Sticky Lawyers

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Don’t discount the childhood pleasures that can shape your life. For David Concannon, hiking, exploring, and diving at summer camp fueled his lifelong passion for outdoor adventure – and a ridiculously cool legal niche along with a side business in exploration consulting.

Inspired by his grandfather’s fascination with the air and the sea, David became general counsel of The Explorer’s Club (comprised of the world's greatest adventurers ) after being inducted as one of its youngest members, sparking relationships that launched his career advising deep-sea explorers on the legalities of visiting the Titanic and other shipwrecks, serving as general counsel to the X Prize Foundation, and working with Jeff Bezos to recover the rocket engines that propelled the Apollo program to the moon.

Listen as David recounts tales that stretch from the courtroom to the deepest ocean depths and Earth's orbit. Not your ordinary law practice, to be sure. 

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Many comic book heroes use superpowers to defeat their evil foes and save the world. But their creators still need lawyers to negotiate their contracts. Who would have ever thought that “comic book lawyer” was an actual legal niche? We know a former professional dancer who spun into it by chance.

Meet Caitlin DiMotta, a performing artist turned attorney fortunate enough to heed two career callings - the arts and law. After a chance encounter pointed her to law school, she befriended a renowned comic book creator who helped open her eyes to a community she has come to love.

Whether you’re a DC or Marvel fan (or have never opened a comic book), listen to Caitlin talk about following her instincts to build a practice, working with talented writers and artists to publish comic books and get them to the big screen, and witnessing firsthand the fascinating transformation of Captain Marvel. 

Links From the Episode

• Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP (Caitlin's Law Firm)
• Caitlin's Email
• Criminal (comic book by Ed Brubaker)
• Scalped (comic book by Jason Aaron)
• Bitch Planet (comic book by Kelly Sue DeConnick)

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John Szymankiewicz always knew he wanted to be a lawyer. He also developed a life-long passion for beer – brewing it, drinking it, and after a slight detour into chemical engineering, building a law career around it.  

Now, John is one of an elite group of Sticky Lawyers dedicated to counseling breweries, distilleries, and other small alcohol producers.

Although practicing beer law sounds as enjoyable as hoisting a few pints with your friends, the work isn't all fun and drinking games. By knowing the industry so intimately, he can speak clients' language and has become a trusted business partner. 

Whether navigating alcohol label compliance rules, creating employee manuals for brewpubs, or counseling distilleries about manufacturing hand sanitizer during a pandemic, the Beer Lawyer has seen it all. 

Pull up a barstool and listen to a business development masterclass within the context of a unique niche law practice.

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Michael Hall developed an interest in UFOs and Bigfoot in the 1970s. And although he didn’t have grand plans to become The Paranormal Lawyer, he earned that moniker after decades of blending his side passion with his general law practice. As a paranormal field researcher who investigated UFO sightings for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, he met fellow ufologists and researchers who began to call on him for legal advice.

Michael’s real estate law knowledge assisted a client in disclosing a haunted property. His contract law experience allowed him to craft nondisclosure agreements for ufologists negotiating TV deals. And then there was a researcher friend who feared for his life over a top-secret government document… but you’ll have to listen to hear that story.

Join us for a fascinating dive into Michael’s story and how he has fashioned his general law practice into an out-of-this-world adventure.

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When the Smithsonian dubs you “an ocean hero” and the New York Times calls you a “coastal warrior,” you aren’t just hoping the oceans and coastlines can be protected now and in the future. You’re championing the cause to make it happen. You’re Mark Massara.

Growing up in Santa Barbara, Mark fell in love with the wildness of the ocean. He learned to surf in grade school, but helping clean up a catastrophic oil spill at the age of seven cemented his devotion to coastal conservation and led to building a cutting-edge “surf law” practice.

 In this episode, Mark shares fascinating stories of taking on and sometimes collaborating with big business and wealthy landowners on behalf of the Surfrider Foundation, the Sierra Club, and other non-profits committed to preserving the California coastline. As the general counsel and vice president of social responsibility at O’Neill Wetsuits, he has even more resources to advance the cause and address the perils of climate change.

Listen in as this Sticky Lawyer talks about surfing the crest of the conservation development law wave and how we need to act now to address the climate crisis.

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Dr. John Naranja has devoted his life to the service of others, something that is very apparent in the different roles he’s held along a career path that includes medicine, the military, and the law. 

Raised by physician parents, he, too, became a doctor. After establishing a successful orthopedic surgery practice in a small Maine community, however, he made a surprising pivot to law school in Boston and a big-city personal injury firm. It’s not the law practice you would expect from a surgeon-turned-trial lawyer though. 

“Dr. John” talks about serving in the U.S. Air Force (just like his dad), the transition from the operating room to the courtroom, and how medicine and lawyering, respectively, affected an important role – the father of ten children.

Tune in to hear one Sticky Lawyer share stories about being a lifelong learner and the courage to following not one, but multiple callings.

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As a child, Julie Fershtman loved horses. And she managed to cultivate that passion into a niche equine law practice – in Michigan, of all places. How did she do it? 

Through lots of research, outreach, and the discipline to listen to the needs of influencers in and around the equine community. 

Julie wrote countless articles and four books, attended many conferences, and made a name for herself while using conversations with the people she met to generate an impressive body of online and offline content. Her writing and speaking not only established her subject matter expertise but also opened the door to new business

Active in the State Bar of Michigan beginning early in her career, Julie shares how she viewed her committee experience as a master class for developing a professional presence. Now she gives us a master class in how to start and grow your niche, give back to the profession, and find fulfillment in the practice of law.

Enjoy the conversation with Julie.

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There is no shortage of social causes that need support. But how deeply do we understand the social issues that affect our neighbors and us, and how do we determine which feet-on-the-ground organizations to support when we do? 

When it comes to food insecurity, corporate counsel Tyrone Thomas invites you to a conversation. A Conversation for Six, to be exact.

Tyrone shares how growing up in Philadelphia and interning as an urban planning undergrad opened his eyes and heart to the plight of the country’s food insecure. 

As an established attorney, he used his own capital to start a non-profit with a mission to educate people about this human rights epidemic, so people can get knowledgeable enough about an aspect of food insecurity to act and become advocates.

Tune in to learn more about the food insecurity issues we face and one Sticky Lawyer's innovative approach to raising awareness for the cause.

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Ever wondered what an attorney in the fashion industry does? In our ongoing pursuit to spotlight Sticky Lawyers, we found a fashion lawyer who has created a fascinating niche for herself, beginning in law school when she was busting blue jean counterfeiters in LA’s Santee Alley.

 Meet Jenny Wu, today’s guest with a style all her own. Through fearless determination and moxie, she’s found legal roles with a premium denim label, an international fashion and accessories brand, and a company that builds brands for fashion influencers. 

 Oh, and she also appeared on (and nearly won) television’s “The Amazing Race.”

 Jenny explains the intriguing details of how she built her expertise in fashion law and shares how a little fear and her parents’ courageous example have fueled her drive to compete and win. 

Enjoy this fascinating and lively conversation with Jenny Wu.

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What do you call the smiling, courteous person at a bar association event? The caterer.  

Ah, lawyer jokes. They may be good for a chuckle, but often that underlying (sometimes truthful) snark is what gives lawyers a bad reputation. That’s where today’s guest, attorney and author Melody Kramer, comes in. Melody has used her 20+ years as an attorney to literally write the book that tells readers why lawyers think and act like they do, and how clients can use that information to save money and work better with their attorneys.

Melody shares some of her hacks for better client relationships (that focus more on humility than the typical “hard sell”). She also tells us about co-founding an organization for freelance lawyers, long before the gig economy took off. 

Listen to our conversation with Melody for a fresh way to think about the practice of law.