Legally Speaking (Audio)

California Lawyer Magazine’s editor Martin Lasden welcomes Roger Wilkins, the highest-ranking African American in President Lyndon Johnson's Justice Department. Wilkins went on to serve on the editorial boards of the Washington Post, where he won a Pulitzer Prize, and the New York Times and taught history at George Mason University for over twenty years. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 21097]

UC Hastings law professor Ashutosh Bhagwat welcomes Lawrence Lessig, known as the Elvis of cyberlaw. For much of his career, Lessig focused his work on law and technology, especially as it affects copyright. He argues copyright laws should be updated in our hybrid economy - one where commercial entities leverage value from sharing economies. Lessig is now the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, and a professor of law at Harvard Law School. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 21098]

UC Hasting’s Evan Lee welcomes Erwin Chemerinsky, the founding dean and distinguished professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Chemerinsky’s areas of expertise are constitutional law, federal practice, civil rights and civil liberties, and appellate litigation. He is the author of seven books, most recently, “The Conservative Assault on the Constitution,” and nearly 200 articles in top law reviews. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 21095]

Hastings professor Joan C. Williams has been called a “rock star” in the field of gender studies. For more than a quarter of a century, her work in the areas of pregnancy discrimination and work-family accommodation have helped define the issue of gender equality under the law. At Hastings, in 1997, she founded—and still runs—the Center for WorkLife Law, and she’s written many academic articles and books on the topic, including her recent much-lauded title What Works for Women at Work. (Williams cowrote the book with her daughter, Rachel Dempsey.) In August, Hastings colleague Veena Dubal spoke with Williams about her career and about what she thinks American businesses must do to achieve more gender equality.

Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 30115]

In 1970, as a 20-year-old college student, Eva Paterson famously debated Vice President Spiro Agnew on The David Frost Show. She went on to become a fierce advocate for civil rights, eventually working for 26 years at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights – including more than a dozen years as its executive director. In 2003 Paterson co-founded the Oakland-based Equal Justice Society, which works to close racial divides “through law, social science, and the arts.” Along with advocacy, the Society co-authors amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on issues of equal protection and litigates civil rights class actions. In December, Paterson spoke with attorney Paul Henderson, the deputy chief of staff, public safety, for the mayor of San Francisco, about her career, affirmative action, the death penalty, and the nature of implicit bias. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 30070]

John Henry Browne is a criminal defense attorney in Seattle who is best known for his work on behalf of the notorious. One of his first clients was Ted Bundy—a vicious, serial killer who murdered scores of women in at least a half-dozen states. More recently, he represented Robert Bales, a former U.S. Army sergeant who is now serving a life prison sentence for the murder of 16 Afghani civilians. These were, to say the least, extremely difficult cases for a defense attorney to take on. But no matter how vilified his clients, Browne could always be counted on to give prosecutors a rough time. As one prosecutor once observed: Browne in the courtroom is like “a pit bull on crack.” In November, Browne spoke with California Lawyer contributing editor Martin Lasden. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 29107]

Over the 67-year history of the CIA, no agency staff attorney has ever wielded more influence or power than John Rizzo. A self-described “company man,” Rizzo joined the Central Intelligence Agency back in 1976 and over the next three-and-a-half decades helped guide the agency through a host of controversies and scandals—from Iran-Contra to the extraordinary rendition of suspected terrorists. Earlier this year, after the publication of his fascinating memoir (“Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA)”, Rizzo spoke with California Lawyer Contributing Editor Martin Lasden. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28960]

Over the last two decades no criminal defense lawyer in America has had a more profound impact on advancing the rights of the convicted than has Barry Scheck. In 1992, when DNA testing was still in its infancy, Scheck, along with his colleague Peter Neufeld, founded The Innocence Project, which has since figured prominently in the release of hundreds of prison inmates. Scheck also achieved lasting fame for defending O.J. Simpson when the former football star was charged with murder. Scheck spoke with California Lawyer contributing editor Martin Lasden about his extraordinary career and the controversies surrounding it. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28615]

Kenneth Feinberg is best known for the work that he did as the Special Master of the Victim Compensation Fund that was established by Congress to distribute billions of taxpayer dollars to those who were either injured or lost loved ones during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Since then he has presided over the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to compensate the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings, the BP Oil Spill Fund, the Aurora Victim Relief Fund, and the Boston Marathon Fund. Currently, Feinberg is working with General Motors to vet the claims that are now being made as a result of a defective ignition switch that has so far been blamed for at least 13 deaths. In January, Feinberg spoke with UC Hastings law professor Evan Lee about the challenges he's faced. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28448]

As both a diplomat and a scholar, Dennis Ross has had a truly extraordinary career. Under President George H.W. Bush, he led the U.S. State Department's Policy Planning Staff. He also served as a Special Envoy to the Middle East under President Bill Clinton, and was a Special Advisor to President Barack Obama before stepping down in 2011 to become a full-time fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. In March, just one month before the breakdown of yet another series of Israeli-Palestinian talks, Ross spoke to California Lawyer contributing editor Martin Lasden about his own experiences in that part of the world and why cutting a comprehensive peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis remains so difficult. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28295]