The Jabot

Kathryn Rubino talks with Jessica S. Henry, author of "SMOKE BUT NO FIRE: Convicting the Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened", about the prevalence of no-crime convictions, some of the worst examples of no-crime convictions, how racial injustice exacerbates the issue, and finally what can be done, particularly within the current criminal justice reform zeitgeist.

Episode Resources

• Jessica S. Henry: [email protected]
• https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-but-No-Fire-Convicting/dp/0520300645
• https://jessicahenryjustice.com/

Episode Highlights

• Jessica's new book - 0:37
• Her background - 1:31
• Being a teacher and learning about crime cases - 5:34
• Crimes that never happened - 6:18
• Being convicted about something that never took place - 8:36
• Some of the worst cases about convicted persons with no crime - 10:48
• How prosecutors do their job - 15:56
• Wrongful convictions - 17:17
• What we can do to stop this problem - 18:58
• Aggressive police tactics - 19:58
• What would help this problem - 22:09
• Focusing on this issue - 25:33

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Kathryn talks with Thomasina Real Bird, Angelique EagleWoman, Paulene Abeyta, Christina McDonogh, and Aidan Graybill about the exclusion of Native voices in The Center for Women in Law and The NALP Foundation's study, "Women of Color – A Study of Law Student Experiences". They discuss the NALP study, then walk through the 4 identified issues with the survey. They also talk about the NALP response to the criticisms and why that isn't a sufficient response. Finally, they discuss the unique issues facing Native American law students and what work is needed to address them.

Episode Resources

• https://www.nalp.org/research
• Thomasina Real Bird: [email protected]
• Angelique EagleWoman: [email protected]
• Paulene Abeyta: [email protected]

Episode Highlights

• The guests for today's episode - 0:46
• A Women of Color study - 2:30
• Native voices - 5:05
• Exclusion of Native Americans from the study - 5:53
• Concerns with the study - 6:47
• Their feelings about the study - 12:25
• Having a wrong reaction - 13:40
• Law school students - 16:28
• Increasing diversity in the legal profession - 17:51
• Trying to increase visibility - 21:02
• Working and being inclusive - 24:00

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Kathryn Rubino talks with Linda Coberly, Chicago Office Managing Partner for the law firm of Winston & Strawn and Chair of the ERA Coalition's Legal Task Force, about the ongoing fight for the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Episode Resources

• [email protected]
• https://www.winston.com/en/who-we-are/professionals/coberly-linda-t.html
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindacoberly

Episode Highlights

• The adoption of the ERA - 0:47
• The right to vote - 2:07
• The proposal of the ERA - 4:36
• There are protections against discrimination - 5:30
• The ERA inside the Constitution - 14:48
• Working cases - 22:23
• Expectations about a case - 23:23
• The Congress and the Department of Justice - 26:40

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Kathryn talks with Danielle Barondess (a federal law clerk in Hawaii) and Steven Arango (a federal law clerk in Texas) founders of a new program Law Clerks for Diversity. Law Clerks for Diversity connects diverse candidates with current and former law clerks, practitioners, and judges for mentorship and assistance applying for federal clerkships.

Episode Resources

• https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8945625/
• https://twitter.com/clrks4diversity
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellebarondess
• https://www.stevenarango.com/

Episode Highlights

• Founding a new program - 0:57
• Never giving up - 4:25
• Steven and Danielle's background and story - 5:22
• Diversity in the legal world - 6:38
• School's diversity and minority students - 8:26
• Types of diversity - 8:49
• Why diversity is important - 10:01
• Diverse school background - 10:54
• Using the program to create more opportunities - 14:14
• A barrier for diversification - 17:07
• Paying yourself back - 21:58
• Why use the program? - 23:51
• Law Clerks for Diversity for the legal profession - 26:58

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Kathryn talks with Tai-Heng Cheng, global co-head of the international arbitration and trade practice at Sidley, about his recent pro bono efforts. He represents journalist Linda Tirado, who was struck in the eye with a rubber bullet while covering the protests following the murder of George Floyd, in her lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis.

Episode Resources

• https://www.sidley.com/en/people/c/cheng-taiheng

Episode Highlights

• Why focus on pro bono - 1:28
• The George Floyd demonstrations - 3:02
• Being in an inflection point in our society - 3:43
• Lawyers must step up now - 4:44
• Getting involved in pro bono cases - 5:47
• The first pro bono case he did - 8:04
• A recent pro bono case - 10:50
• The horrific killing of George Floyd - 12:09
• A very diverse group - 12:51
• Journalism and the George Floyd demonstration - 18:08
• The expression of free speech - 21:33

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Kathryn Rubino talks to Lia Dorsey, newly elected President of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals, and Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Dentons, about Biglaw's response to the violent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and to Black Lives Matter.

• [email protected]
• https://www.dentons.com/en
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/lia-dorsey-b770511

Episode Highlights

• A difficult topic - 1:13
• Tangible actions behind words - 2:34
• Lia's role and Biglaw's role - 3:20
• All the firms' different statements - 4:25
• Lia's piece of advice for law firms - 7:20
• The culture of a firm - 9:13
• An opportunity for the firms' leaders - 10:06
• Everybody has a role to play - 11:42
• How we can move forward - 14:11
• Having access to money and resources - 18:49
• Promoting diversity - 19:57
• Nobody has the right answer right now - 23:36

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Kathryn Rubino talks with Christina Moore, partner at Taylor English Duma LLP, about balancing home life with a thriving legal practice during the pandemic. They discuss COVID-19's impact on work/life balance, tips for dealing with the health crisis and a flourishing legal practice, what she's learned in becoming the firm's PPP point, and what challenges the legal industry faces as we continue to deal with the ramifications of the pandemic.

• Connect with Christina Moore [email protected]
• https://www.taylorenglish.com/people-Christina-L-Moore.html

• The global pandemic and its challenges - 1:54
• How her company challenges the pandemic - 3:53
• Teaching kids and balancing remote learning - 4:54
• A moment in our lives - 6:34
• Getting frustrated - 7:19
• How businesses are working today - 10:25
• Biggest takeaways from the firm's PPP point -11:19
• The relationship with your bank - 13:07
• What's happening now during the pandemic - 19:14
• Aspirations when she graduated from law school - 22:49

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Kathryn Rubino speaks with Kori Carew, Seyfarth Shaw's chief inclusion and diversity officer and leader of The Belonging Project initiative. They talk about why the middle of a pandemic is the right time for Biglaw to double down on diversity.

• https://www.seyfarth.com/the-belonging-project.html
• [email protected]
• https://www.seyfarth.com/about-us/firm-leadership.html

• What's the project all about - 1:00
• Offering webinars - 2:39
• A coaching culture and program - 3:59
• The pandemic and the program - 7:23
• People impacted by COVID_19 - 8:13
• The legal field in 2008 - 9:04
• A mental health issue with the pandemic - 10:29
• This is the time for diversity inclusion - 14:34
• Marking sure people are okay - 15:02
• Impact how people feel at the end of this pandemic - 21:30
• Uncertainty and the pandemic - 22:36
• Serving the legal community - 24:56
• The goal of the project - 25:13

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Kathryn Rubino interviews Eliza Stoker, Executive Director of MLA's In-House Counsel Recruiting group, about Major Lindsey & Africa's new In-House Compensation Survey which reveals a gender pay gap. We discuss what folks need to understand about the in-house space that may contribute to the pay gap, what can/should be done to fix the pay gap, and what does gender equity looks like in the in-house space.

• https://www.mlaglobal.com/en/knowledge-library/research/2020-global-in-house-compensation-survey
• https://www.mlaglobal.com/en/people/eliza-stoker?byconsultantorauthor=eliza-stoker
• [email protected]

• Today's guest! - 1:14
• The survey and why she did it - 2:05
• The results of the survey about the gender pay gap - 3:41
• Looking at compensations - 5:03
• More men in leadership roles - 6:55
• The level of disparity - 7:44
• The in-house legal practice - 10:02
• We can narrow the pay gap - 11:59
• The results of the survey and negotiations - 13:23
• Tips to move in-house - 13:35
• What can we do to help the gender pay gap - 21:12
• Are women leading teams? - 24:25
• Diversity efforts - 26:08

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Kathryn talks with Kyle McEntee of Law School Transparency about their new report that identifies --- and charts a way forward --- the problems with diversity and debt in legal education.

• https://www.lawschooltransparency.com/
• [email protected]

• Law school transparency - 1:28
• How everything started - 2:04
• Kyle's background - 2:45
• Diversity and debt and why they're important - 5:52
• Law School Transparency vision and goal - 7:00
• Lawyers and law schools - 9:00
• Increasing diversity - 9:49
• Law school rankings - 15:35
• The transparency index - 18:40
• Working with law schools - 19:35
• Hosting diversity and inclusion workshops - 21:06
• Kyle's experience in increasing transparency - 23:43
• Unhappiness in big law - 29:47

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