. I’m sure you’ll find his story as inspiring as I do. 

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

As we begin work on Season Two, we wanted to share this episode of highlights from the four interviews featured in Season One. First, mediator David Hoffman describes an insightful model for understanding and resolving conflicts. Next, retired homicide prosecutor Phil Mueller explains how prosecutors serve the emotional needs of victims of violent crimes. Our third guest, Jennifer Haverkamp, describes some of her important work in 2016, leading a State Department team in the successful and impactful negotiation of international climate agreements. And finally, corporate lawyer Emily Cooke provides a colorful explanation of why lawyers in private practice volunteer their time to pro bono matters. 

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

From time immemorial, lawyers and law firms have provided free legal services to clients who could not afford to pay. What motivates them to do so? What are the rewards of pro bono service? What makes pro bono legal services different from other forms of volunteer work? What types of pro bono work can be done by lawyers who are not litigators? These are just a few of the questions we asked Emily Cooke, the leader of the pro bono program at the Pierce Atwood law firm. Emily's answers help to explain the attraction of pro bono work for many firms and their lawyers, and provide clear, practical advice for those interested in furthering their own commitments to making the law accessible to people and organizations of limited means.

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/

Higher Callings is pleased to offer this unedited version of our interview of Jennifer Haverkamp, the Graham Family Director of the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan. Jennifer has had a long and distinguished career in international diplomacy aimed at mitigating worldwide environmental harms, including the reduction of climate change. This unedited version of our conversation includes material concerning some of her most recent projects, and also takes us back to her student years and early environmental work through her time at Yale Law School and her clerkship in the United States Court of Appeals. A shorter, produced version of the interview that begins with and focuses on Jennifer's post-clerkship career as a United States environmental lawyer and diplomat was published on May 25th.

If you have enjoyed the Higher Callings podcast, you might also enjoy Don's Substack Newsletter, Reflections of a Boston Lawyer, which you can find here: https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/