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.

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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 speak with Regan Smith, who is Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the New/Media Alliance as well as an Adjunct Professor at GW Law where she teaches copyright law. Regan is a trustee of The Copyright Society of the U.S.A and the Chair of the ABA’s Copyright Legislation Committee.

Before joining New/Media Alliance, she worked as the Head of Public Policy in Spotify’s Government Affairs group and spent seven years working at the United States Copyright Office including three years as General Counsel of the Copyright Office and Associate Register of Copyrights. She began her career at two large law firms focused on IP litigation and transactions. Her interest in media goes way back — she even worked as a record store clerk in Ann Arbor Michigan during college.

In this episode, Regan and Jonah discussed:

💼 Regan's transition from entertainment business to law.

👩‍🔬 How an unexpected foray into patent litigation led to valuable experience. [05:23]

⚖️ The difference between litigation and transactional work [06:32]

🇺🇸 Government work v. private practice [15:34]

🎧 Relationship between lawyering and business strategy in her time at Spotify [19:53]

💻 Tensions between copyright and AI [26:29]

✍️ Important skills: writing, multitasking, experience, and patience [32:45]

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

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Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where Professor Jonah Perlin interviews lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.

This episode features the hosts of the Lawyers Behaving Badly Podcast, Karen Delaney and Jennifer Judge.  Karen is the Principal of Delaney Legal PLLC, where she serves corporate clients.  Before founding her law firm, Karen worked as in-house counsel at Half Price Books and GameStop and as an associate at a law firm in Dallas.  Jennifer is the Chief Legal Officer of Destination Pet, LLC, and before her current role, worked as a solo practitioner, General Counsel at Rug Doctor, Deputy General Counsel at Caliber Home Loans, and also as a law firm associate.

In this episode, Karen and Jennifer share valuable insights about the legal profession including:

⏱️📅 How there has been a frenetic increase in the pace in which lawyers practice law, due in part to technological advancements, such as emails [7:53]

🏠📑 How in-house lawyers’ responsibilities ranges broadly, from handling employment issues to reviewing 40+ contracts at any given time [13:16]

👩‍💼🏢 How one difference between being an in-house counsel vs. solo practitioner is that you have experts and greater resources at your disposal as an in-house counsel, but you have to be THE expert as a solo practitioner [18:57]

🛠️📚 How to find your niche by learning skills that are in demand in the market and by making the most of every opportunity [25:40]

🎙️💡 How the Lawyers Behaving Badly Podcast originated by Karen and Jennifer looking for their shared interests [32:40]

🔍💻 How Karen and Jennifer prep for their podcast episodes by researching to ensure they’re making accurate representations [36:12]

📢🌎 How the goal of the Lawyers Behaving Badly Podcast is to create a community and bring entertainment to listeners [43:02]

🤝🌟 How creating relationships is paramount as a lawyer and can lead to future opportunities [46:43]

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

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Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where Professor Jonah Perlin interviews lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. 

Today’s guest is Rachael Bosch, the CEO and Founder of Fringe Professional Development (a leading professional development provider for lawyers and executives) and Candorly (an online tool to make gathering upward feedback easy and efficient).  Before becoming a legal tech Founder, Rachael worked in recruiting and development at top law firms, including Paul Hastings and Skadden, and before that, she was a professional actress and singer.

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

🎭⚖️ How her professional journey – from working as an actress to the legal profession – showed her that skills are transferrable between different jobs [2:04]

📈🌟 How there is a trend toward law firms becoming much more serious about investing in professional development, coaching, recruitment, and leadership [9:18]

🧠📚 How Rachael finds fulfillment in working with summer associates because lawyers’ brains are like sponges at that early stage in their careers [15:48]

👍👎 How many lawyers don’t understand that some of the characteristics that make you a good lawyer can simultaneously make you a subpar leader [19:19]

🌍💡 How Gen Z is entering the workforce and is starting to influence the profession’s culture [22:55]

🙋‍♂️❓ How it is senior lawyers’ obligation to answer questions about culture posed by younger lawyers [26:05]

🚦📉 How law firm leaders make choices about culture that have real consequences for their firm [33:55]

🎯🚨 How to prepare for legal interviews by understanding what you value and by asking targeted questions designed to see whether law firms share your values [40:23]

💬🤕 How to ask for and receive better feedback, even when it is uncomfortable [46:40]

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

Please take two minutes to support the How I Lawyer Podcast!

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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 Emily Stedman, a Partner at Husch Blackwell, where she helps clients resolve complex commercial litigations. Emily represents a wide range of corporate clients at all phases of litigation, from investigation to appeal, in state and federal courts. After graduating from the University of Mississippi School of Law, where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, Emily clerked for Judge Pamela Pepper in the United States District Court and Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Following her clerkships, Emily worked as a commercial litigation associate at another law firm in Milwaukee before joining Husch Blackwell’s office there, where she was promoted to Partner in 2024. Online, Emily maintains an active LinkedIn presence and shares her perspective on lawyer well-being.

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

👩‍🏫 How taking two years off before law school to teach a room full of children, as part of Teach for America, helped Emily hone her time-management and public speaking skills and gave her greater real-world experience prior to starting law school [3:17]

🌊 How making the most of her second choices and “riding the waves” of her career gave Emily opportunities leading to where she is today [8:54]

🏛️ How the judge she interned for during her 2L year landed her a

🔀 How her day-to-day as a Big Law litigator is dynamic and ever-changing [18:02]

👩‍⚖️ How clerking gave her the ability to know what annoys judges and their clerks, and conversely, how to effectively advocate before the court [19:44]

🗂️ How she prepares for depositions by creating a document-driven outline [24:53]

🎯 How she takes control of her annual billable hour requirement by tracking her daily, weekly, and monthly billing targets [30:47]

📑 How reviewing a client bill gave her insight into billing best practices [36:46]

🏦 How Emily made her case to become Partner at Husch Blackwell [40:54]

🌱 How lawyers must invest in their well-being and bring humanity to their jobs [49:05]

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

Please take two minutes to support the How I Lawyer Podcast!

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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 Astor Heaven, a Partner at Crowell & Moring, where he is a trial lawyer and commercial litigator working on a range of matters, with a focus on defense industry and government contract clients.  After graduating from the United States Naval Academy, Astor served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy before attending law school at American University Washington College of Law.  After graduating from law school, Astor worked as a transactional attorney at Mintz before joining Crowell & Moring’s litigation practice.

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

🏈 How discovering his personality didn't align with a sports agent role led to a rewarding shift to law.

⚓ How his experience serving on a Navy ship gave him the perspective to realize that law school was not the only thing that mattered in his life [6:47]

🕒 How he effectively juggled his commitments as an evening student, in addition to working as a military recruiter and as a new father, by being deliberate with time management [9:43]

⚖️ How working on pro bono cases fueled Astor’s passion for being in court and led to a lateral move from a transactional practice to litigation [12:30]

📚 How thorough research and self-advocacy are key to succeeding in law firm interviews [15:56]

🎯 How leveraging pro bono opportunities can sharpen trial skills and clarify career goals [24:40]

🤝 How and why to deliberately develop a sponsor relationship [28:45]

📅 How a day in the life of a litigator combines case strategy with future client planning [32:51]

🏛️ How trial work's fast-paced, collaborative environment is intense yet rewarding, reminiscent of the teamwork in sports [35:31]

💡 How to demonstrate initiative by proactively bringing new ideas to the table [37:29]

🌐 How building a network in law school lays the groundwork for future professional opportunities [41:10]

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

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Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where Professor Jonah Perlin interviews lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.

For today’s special episode (and the final episode of 2023), we bring to you How I Lawyer’s first-ever live-recorded episode featuring former guests of the podcast, Eli Albrecht and Jordana Confino, in a discussion about positive lawyering in the practice of law. 

This episode was recorded LIVE at DLA Piper’s Offices in Washington D.C. with the support of sponsors Lateral Hub, LawPods, and the Legal Mentor Network.

In this episode, Jonah speaks with Eli Albrecht and Jordana Confino.

Eli is a partner at SMB Law Group LLP where he represents buyers and sellers of businesses and specializes in representing private equity groups.  After graduating from Georgetown University Law Center, Eli worked as a mergers and acquisition Associate at DLA Piper and at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.  In addition to his day job, Eli writes about his own path in the legal profession primarily on LinkedIn where he focuses on balancing life as a private equity lawyer, husband, and LawDad in a way that is “fully integrated.”

Jordana is a lawyer and expert on positive lawyering. She previously served as the Inaugural Dean of Professionalism at Fordham Law where she remains an adjunct professor.  Jordana was voted Fordham Law Adjunct Professor of the Year in 2021 for her class on Positive Lawyering. In 2022, Jordana founded her own consulting and coaching business with the mission to advance the well-being of the legal profession.  Prior to joining Fordham Law, Jordana served as the Assistant Director of Academic Counseling, Acting Clerkship Advisor, and a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law, clerked for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and Southern District of New York, and graduated from Yale Law.  

In this episode, Eli and Jordana share valuable insights about the legal profession:

😊 Jordana discusses how googling “how to be happy” led to her discovery of positive psychology early in her legal career [4:36]

👩‍❤️‍👨 Eli discusses how a conversation with his wife recalibrated his career goals [12:15]

🧠 Jordana discusses how she redefined success by living according to her values rather than her fears [14:43]

🌟 Eli encourages listeners to follow their north star and to speak openly about life outside work [19:06]

🧩 Eli explains how “full integration” allows him to maintain continuity throughout his family, workplace, faith, and other vital parts of his life [26:31]

🌉 Jordana defends why boundaries are important and can create bridges to better relationships [29:57]

📅 Jordana explains how to identify your nonnegotiable needs and calendar them into your schedule [33:55]

💵 The panel debates the billable hour [36:52]

🤗 Jordana explains how to build a better relationship with yourself as a starting point to positive lawyering [54:26]

🌍 Eli implores listeners to trust that the world will support you and to enjoy the ride [55:43]

You can hear more from Eli by listening to HIL episode 87 and hear more from Jordana by listening to HIL episode 110.

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

This live episode was sponsored by:

Lateral Hub⁠

⁠LawPods⁠

⁠The Legal Mentor Network

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Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where Professor Jonah Perlin interviews lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.

Today’s guest is Michelle Kallen, who is a Partner in Jenner & Block’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice and previously served as the seventh Solicitor General for the Commonwealth of Virginia.  After graduating from Vanderbilt University Law School, Michelle clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and then worked as a Litigation Associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, before moving to the public sector.  Following her service as the first woman Solicitor General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Michelle represented the Select Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives to investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

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

🗂️ How Michelle’s experience working in the appellate litigation clinic in law school gave her the opportunity to argue in the Sixth Circuit [3:04]

⚖️ How seeking pro bono appellate work as a junior associate allowed her to work on federal appeals early in her career [7:06]

💼 How and why employing an appellate lawyer at the outset of litigation is valuable in constructing a winning appellate strategy [11:28]

🚪 How working in Virginia’s Solicitor General’s Office opened the door to Michelle’s current appellate litigation practice [14:00]

🏛️ How practicing in state court gives you the opportunity to argue a plethora of diverse legal issues [22:09]

📝 How creating a clear argument outline, before drafting, makes it easier and more efficient to write compelling briefs [26:55]

✍️ How she prepares for appellate arguments using the same method that she learned in the appellate litigation clinical during law school [31:45]

🧩 How viewing yourself as a full member of the team, embracing an ownership mindset over your work, and presenting solutions to problems, can set you apart as a junior associate [40:04]

🌟 How surrounding yourself with excellent people, who are both kind and smart, can set you up for an amazing legal career and life [44:17]

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

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If you liked this episode, support Michelle by following her on Instagram, @appealsinheels