In today's episode I speak with Entertainment Lawyer Paul Sarker who was recently named a Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig’s New York Office. Paul represents clients in mergers and acquisitions, television affiliation and retransmission consent agreements, content licensing, business affairs, television production, music, copyright, recording agreements, sponsorships, rights acquisitions, guild, and union matters. Before joining Greenberg Traurig, Paul worked in-house at Disney & Marvel...

In honor of Well-being Week in Law I speak with Jordana Alter Confino. Jordana plays many different roles but what they all share is a focus on the skills, well-being, empowerment, mental health, and growth of lawyers & law students. She is the Assistant Dean of Professionalism at Fordham Law where she oversees all aspects of the Professionalism Office’s work including the Law School’s wellness, professionalism, and peer mentorship offerings. Jordana also serves as an Adjunct Professor of...

In today’s episode I speak with Priya Coffey who is a Partner at Jackson Walker in Houston, Texas where she practices Real Estate law. Specifically, Priya assists clients with complex commercial real estate transactions, including the representation of buyers and sellers in the acquisition and disposition of raw land, office buildings and retail centers, and the representation of landlords and tenants in commercial office building leases and retail leases. Priya’s experience extends to...

In today’s episode I speak with Donald Sherman who is a government ethics and oversight lawyer who is currently the Senior Vice President & Chief Counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, CREW (where, full disclosure, he works with my wife). In addition to his non-profit litigation experience at CREW, Donald has worked in all three branches of government. He served for a number of years as Senior Counsel to Ranking Member Senator Claire McCaskill on the Senate...

In today’s episode I speak with Kevin Elliker who is currently Counsel at Hunton Andrews Kurth in Richmond, Virginia where he focuses on Appeals, Litigation and Investigations. Prior to rejoining the Firm in October 2022, Kevin spent three years in government service first as an Assistant United States Attorney in Richmond and most recently as an Investigative Counsel for the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. He also assisted in an...

In today’s episode I am excited to speak with Dan Cotter. Dan is currently an attorney at Howard & Howard in Chicago where he represents businesses at many different stages in corporate and transactional matters. He has a particular emphasis on privacy and cybersecurity law. But over the course of his 25-plus years as a lawyer, Dan has had a varied and in his words "eclectic" practice having practiced in different areas and different settings including but not limited to litigation,...

In today’s episode I am excited to speak with Brian Farkas. Brian is an Associate at Arent Fox Schiff in New York City where he handles complex commercial disputes in federal and state courts as well as in arbitrations and mediation proceedings. Before joining that firm Brian served as a law clerk to Judge Robert W. Lehrburger of the US District Court of SDNY and worked for six years at a midsize litigation firm in New York. He is deeply committed to teaching and training the next generation...

In today’s episode I am excited to speak with John Strohmeyer. John is a Tax and Estate Planning Attorney in Houston, Texas. After working in several law firms, John started his own firm about five years ago where he helps clients through the maze of estate planning, tax, & probate law to help them leave No Unfinished Business® John is active in the tax and estate planning communities like the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the International Tax Committee of the Tax Section...

In today’s special Panel Opinion episode of How I Lawyer produced with The Appellate Project I am excited to welcome four appellate lawyers who share their paths to becoming appellate lawyers and the tools they have learned for success along the way.  I am excited to partner with the Appellate Project on this episode. TAP is a non-profit dedicated to diversifying the appellate bar and empowering law students of color to thrive in the appellate field. I previously spoke to TAP's Executive...

In today’s episode I am excited to speak with my friend Matt Schwartz. Matt is a transactional partner and law firm leader at the international law firm DLA Piper where he serves as Chair of the US Finance Practice and the Head of Venture & Growth Lending. He has been at DLA for more than 20 years since graduating from Harvard Law School (Go Crimson) and the George Washington University (Go Colonials). At DLA and in the broader legal community, Matt is deeply committed to mentorship. He...

In today's episode I speak with Freelance Attorney Michelle K. Camp. Michelle is an experienced litigator who has handled all aspects of litigation from pre-litigation to drafting pleadings and motions, conducting discovery, and assisting with trials and appeals in both state and federal court. She began her career and worked for nearly seven years at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, where she focused on securities litigation and mass tort litigation. In her freelance work over the past 6...

💯 Welcome to Episode #100 of the How I Lawyer Podcast! 💯 I started the podcast in January 2021 to help junior lawyers, law students, and the legal community learn from the stories of lawyers from across the profession about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. 100 episodes later the podcast has grown beyond my wildest dreams.  If you've enjoyed the show I hope you'll leave a review and rating and share the podcast with friends, colleagues, or on social media.  --- In...

In today's episode I speak with Jenni Katzman who is a government & policy lawyer with experience in all three branches of government, several political campaigns, and non-profit advocacy organizations. Currently, she is the General Counsel and Chief of Domestic Policy for Senator Ron Wyden (D-Or). Before working on Capitol Hill, Jenni worked as a Director of Policy Development and Programming at the American Constitution Society and before that in the Executive Branch at the White House,...

In today’s special episode of How I Lawyer, Panel Opinion I am excited to speak with two law firm partners on how to succeed as a junior associates at a law firm with Sean Marotta and Michelle Strowhiro.   Michelle is an employment partner and M&A transaction advisor in McDermott’s LA and Orange County Offices. She leads McDermott’s Transactions and Executive Contracts Employment Subgroup and co-leads McDermott’s COVID-19 Employment Task Force.  Michelle was recently named an a...

In this final episode of 2022, I decided to share a little bit about how I lawyer. Yes, after 96 episodes as your host, I thought it fitting to end year 2 of the podcast with a little bit more about what I do, why I do it, and how I do it well (or try to). As the host of the show I really like finding interesting guests and asking the questions. I am a bit weary about being the guest. But a few months ago my friends at the Personal Jurisdiction Podcast (Hallie Ritzu & Allison Freedman)...

In today’s special episode recorded LIVE at ClioCon I spoke with Karine Sokpoh who practices immigration, family law, and intellectual property at 402 Legal in Omaha. She also teaches at her local university and helped found the first and only Black Chamber of Commerce in Nebraska. Originally from Togo, Karine recently won the first Reisman Award for Diversity & Inclusion for her legal work and community engagement. She is a graduate of the University Benin in Lome Togo, the University of...

In today’s special episode recorded LIVE at ClioCon I spoke with Kevin Buckley of the Torrey Pines Law Group. Kevin is an accomplished international patent attorney & executive. He founded Torrey Pines Law Group in 2013 to help his clients bring lifesaving, enduring, and commercially valuable technologies to market after previously working in Big Law. He recently earned the Clio Reisman Award for Best Growth Story for his work and the work of his law firm during the Covid 19 pandemic....

In today’s episode I speak with Legal Technologist and Clio Founder & CEO Jack Newton. Although not a lawyer himself, Jack is a technologist and entrepreneur who has long been at the forefront of cloud-based legal technology who is recognized as one of the profession’s foremost experts on security, ethics, and privacy issues related to lawyers’ use of cloud computing.  He is also the author of the Client-Centered Law Firm, a bestselling book, dedicated to helping law firms thrive in an...

Hello & Welcome Back! In today’s episode I speak with John Grant. John worked in the technology industry for a decade before going to law school and then went on to practice in-house, in his own law firm, and as the executive director of the Commons Law Center in Portland Oregon which works to fill the access to civil justice gap for people who quality for legal aid or don't quality for free legal services but still have trouble affording legal services. Now John primarily works as a...

Hello & Welcome Back! In today’s special episode recorded at ClioCon I spoke with Mark Palmer. He is the Chief Counsel at 2Civility, the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism where he works to facilitate the promotion of professionalism, civility, and integrity among lawyers and judges in Illinois. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law. Prior to his work with the Commission, he was a trial attorney in Champaign and before law school...

Hello & Welcome Back! In today’s special episode recorded LIVE at ClioCon I spoke with family lawyer Angela Lennon. Angela is a Partner at the Omaha Law Firm Koenig Dunne where she focuses her practice on collaborative divorce. Angela is active in legal and local business organization and has won a number of awards for her work. She recently won Clio’s Reisman Award for creating Untie Online, Nebraska’s affordable divorce service that uses to technology and step-by-step guidance,...

In this mini-episode of How I Lawyer recorded live at ClioCon in Nashville, I spoke with Neal Katyal who is a partner at Hogan Lovells and the former Solicitor General of the United States. Most importantly for my purposes, he also was my criminal law professor when I was a student at Georgetown Law. In our brief chat, we discussed the importance of speaking to your audience as a lawyer and his takes on what law schools can do better to train the next generation of lawyers.  This episode is...

In today’s special, mini-episode recorded LIVE at ClioCon I spoke with Michigan Criminal Defense lawyer Mary Chartier. Mary has successfully defended clients in numerous federal and state trial courts and on appeal at the Michigan Supreme Court. Mary’s practice is not limited to one single area of criminal law but instead she has developed a reputation as an expert defense attorney no matter how novel the case is. She even takes on “doggy death row” cases pro bono representing dogs who have...

In today’s episode I speak with Joshua Lenon who is the Lawyer in Residence and Data Protection Officer at major legal software company Clio. Joshua has served in this role at Clio for the past decade and before that he worked at Thomson-Reuters. I interviewed Josh just a few days before I attended ClioCon—a major legal technology convention where I interviewed legal tech luminaries (more interviews from ClioCon to come soon).  In our conversation we discussed his unique role as in-house...

In today's episode I speak with Eli Albrecht who is an Associate at Gibson Dunn’s Washington D.C. office where he is a member of the corporate practice with a focus on private equity and mergers and acquisitions.  In addition to his day job, Eli writes about his own path in the legal profession primarily on LinkedIn where, in his words, he focuses on balancing life as a private equity lawyer, husband, and LawDad in a way that is "fully integrated." He shares openly about finding the balance...