The Jabot

In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Anne Cortina Perry of Jenner & Block, and how she balances her work at the firm, her personal life, developing her practice area, and even writing her book of business. Anne shares her transition from going to law school to her path to partnership, and her own advice to people who want to take the same path. She also runs down the different red flags in a toxic work environment and how the development of the culture risk and sensitive investigations practice can help a firm.

Episode Resources

• https://jenner.com/people/AnneCortinaPerry
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-cortina-perry-b1904a15

Episode Highlights

• Why Anne decided to go to law school
• What her path to partnership is like
• Advice to people to fit in or do well at a law firm
• How her work at Jenner appeals to her
• The development of the culture risk and sensitive investigations practice and what are the legal risks it is designed to do
• What the red flags are in a toxic work environment
• How she maintains the balance between her work at Jenners, her personal life, developing her practice area, her billable hours, and her book of business
• How the pandemic impacted the big law
• What were your experiences like before people cared about flexibility and still staying in that partnership?
• The highs and lows: The best of the best and the worst of the worst parts of her career

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In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Samantha Barbas, a University at Buffalo School of Law professor and Director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, about the future of the first amendment. Samantha talks about who Morris Ernst is and how he got recognition in the field. She also discusses how she was able to go through all the materials and documents left by Morris Ernst to share his work and life to other people. Additionally, Samantha shares about the contents in the first amendment and the issues that people should be paying attention to in this modern time.

Episode Resources

• https://www.lexisnexis.com/lexisplus
• https://www.law.buffalo.edu/faculty/facultyDirectory/barbasSamantha.html
• https://samanthabarbas.com/ Episode Highlights
• Why Samantha Barbas decided to go to law school in the first place
• The reason behind her decision to be a law school professor
• How she places Morris Ernst in terms of the history of the first amendment and the legal history in general
• What are the things that stuck out to Samantha about Morris Ernst as a person
• How she went through all the 600 boxes of materials and documents left by Morris Ernst
• The sunset of Morris Ernst's career
• Is there a flashpoint under the first amendment jurisprudence?
• The contents in the first amendment and the issues that we're currently seeing in the first amendment that people should pay attention to

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In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Donna Edbril, a Certified Leadership Coach, about how she helps female lawyers find the balance between their personal lives and working in a law firm. Donna also shares her transition from starting out in law school, working in different companies to being a career coach. She also runs down the different advice she can give to people who are finding it difficult to set boundaries and the proven methods for them to take control of their career paths.

Episode Resources

• https://www.donnaedbril.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/dedbril Episode Highlights
• What is behind Donna's decision to enter law school
• How she get from starting out in law school to being a certified leadership coach
• Why lawyers come for a career coaching
• The differences between working in house and career coaching
• How COVID amplified the eternal battle for a work life balance
• What the other methods are that people can use to take control of their career path
• Advice to people who are finding it difficult to set boundaries
• What are the big problems that are plaguing
• What questions do they need to be asking so that they know that this next move works for them

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In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Hannah Brenner Johnson and Renee Knake Jefferson about their book focusing on the research on the women who appeared on the presidential shortlist back in history. Hannah and Renee not only share the stories of the women who represent the gender on the court, but also how the nomination impacted the lives and careers of those who did not make the transaction. They also discuss the biggest takeaways they learned from these women and the process they underwent to share the story to the world.

Episode Resources

• Why Hannah and Renee decided to go to law school
• Finding their way into the legal space: How the path happened to them, considering they are not from a family of lawyers
• How the idea of delving into the women's names who are not in the tip of everyone's tongue or the front of everyone's memory came from and why does it matter
• The process of determining who appeared on the presidential shortlist back in history
• Who Florence Allen is
• Why is the representation of women on the court so important
• Life after the short list: For the women who didn't make the transition, how did it impact their career
• The big takeaways they learned from these women Episode Highlights
• Gender, Power, Law & Leadership
• https://reneeknake.com/
• https://www.law.uh.edu/faculty/main.asp?PID=5141
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-brenner-johnson-7b3b6637
• https://www.cwsl.edu/faculty-staff-and-campus-directories/faculty-and-staff-directory/h/hannah-brenner

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In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Jodi Schwimmer, partner at Reed Smith and global co-lead of the Financial Industry Group, about how she balances firm leadership responsibilities with her practice. Jodi shares how the Financial Industry Group has changed because of the pandemic, and some firm priorities for this year. She also discusses some of the biggest successes and failures of her career.

Episode Resources

• https://www.lexisnexis.com/lexisplus
• https://www.reedsmith.com/en/professionals/s/schwimmer-jodi-e
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-abramowitz-schwimmer-108b40b3 Episode Highlights
• What made Jodi Schwimmer decide to go to law school
• How she wound up to where she is now
• How Jodi made it on her own and developed relationships with her clients
• The responsibilities that her practice entails
• How she manages everything, including getting the right people
• Changes COVID-19 brought to her practice area and managing the team as a whole
• Advice from her experiences from her own career

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In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Tamra Moore, partner at King & Spalding, about the twists and turns of her career that led her to her role at K&S. Tamra shares what latering during a pandemic was like, and how she decided on a firm that worked for her. She also discusses the differences between Biglaw, in-house, and government service. Tamra additionally talks about what a day in the life of a Government Matters attorney is like.

Episode Highlights

• Why she decided to go to law school
• An incredible intimidating industry
• Where is the best place to be a lawyer
• What is being a healthcare lawyer
• There are many different paths to take when you're in healthcare
• One of the biggest challenges
• The process of joining a new firm
• Tips for people that are starting their career
• Working In-house

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In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Renauld Clarke, Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Brown Rudnick, about the biggest diversity challenges in Biglaw. Renauld discusses the most relevant benchmarks for diversity in the legal profession, and why he launched the Racial Justice initiative. He also shares how he is approaching recruitment and retention given the intensity of the lateral market right now.

Episode Resources

• https://brownrudnick.com/
• https://brownrudnick.com/people/renauld-clarke/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/renauldclarke2 Episode Highlights
• Why Renauld Clarke decided to go to law school
• How he went from practicing as a lawyer to where he is now
• The biggest challenges in the legal industry or in big law in particular
• The possible solution for the influx of surveys many firms needed to participate in
• Renauld's perspective and experience for that has changed because of COVID
• The most important thing to do to have a sustainable supportive environment
• The next big horizon for law firms, diversity, equity, and inclusion

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In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Jodi Warren, a partner at Capell Barnett Matalon & Schoenfeld, about a day in the life of a Real Estate, Corporate and Commercial Transactions, and Religious and Charitable Organizations attorney. Jodi shares her biggest career successes and failures, and what she learned from them. She talks about what virtual lawyering has looked like for her during the pandemic, and whether it has been easier or harder to balance that with the rest of her life. Jodi shares her tips for balancing work and life, and how the pandemic has brought that balancing act into focus for her.

Episode Resources

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-warren-14141b55
• https://cbmslaw.com/team/jodi-warren/ Episode Highlights
• The reason why Jodi Warren decided to go to the law school
• Is having a time off gave her a better perspective that allowed her to approach law school differently
• How Jodi found her specialty and what she loves about it
• The process to get to a partnership
• Getting the support from her firm when handling clients
• Learnings from the pandemic: What she can take with her into the post and what she's happy to be
• Biggest career successes and failures

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In this episode, Kathryn speaks with Leslie Garfield Tenzer, a professor at Pace University School of Law. Professor Tenzer discusses how she decided to get into legal academia and the twists and turns of her career that have led her to this point. She tells Kathryn why she decided to write the Legal Emoji Dictionary, and speaks about how emojis have been used in legal cases. She shares which emojis have a surprising legal definition, and talks about some of the pitfalls for lawyers if their cases do involve emojis.

Episode Resources

• https://law.pace.edu/faculty/leslie-y-garfield-tenzer
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-garfield-tenzer-7704588 Episode Highlights
• The reason Leslie Garfield Tenzer went to law school
• Her path in legal academia
• The journey to bring a new program and the benchmarks she used to demonstrate that it's very valuable to law schools
• Some of the big changes in law schools
• The idea behind the emoji legal dictionary
• The biggest obstacle for attorneys
• Different (surprising) meanings behind the emojis
• How lawyers should go about navigating the ever-evolving tech that impacts the practice of law
• Becoming the experts for where evidence lives
• The consequences of social media
• Using emojis on emails: Is it a concern?

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In this episode of The Jabot Kathryn chats with Elizabeth Williamson, author of Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth. They chat about the ins and outs of the defamation cases filed by families of the victims of the tragic Sandy Hook mass shooting against the infamous Infowars host Alex Jones. What was billed as an epic First Amendment showdown fizzled to a default judgment with a lot of money potentially on the line. Elizabeth and Kathryn discuss the role of lawyers on both sides of this legal battle.

Episode Resources

• Sandy Hook by Elizabeth Williamson
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-williamson-252014b6
• https://twitter.com/NYTLiz
• https://www.nytimes.com/by/elizabeth-williamson Episode Highlights
• The motivation to deciding to write her book
• What was behind the families' motivation for suing for defamation
• The legal strategies that families used to stop what's happening
• How the whole saga begins with going after Alex Jones
• The kind of level of distinction between fake news, the hoax is that we're seeing propagated and this sort of bright shining ideal of what the first amendment should be
• In Elizabeth's opinion, what's the optimal outcome for each family
• Other legal avenues that people should be pursuing in order to stern the tide of disinformation
• How Elizabeth feels the case will end

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