Legal-Ease Podcast

In partnership with ASU Law's Academy for Justice, we covered an episode on Forensic Evidence reform and what that looks like in our criminal justice system.

Our guests for this episode are Lindsay Herf (Executive Director of the Arizona Justice Project), Sandra Thompson (Professor of Law and Director of the Criminal Justice Institute), and Brandon Garrett (Duke Law professor, author of "Autopsy of a Crime Lab".

Back in 2019 Legal Ease Podcast produced an episode on bankruptcy law in the marijuana business, where Judge Dan Collins and ASU Law Professor Laura Coordes spoke on the matter. At the beginning of this year in January we got word from Judge Collins that our episode reached Guam and specifically the ears of Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood. We were delighted to hear our episode helped inform the topic of marijuana and businesses in Guam.

This episode is part 2, with Judge Tydingco-Gatewood joining us after listening to Part 1 of our episode. Judge Collins also joins us for Part 2 to inform the bankruptcy side of the marijuana industry, and we also have Professor Jelani Jefferson Exum here with us today as a guest to inform us on the criminal justice side of the marijuana industry.

This episode is split into two sections -- one criminal justice focused and the other bankruptcy focused. Co-hosts ASU Law Professors Valena Beety and Laura Coordes take us through this episode, where the focus is to educate audiences on multiple aspects of the marijuana industry.

Recreational marijuana is now legal for us in Arizona since November 2020. Arizona marijuana sales for the adult-use market officially began in January after state officials began notifying retail business license applicants that they’d been approved. This marks the fastest transitionfrom voter-approval to sales implementation of any state that has legalized marijuana todate. There are still restrictions in place for old and new marijuana users, as well as many lingering questions — some of which we’ll explore today.

Throughout 2020, Legal-Ease Podcast produced episodes with partner ASU Law's Academy for Justice, covering COVID-19 and its impact across communities.

This episode discusses COVID-19's impact on Black communities, and the conversation navigates key history, vaccination, and steps toward building trust. We welcome guests Dr. Akilah A. Jefferson Shah and Dr. Howard Henderson.

Akilah A. Jefferson Shah, MD, MSc, is an expert in health policy and bioethics, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine (UAMS) and researcher at Arkansas Children’s Research Institute (ACRI).

Howard Henderson is the Founding Director of the Center for Justice Research and professor of Justice Administration in the Barbara Jordan - Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. Howard’s research focuses on culturally-responsive criminal justice programming and predictive bias.

In partnership with the Academy for Justice, we covered an episode on “The Controlled Substances Act at 50 Years”, which was a wonderful conference held at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in February 2020 before quarantine.

The timing for this episode couldn’t be better, as there is an ongoing national discussion on War on Drugs, the Opioid Crisis, Racial Bias, and Women’s Reproductive Rights. Host Chase Turrentine sits with our guests to discuss all these topics.

Ethan Nadelmann (founder of Drug Policy Alliance), Deborah Small (Executive Director of Break the Chains), Aila Hoss (Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa College of Law, and Marisa Rodriguez (Director, San Francisco Office of Cannabis) are leaders in this area and they take us through crucial aspects of these issues -- regulation, criminal justice reform, impact on Native communities and other marginalized communities.

Biographies can be found on our website at legaleasepodcast.com and this episode can be streamed on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, and now iHeartRadio at "Legal-Ease Podcast" --give it a listen and leave a comment for discussion!

In partnership with the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law's Academy for Justice, we interviewed both candidates for Maricopa County Attorney — Allister Adel and Julie Gunnigle — on their stances on criminal justice topics.

Here is Julie Gunnigle's interview.

In partnership with the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law's Academy for Justice, we interviewed both candidates for Maricopa County Attorney — Allister Adel and Julie Gunnigle — on their stances on criminal justice topics.

Here is current Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel's interview.

Brian H Potts has made waves through his transparency on Linkedin and Twitter. It all started a month ago, with a post about his rejection letter from Perkins Coie back in 2002, his dream law firm, only to celebrate the fact that he is now partner at that very firm. The caption was “Law Students: If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” The post quickly became viral, and it didn’t stop there – several law students and recent grads reached out to Brian for career advice. He not only engaged with them via Linkedin and Zoom meetings and continues to, but he also actively uses his platforms to boost their qualifications in hopes of finding them job opportunities. Then, his efforts appeared in Above the Law, where of course, the kind-hearted Brian again offered up his email for law students and law grads to reach out.

Brian has an impressive bio which can be found on the website at Legaleasepodcast.com -- But to summarize here, Brian is a business attorney, litigator, entrepreneur and writer who has advised a range of FORTUNE 100 and smaller clients, including startups. And today, he's here to talk about the Legal Journey. This is particularly a great episode for individuals in the legal community or for individuals interested in law school. We hope that even during these uncertain times, this episode will shed some light on navigating the legal journey for law students and recent law school grads.

Legal-Ease partnered up with ASU Law's Academy for Justice once again to bring you our next episode titled "Mending Relationships in the Community: Where do we go from here?" with guest co-hosts Dawn Walton and Andre C. Anderson. Our guests are Police Chief Jeri Williams of the Phoenix Police Department, Police Chief U. Reneé Hall of Dallas Police Department, Lynda Williams who is the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement's (NOBLE)Vice President, and ASU Law professor Ben McJunkin who discuss next steps on mending community trust and what that will look like.

This episode is on COVID-19 and Tribal Communities, co-hosted by Amena and Valena. They interview (1) Alane V. Breland, who is the Chief Prosecutor for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, (2) Chief Prosecutor Jennifer Henry who is currently the Acting Chief Prosecutor for the Navajo Nation, and (3)Judge Alfred Urbina, an Associate Judge for the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Court. Judge Urbina is the 5th Yaqui Tribal member to sit on the Pascua Yaqui bench. They join us to candidly discuss how COVID-19 is affecting Native communities and what they are actively doing to help flatten the curve.

Part Two of our COVID-19 episode series, in partnership with ASU Law's Academy for Justice is here! We had listeners ask for a part two, proposing we invite prosecutors as guests to delve into the prosecutor's perspective, and we delivered! In this episode our guests, Coconino County Attorney William Ring, Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer, and Pastor Walton discuss what they are each doing to help flatten the line during our health crisis.