We live in a world today where it's even more important to focus on diversity in the workplace. Merle Vaughn, of Major, Lindsey & Africa tells us the importance of building a legal team that is not only diverse in race ethnicity, and gender but also in thought, experiences and perspective.

Episode Resources

• https://www.mlaglobal.com/

Episode Highlights

• Working as a partner recruiter - 1:40
• Focusing on diversity - 2:05
• Merle shares her background - 3:11
• The focus on recruiting - 4:10
• When she started to focus on diversity - 5:22
• Lawyers that undersell themselves - 7:30
• Merle recommends minorities be more confident in their legal skills - 8:11
• Talking about diverse candidates - 9:18
• Increasing diversity within partnerships - 11:11
• We need to re-evaluate the recruitment system - 11:41
• Being subjective while hiring somebody to work in a law firm - 12:30
• Sometimes a big firm is not a fit for you - 17:26
• What to do if you do not feel well at a big law firm - 18:00
• Creating the career that you want for yourself - 19:00
• Trying to change diversity patterns at top levels - 20:30
• Merle tells us she wants to see diverse candidates to hire - 23:33
• Investing in diverse talent - 24:03
• Diversity advice for law school students - 24:35

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Amy Impellizzeri is here today to talk about her journey transitioning from a corporate job in Big Law to becoming a novelist. Stay tuned to hear how it all started as a sabbatical year, how she found her first publishing contract and her recommendations for those who want to take the leap out of Big Law as well!

Episode Resources

• http://www.amyimpellizzeri.com/why-we-lie.html

Episode Highlights

• How Amy ended up going to law school - 1:50
• Why did she decide to leave the law - 3:20
• How a sabbatical year became an exploratory exercise for Amy - 5:00
• She started to get ideas for a book - 6:00
• Four years later Amy got her first publishing contract - 6:30
• How the practice of law is different from what she expected a a child - 7:00
• A law degree can be very versatile - 9:00
• Amy's advice for other litigators wanting to publish a novel - 9:30
• It isn't a 1-2-3 steps process - 10:00
• Litigators are a good fit for this road because of their perseverance - 11:20
• There are hundreds of amazing manuscripts that don't make the cut - 12:00
• How this era of "self-publication" has changed the journey - 13:00
• How Amy keeps up with her writing - 15:10
• They discuss why Amy's fourth book focuses so much on abused women - 17:20
• Amy's thoughts on the legal clerk scandal - 20:00
• The social media app in her book and the recent college scandal - 22:10
• The story behind her non-fictional novel: Lawyer Interrupted - 23:12
• Her advice for people who are wanting to leave Big Law but are too afraid to do so - 26:20

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Is there room for fashion in the practice of law? Join us and find out on this new episode, as we are joined by Victoria S. Nugent, who is a Partner at Cohen Milstein and Co-Chair of the Public Client practice group. She has been with Cohen Milstein since 2000, and her work has been primarily focused on consumer protection and public health and safety, but she also has a hobby: writing a fashion blog. Stay tuned to listen to Victoria's amazing experience and to get some great tips on how to dress for work in style.

Episode Resources

• https://www.cohenmilstein.com/professional/victoria-s-nugent
• [email protected]

Episode Highlights

• Why start a style blog? - 1:25
• Help from her husband - 1:55
• Starting law school - 2:42
• A classic courtroom litigator - 4:00
• When she decided to create a blog - 4:34
• Getting dressed for work - 4:49
• Spending an hour to write a post - 5:47
• Victoria's style philosophy - 6:29
• Expressing yourself by the way that you dress - 7:39
• Women lawyers and fashion - 8:05
• All work days are not the same - 8:35
• How to dress for a client meeting - 9:07
• Accessories and colors to wear for work - 10:10
• Where she buys her clothes - 11:40
• Doing most of the shopping online - 12:40
• The best fashion finding that Victoria has made - 14:26
• Styles that she doesn't like - 15:39
• Using crop tops and why - 17:00
• Clothes that Victorias uses for work - 18:30
• A blazer is always worth spending money on - 19:50
• Colors for a bag - 21:25
• How big the bag should be - 21:55
• Scared of using bright colors at work? - 22:56
• Victoria's fashion disasters - 25:08
• Experiment with a new style - 27:18
• The stomach should never be shown at work - 28:27

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On this new episode of the Jabot Podcast, we are joined by Jill Diamond, lawyer and children's book author. Jill is here to share some details about her background in Biglaw as well as how she came to the realization that she wanted to write children's books.

Episode Resources

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-diamond-90239611
• https://www.upcounsel.com/attorney/profile/5b697068245c7d7cdad87e42

Episode Highlights

• A successful lawyer and writer - 1:23
• Jill's background - 1:47
• What she wanted to be - 2:36
• Love for law school - 3:06
• Practicing commercial law - 4:30
• A fulfilling outlet - 6:06
• Working for boutique firms - 6:42
• Starting a career in Biglaw - 7:16
• Not a long-term Biglaw person - 8:06
• The flexibility of working remotely - 9:17
• The worst part of practicing law - 9:55
• Love for writing - 11:07
• Leaving Biglaw - 12:12
• Attending a writing workshop - 13:57
• Motivation to finish the book - 14:40
• Don't give up until you finish writing - 15:18
• Balancing lawyering and writing - 16:33
• The inspiration for her children's book -18:08

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Jonathan Masur, law professor of The University of Chicago, joins us to discuss an article he wrote along with two colleagues on how implementing a diversity policy and having a multi-diverse membership is good for the quality of the articles selected for publishing in law reviews.

Episode Resources

• https://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/masur

Episode Highlights

• Jonathan explains to us his article's subject - 1:57
• The article's inspiration - 2:04
• The use of diversity policies - 2:13
• Different types of law reviews - 2:50
• The quality of a law review article - 4:02
• Law schools and law reviews - 4:27
• Which law reviews have diversity policies - 4:48
• Reactions against his law reviews article - 7:40
• The pre-policy period before 2006, and the post-policy period after 2006 - 10:23
• The benefits of diversity on law reviews - 12:18
• Liberal articles reviews and conservative articles reviews - 13:07
• The impact of law reviews articles - 14:09
• Increasing diversity on law reviews - 15:37
• Trying to collect information about more law reviews - 16:14
• Jonathan gives a piece of advice for increasing the diversity on law reviews - 17:04

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Elena Deutsch is a career coach to women lawyers who are looking to transition to a new professional path through her professional training program WILL: Women Interested In Leaving (big) Law. She also shares with us how she is helping clients identify their own skills to face this new stage and helps us understand the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

Episode Resources

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-deutsch/

Episode Highlights

• Elena talks about her background as a coach - 2:38
• How she transition in her career and how the idea of "WILL" was born - 3:42
• In Big Law, people may feel underappreciated so they look for a change - 4:22
• What happens when attorneys are bored and want a change - 8:11
• Elena talks about her client's strengths and how in some cases they love law school but hate practice - 8:46
• The benefits of working with a coach - 10:29
• People don't know what it is they want to do next - 10:56
• Elena helps people identify their path - 13:36
• Is it a failure if you decide to leave a Big Law? - 14:31
• A fixed mindset and a growth mindset - 16:40
• What are the alternatives for a person that wants to use their skills in the law in a different way? - 19:16
• Helping clients figure out what makes sense on their next role - 21:09
• Elena shares with us her favorite success story - 24:19

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Wife, mother, and corporate attorney Julie-Anne Lutfi joins today to talk about her book named: Diapers, Date Nights and Deadlines. According to Julie-Anne, you don't have to choose between any of these, you can always achieve a successful career and a happy personal life.

Episode Resources

• https://www.amazon.com/Diapers-Date-Nights-Deadlines-Survival/dp/1544513003
• https://www.authorhour.co/diapers-date-nights-and-deadlines-julie-anne-lutfi/

Episode Highlights

• Julie-Anne explains how to be a working mom - 0:42
• Creating new ways for developing a new business - 1:42
• Balancing your career and home life - 2:06
• Her experience as a working mom - 4:24
• Balancing the needs of your husband, kids and job - 7:35
• Working to make yourself indispensable to the clients - 13:37
• Working from home - 16:10
• How Julie's work supported her when her son was sick - 20:01
• Understanding the first part of Julie's book - 29:12

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Cori A. Robinson runs her own trust and estate law firm in the New York and New Jersey area. She talks with Kathryn Rubino about the pressures of starting your own firm and what it feels like to take on this responsibility.

Episode Resources

• https://www.robinsonestatelaw.com

Episode Highlights

• How to deal with the pressure of starting your own law firm.
• Why Cori chose trust and estate law vs matrimonial law.
• Navigating the business mechanics of running a solo practitioner business.
• The most unexpected things she's experienced with the startup.
• How she creates balance and boundaries between work and family.

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Joe Patrice and Kathryn Rubino talk about the Urban Meyer investigation and how Ohio State and Mary Jo White whitewashed the violence done to women.

Episode Resources

• https://abovethelaw.com/author/joe-patrice

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Meaghan McDermott saw a safe space for people in a Maryland community library. From following that intuition she shares her experience with Kathryn Rubino about helping people solve their legal and justice problems.

Episode Resources

• https://www.mdlab.org/get-help-services/community-lawyering/meghan-mcdermott

Episode Highlights

• Why Meaghan has focused on access to health care for low-income women.
• How she started the Lawyers in the library program.
• Why some of the community members benefit from these programs.
• What Legal Aid is doing in Maryland.
• Meaghan shares advice for people in law school.

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