Karen and Steve are back, albeit not necessarily better than ever (Steve's in the midst of a pretty nasty cold). After a brief recounting of recent events in their lives, they turn to a wide-ranging interview with superstar CNN anchor and correspondent Pamela Brown, who talks about what it was like to cover the Trump White House (and to do it while pregnant and then with little kids); how the media has been doing with the Russia/Ukraine war; and her really cool side-hustle in the Master of...

In their latest episode, Karen and Steve are joined by Covington & Burling partner Neema Sahni, who talks about her experiences as an in-house lawyer at Disney(!); the transition to law-firm life;  and what it means to be co-chair of Covington's "Music Industry Group" and vice-chair of its "Sports Practice Group" (including why Steve is really jealous). Before chatting with Neema, Karen and Steve catch up on a busy week on the home-front, and a look back at Karen's first month in her new...

Karen and Steve reflect on a wacky and wild weekend with the wee ones in Disneyland, and the rather ... sobering ... return to Texas, including the state's proposed attack on tenure at public universities and its very real attack on the rights of transgender minors. After diagnosing Steve with burnout, they then turn to a fun, wide-ranging interview with long-time friend of the pod Jennifer Judge, who talks about the life of an in-house lawyer and doesn't *quite* spill the beans on her big,...

In this episode, Karen and Steve reflect on a somewhat-less-crazy week, Valentine's Day, victory on the tennis court, and various other miscellany. They then have a wide-ranging interview with Rachel and Ariel Levinson-Waldman, on everything from the life of non-profit lawyers in Washington to having musical kids music-ing at the same time in the same house to their important work on privacy (Rachel) and legal services for underrepresented communities in D.C. (Ariel).

Karen has a new job!! We spend the first half of the episode talking about the big move from law firm partner to legal recruiting, what impelled Karen to make such a big switch, how the process unfolded, and how the first week has gone (spoiler: having both girls' schools closed Thursday and Friday due to weather is not ideal). We're then joined by Karen's new colleague, the savvy and brilliant Amdie Mengistu, to talk about his own move from law firm land (including coming onboard at Dewey in...

The fifth episode of season 2 features a fascinating interview with Elon Law Professor Tiffany Atkins, who reflects on transitioning from legal aid to the legal academy; the challenges of raising three children of with a sizeable age gap; and how the legal profession and the legal academy, more specifically, can make access to the professoriate more inclusive and egalitarian. Before that, Karen and Steve reflect a bit on the news of the day —  Justice Stephen Breyer's apparent impending...

It's déjà vu all over again as Karen and Steve talk about the latest setback in their attempt to have two consecutive days of childcare-less work (spoiler alert: no such luck). Then, they turn to a discussion of social media, how they use social media for their jobs/careers, virtues and vices of being active on Twitter and other networks, and advice for folks thinking about creating or expanding their online persona and presence. All of this is simply an appetizer to their interview with Alex...

In their latest episode, Karen and Steve sit down with Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to chat about the life of a federal prosecutor; the upsides (and downsides) of having three *older* children; what he's been doing since President Trump fired him; and his forthcoming children's book, "Justice is..." Before that, though, Karen and Steve recap what's been a pretty difficult week on the home front, with Steve testing positive for COVID and...

Karen and Steve celebrate their kids' (potentially short-lived) return to preschool and school by recording a new episode, including updates on life with Omicron; how we survived winter break; and thoughts about how early-career lawyers can try to balance the obligations of firm jobs with the obligations of parenting young children (spoiler: help will be needed). They then sit down with Paul Weiss partner Alexia Korberg to chat about how they balance a high-profile commercial litigation...

After hunting around the house for the microphones, downloading the right software onto their new laptop, and realizing that the new episode of Dopesick doesn't drop until tomorrow, Karen and Steve decided to kick off Season 2 of "In Loco Parent(i)s" with a bit of a free-form discussion -- of the last few months; of why they've been so busy; about transitions to Kindergarten (and elsewhere); and about future plans for the podcast.

In the Season 1 finale, Karen and Steve reflect on their own summer experiences growing up, including the pros and cons of sleepaway camp in (different parts of) New Hampshire, before a fascinating and wide-ranging interview with legal polymath Bill Childs, who's currently in house at 3M but whose career has spanned big firms, smaller firms, and the academy (all while hosting a regular radio show about "indie music for indie kids" on the side).  Suffice it to say, Bill's wide-ranging...

In their latest episode, Karen and Steve talk about some of the unforeseen difficulties of things returning to "normal," at least out in the world, and the challenges for those with kids who may be months away from vaccinations. They then welcome their dear friends, Caprice Roberts and Andy Wright, to talk about a whole lot of things, from moving with small kids to chasing your dreams (across the country) to starting a new law school to moving in and out of Congress and the Executive Branch.

In their latest episode, Karen and Steve are joined by Heather Souder Choi, a partner at Baker Botts in Washington, DC, to discuss everything from having a child while up for partner to staying at the same firm from your 1L summer onwards to the difficulties that large firms have retaining and promoting women of color, and what firms, clients, and law schools can and should be thinking about to try to ameliorate them. Before that, Karen and Steve walk through some of their parenting "hacks"...

With Mother's Day and Karen's birthday right around the corner, Karen and Steve talk about some of the (very different) things they do to relax/decompress, including their very different approaches to watching TV. They're then joined by Karen's long-time friend Julie Klaff, now a partner at Origami Capital Partners in Chicago, to discuss her fascinating transition from big law to in-house on the finance side; some of the unique issues faced by large families; and her advice for those thinking...

Karen and Steve are back to talk about the importance of networking in the legal universe, and different attitudes and approaches they have taken both in their own careers and in trying to facilitate connections with friends, colleagues, students, and even strangers. They're then joined by Liz Vladeck (who's quite a lot more than Steve's older sister) to discuss her cutting-edge work on municipal labor and employment law in New York and some of the challenges of being both a parent and a...

Karen and Steve are back (this time, with better sound quality) to chat about some of the things that surprised them the most about parenting (and also to feature some of the responses they received from listeners). Then, they're joined by David Lat,...

After a one-week work-caused hiatus, Karen and Steve are back to talk about the parenting ... challenges when it comes to little kids and organized sports, and how they may have turned a parenting fail into a parenting win (to be determined). They're...

Karen and Steve are joined by superstar Georgetown law professor Tiffany Jeffers, who, among other things, recounts the experience of having her older child diagnosed with dyslexia and how that has (and hasn't) influenced her approach to parenting....

After a one-week hiatus for Spring Break, Karen and Steve return with a law school-oriented episode, starting with some of their own recollections on their individual experiences deciding when to go to law school (and while there) before pivoting to a...

To mark the one-year anniversary of COVID disruptions, Karen and Steve spend the first part of the episode flagging some of the *positives* to come out of the discombobulating circumstances of the past 12 months, along with contributions from folks on...

Karen and Steve are joined by their long-time friend Lindsay Harrison, who (as those who have listened to the first Patreon bonus episode will know), was there literally at the beginning, and who has (already) had a remarkable career as both a trial and...

Karen and Steve (briefly) reflect on things sort of returning to (COVID) normal after the chaos of the last 10 days in Texas (and the difficulties many of their friends are still encountering); an interesting choice of roles for one of their kids in a...

So ... it's been a week. Again. This time, 2021 decided to see how Karen and Steve would handle an unprecedented snow/ice/freeze storm that knocked out power (and heat) to their house for four days, left them without drinkable water (or water pressure),...

It's a New York-heavy episode, as Karen and Steve chat about growing up in the Big Apple before chatting with the person most responsible for the existence of this podcast—Lisa Rubin, off-air legal analyst for the Rachel Maddow Show and Steve's law...