Legal Talk Network

Ever think you aren’t good enough or smart enough and it’s only a matter of time before you’re found out? Or do you secretly believe you’re just lucky and not talented at all? It’s called “imposter syndrome” and professional women are its most common victims. Megan, Elizabeth, Liz, and Erica reveal their own vulnerabilities and talk about how we can identify this evil inhabitant in our heads, diffuse it, and lift up our female friends and co-workers who are probably struggling with the same undeserved feelings of inadequacy.

How we think influences how we persuade and how we respond to what we see and hear. Learn the science behind effective metaphors, the power of familiarity heuristics and the importance of emotion in decision-making and discover how cognitive science can help you craft more effective arguments in the courtroom.

You throw down the gloves in the courtroom. But when the trial is over, should you still maintain an adversarial relationship with opposing counsel? Defense attorney Tim Gearin sits down with Erich Vieth and Plaintiff Attorney Tim Cronin of the Simon Law Firm to discuss why keeping cordial relationships across the aisle is not only the polite thing to do but can actually help your client, your case, and your career.

Joe and Kathryn break down the long-awaited John Durham indictment that tagged former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann and find it... less than persuasive. Emory Law School has yet another racial slur in class incident, forcing the gang to ask if there's something in the water down there. But given that the most recent incident involves the brother of another repeat offender on this score, maybe it's just a family thing. And finally, Above the Law looks back at the day that launched an internet trend and renamed a law school forever.

Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

Erin Levine, founder of Hello Divorce, joins Conrad and Gyi to explain how her innovative tech platform streamlines and demystifies the divorce process for clients while allowing lawyers to practice law – not schedule appointments, manage clients, and waste time with administrative tasks. 

Entrusting basic drafting, scheduling, and filing work to a robot, though, does have one obvious conclusion––fewer tasks to bill for. But if you’re worried about your bottom line, don’t freak out just yet. Levine says Hello Divorce isn’t built to put you out of business but, by allowing clients to only use lawyers for what they need, to open up a broader pool of paying clients and improve the process as a whole. 

Hello Divorce and services like it may be harbingers of the future legal industry, so it’s time for you, dear lawyer, to start thinking about how to adapt your practice and messaging to fit in.

Special thanks to our sponsors Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Clio.

Jared wants to know—how’s your intake process working for you? If you’re like a lot of law firms, with potential leads just quietly slipping into a black hole… you’re doing it wrong. Just so incredibly wrong. Tune in for Jared’s easy, effective client intake tips.

Next up, Chelsea Aitken joins Jared to chat about modern phone systems and the important updates lawyers need to help them communicate better and utilize smart integrations with practice management software.

Then, the Rump Roast! Jared and Chelsea examine common New Zealand expressions, so stick around to find out the meaning of “jandals”, “pack a sad”, “munted”, and more!

Chelsea Aitken is the chief customer officer of Vxt, a software company revolutionizing small business communications.

Our opening track is Two Cigarettes by Major Label Interest.

The music for the Legal Trends Report Minute is I See You by Sounds Like Sander.

Our outro music is Skinny Jeans by Andrew Stanton.

Special thanks to our sponsors TimeSolv, Clio, Scorpion, and Alert Communications.

StoryBrand and digital marketing expert, J.J. Peterson, shares how to build a compelling story around your brand that reflects your firm well. If today’s podcast resonates with you and you haven’t read The Small Firm Roadmap yet, ! Thanks to , , , and for sponsoring this episode.

Priori is an online platform known for using data and technology to connect in-house legal teams with lawyers and law firms who can assist with a wide variety of projects. But Basha Rubin, CEO and co-founder at Priori, says the company noticed that clients were sometimes turning to its online marketplace for help with problems that “might be best solved by a ‘new law’ company or a nontraditional legal provider.”

Special thanks to our sponsors, Alert Communications and Nota.

Guest Kenneth Feinberg was appointed by President George W. Bush to administer the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund after one of our greatest tragedies. In a very special episode of Workers’ Comp Matters, he shares how his team raced to administer $7.1 billion to families and victims of the 2001 terror attacks.

Feinberg compares the unique, Congressionally mandated process to current Workers’ Compensation and the raw emotions that made his charge painfully difficult. Working with thousands of survivors and injured victims, his team worked thr`ough their anger, sadness, and skepticism to resolve virtually every claim in 33 months. He calls his pro bono service “a patriotic obligation.”

The podcast is the first of two commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy and how a nation came together to support the victims, grieve, and heal.

We talk about misbehaving lawyers a lot, but there must be a full moon (per statute a moon "at least 95 percent wholly spherical when measured by appropriate telescopic instruments") or something for lawyers right now because they're wild this week! We've got Biglaw attorneys injecting food with blood, lawyers waving loaded guns around over COVID protocols, a deeply scandalous and tragic situation out of South Carolina, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett running her mouth off with the lack of self-awareness you'd expect from someone who spread a deadly infection to the White House.

Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.