Latte With a Lawyer

Welcome back to Latte with a Lawyer—the dynamic lawyer podcast for attorneys tracking the industry’s most fascinating career paths. This episode features Stephanie Rapp Tully, an attorney whose journey to federal employment law began not in a library, but in a broom closet she converted into a TV studio. Stephanie shares her incredible story of pivoting from a promising career in television production, working on shows like The West Wing, to law school after the 2008 Hollywood writers' strike derailed her plans. She explains how she now channels those production skills into her legal practice, viewing the courtroom as her stage and each case as a story to be told for her audience: the judge.

Stephanie dives deep into the niche world of representing federal employees, detailing how she litigates claims of discrimination, reprisal, and harassment against government agencies. She gives a candid look at how a change in presidential administration can alter the "tone and tenure" of federal employment, and she breaks down the strategy behind tackling age discrimination cases, where managers explicitly state a need for "younger blood." Stephanie also offers powerful, practical advice on oral arguments, the art of "reading the judge," and why she believes financial literacy and a hard look at student debt should be the first step for anyone considering law school.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-l-rapp-tully-esq-59274323/
Firm Website: https://www.tullylegal.com/

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/

Welcome back to Latte with a Lawyer—the essential podcast for attorneys exploring how the law can build a better future. In this episode, we meet Tray Hairston, a public finance partner at Butler Snow who is literally rebuilding Mississippi one municipal bond at a time. Tray shares the powerful story of his inspiration, Frank Stemler, the first African American lawyer in the municipal finance "Red Book" and a mentor he never met. Driven by this legacy, Tray became the first African American partner to rise through the ranks as bond counsel at his firm, challenging the "hard status quo" and proving that transactional law can be a powerful engine for community advancement.

Tray pulls back the curtain on the complex world of public finance, explaining how he structures deals that breathe new life into cities. He details a first-of-its-kind transaction for Mississippi, leveraging a 1% sales tax to secure a $40 million bond for Jackson's infrastructure, and shares the personal satisfaction of financing projects that shape culture—from the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center to the renovation of the very planetarium he visited as a child. Tray gives a candid perspective on the challenges facing his home state, from population decline to deep-seated politics, and makes a compelling case for how strategic investment can pave the way for a more prosperous and inclusive South.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trayhairston/
FIRM Website: https://www.butlersnow.com/

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/

Welcome to Latte with a Lawyer, the podcast for attorneys tracking the industry's most successful practitioners. This episode features Stephen Schwarz, a lawyer who once thought a career-defining call from Erin Brockovich's law partner, Ed Masry, was a prank. That call launched him into the world of high-stakes environmental litigation. Stephen details his firm's fight against corporations over PFOA, the 'forever chemical' used in Teflon, which contaminated the drinking water for entire communities and has been linked to kidney and testicular cancer. He shares the story behind securing a $65 million class-action settlement to fund medical monitoring and compensate residents.

But how do you sustain a practice through a legal battle that can last a decade? Stephen pulls back the curtain on his firm's financial strategy, explaining how they fund these marathon cases—which can rack up over a million dollars in expenses—by using traditional bank loans and a diversified practice, avoiding the exorbitant rates of litigation financing. He also reveals the courtroom tactics that force polluters to settle, from unearthing 'smoking gun' corporate documents to his contrarian approach to jury selection, where the most important skill is learning to listen instead of sell.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-schwarz-05294210/
FIRM Website: https://www.faraci.com/

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/

Welcome back to Latte with a Lawyer—a must-listen lawyer podcast for attorneys navigating our complex industry. In this episode, Sharon Stiller, a pioneering employment lawyer from Abrams Fensterman, reveals the counterintuitive dangers lurking in modern HR. As one of the first female Assistant District Attorneys in her county, Sharon has spent decades on the front lines and explains why an employer's best intentions—like trying to help an employee with a mental health crisis—can become a legal minefield. She breaks down why it's so difficult for well-meaning employers to navigate the patchwork of federal, state, and local laws, and shares why her first piece of advice is always, "Call me *before* you act."

Sharon also unpacks the most significant financial threats facing businesses today, from the "geometrical damage calculation" that can turn a single wage and hour mistake into a catastrophic class action, to the national war on non-compete agreements. She discusses the high-stakes battle over which state’s law applies, citing a New York case that refused to enforce a Florida law provision. Pulling from a career that began when she interviewed her future law partner at age eight, Sharon provides a masterclass in representing employers, explaining how technology and focus groups are critical for gauging juror sentiment and deciding which cases to settle versus which to fight at trial.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-stiller-91536812/
Firm Website: https://www.abramslaw.com/home

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/

Welcome back to Latte with a Lawyer—the essential podcast for attorneys seeking a better way to practice. In this episode, Russell Farbiarz of Antanavage Farbiarz shares his playbook for building a thriving elder and estate planning practice centered on one core principle: keeping families out of the courtroom. A former DA who traded litigation for proactive planning, Russell explains how he intentionally designed a firm that prioritizes solutions over conflict, allowing him to run a successful nine-person firm while never missing his son's baseball games.

Russell pulls back the curtain on the intricate challenges of estate administration, detailing a fascinating case that required hiring a genealogy expert to reconstruct a family tree after a will went missing. He discusses the critical importance of intestacy rules and the chaos that ensues without proper planning. Farbiarz also shares the specific tech stack—including Smokeball for case management and Lawmatics for intake—that empowers his team of in-person and international remote staff to collaborate seamlessly, offering a masterclass in using technology to build the exact life you want in law.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-e-farbiarz-esq-a131274/
FIRM Website: https://www.antanavagefarbiarz.com/

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/

Arthur shares his story of building a career living in Europe and the U.S.  He talks about the importance of remaining curious and challenging himself to try new things.  Arthur shares his key success factors and his plan to achieve Exotecs aggressive growth plans.

Welcome back to Latte with a Lawyer—the dynamic podcast for attorneys exploring the industry's most compelling career paths. In this episode, we sit down with Rachel Gold, a labor and employment partner at Abrams Fensterman, whose journey from the highest levels of New York state government to private practice offers a rare perspective on employer defense. Rachel shares what it was like to work for former Governor Andrew Cuomo, first as an Assistant Attorney General prosecuting the state's first-ever criminal wage theft cases, and later as his Special Counsel for Labor. She explains how this insider's view of government enforcement shapes her strategy today as she advises businesses on navigating New York's complex and ever-changing web of worker protection laws.

But Rachel’s path to labor law began with a startling revelation in law school: that most wrongful convictions stem from prosecutorial misconduct. This drove her to become a prosecutor in the Bronx, and she gives a candid look at the cases that have defined her career—from a homicide conviction that was later thrown into doubt to the labor crimes she prosecuted for the Attorney General. Rachel recounts investigating a nursing home owner who stopped paying benefits before an employee died on the picket line and contractors who forced workers into a cash-kickback scheme. These high-stakes experiences inform her belief that litigation is often an "inefficient problem solving approach" and why her first move is not always to fight, but to find the truth.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-demarest-gold-553a7625/
Firm Website: https://www.abramslaw.com/home

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/

Welcome back to Latte with a Lawyer—the dynamic podcast for attorneys navigating the high-stakes world of modern legal practice. In this episode, we sit down with Monica Mazzei, a family law partner at Sideman & Bancroft who has carved out a unique and powerful niche in Silicon Valley. Monica focuses exclusively on the financial side of divorce for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, deliberately avoiding all child custody matters to keep negotiations purely about the assets. She details the complex process of 'financially disentangling' fortunes built on venture capital, private equity, and the volatile world of cryptocurrency.

Monica shares the incredible story of a young client who, with no assets to her name, insisted on a prenup to protect a mere business idea—an idea that landed her on the cover of Forbes just a few years later with a company valued in the billions. This case fuels Monica's conviction that prenups are essential for everyone, arguing they provide a necessary escape from California's 'inconsistent' and unpredictable family code, particularly around spousal support. She also explains why the wealthiest clients, with estates often exceeding $100 million, opt for private judges to keep their complex financial lives out of the backlogged public court system, turning high-conflict divorces into a creative puzzle of structuring settlements.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-mazzei-5029432/
FIRM Website: https://www.sideman.com/

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/

Welcome back to Latte with a Lawyer—the essential podcast for attorneys exploring the strategies behind America's most successful law firms. In this episode, Alex Matthews, a managing attorney at the powerhouse Texas firm Thomas J Henry, reveals how he went from college football player in North Dakota to managing a team of lawyers each juggling 80 to 100 pre-litigation cases. Alex explains how his athlete's mindset and competitive drive were the perfect training for the fast-paced, high-volume world of personal injury, and how he transitioned from a client-facing role to a 'facilitator' focused on project management and team growth.

Alex pulls back the curtain on the inner workings of a 200+ lawyer firm, detailing how they handle everything from standard auto accidents to high-profile mass torts like the Travis Scott AstroWorld incident and the 3M earplug litigation. He shares the firm's secret weapon for managing its immense caseload: a customized Salesforce platform called AdvoLogics. Alex discusses why he is a firm believer that 'data drives decisions' and how his firm leverages technology and internal compliance auditors to maintain efficiency and maximize outcomes across thousands of files, proving that even the largest PI firms can be nimble, tech-forward, and data-dependent.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-j-matthews-12b89064/
FIRM Website: https://thomasjhenrylaw.com/

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/

Welcome back to Latte with a Lawyer—an essential podcast for attorneys exploring the cutting edge of the legal profession. In this episode, host Jonathan Brickman sits down with Christine Stanley, a healthcare defense attorney who reveals a startling pandemic trend: while doctors and nurses were being celebrated as heroes, medical malpractice lawsuits against them actually doubled. Christine explains why grieving families, locked out of facilities and desperate for answers, are using litigation to pierce the veil of COVID-era protocols. She shares her frontline perspective on defending these high-stakes cases in Kentucky, a state with no tort reform, where a single verdict can be financially devastating, and how her team's defense hinges on proving unwavering adherence to rapidly changing CDC guidelines.

But Christine’s insights don't stop at the pandemic. She details her unusual path to the courtroom, from starting as a pre-med student at Carnegie Mellon to discovering her passion for law through a journal on science and technology. Despite the pressure to settle in a state with no damage caps, she shares how she managed to gain rare trial experience, litigating two cases and an arbitration within her first decade of practice. Christine offers a candid take on the modern litigator’s challenge: the need to craft a compelling story that goes beyond the black-and-white facts of a case to counter the powerful emotional narratives often used by the plaintiff's bar.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-louise-stanley-27427313/
FIRM Website: https://www.qpwblaw.com/

Learn more about EmotionTrac and our AI-driven Emotional Intelligence Platform: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/