Welcome to How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin!

Big Law Episodes

148
Aug. 8, 2025

#148: C.J. Mahoney - Microsoft General Counsel, Former Deputy US Trade Representative, & Law Firm Partner

Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where Professor Jonah Perlin interviews lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. Today's guest is C.J. Mahoney, the Corporate Vice President and General Counsel at Microsoft. Before joining Microsoft, C.J. served as the Deputy United States Trade Representative (a position to which he was unanimously confirmed) and was previously a partner at Williams & Connolly. He started his career as a law clerk for A...
Guest: C.J. Mahoney
146
May 23, 2025

#146: Christopher Stephens - World Bank General Counsel

Welcome back to another episode of the ⁠How I Lawyer Podcast⁠, where Professor Jonah Perlin interviews lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. Today's guest is Christopher Stephens⁠, the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group, a role he has held since 2022. Before joining the World Bank Group, Chris served as General Counsel of the International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank) and General Counsel of the ...
140
Feb. 21, 2025

#140: Mike G. Silver - Consumer Finance Lawyer, Ex-CFPB Lawyer

Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where Professor Jonah Perlin interviews lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. Today's guest is Mike G. Silver, a Partner at Husch Blackwell's DC office specializing in consumer financial services law. Before joining Husch Blackwell, Mike spent 12 years at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and 7 years as an associate at Pillsbury. Mike earned his degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (...
Guest: Mike Silver
Jan. 26, 2024

#130: Emily Stedman – Big Law Litigator and Lawyer Well-Being Advocate

Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where it is my job to interview lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. Today’s guest is Emily Stedman, a Partner at Husch Blackwell, where she helps clients resolve complex commercial litigations. Emily represents a wide range of corporate clients at all phases of litigation, from investigation to appeal, in state and federal courts. After graduating from the University of Mississippi School of Law, where...
124
Nov. 3, 2023

#124: Lindsay Barnes - Senior Counsel at Capital One

Welcome back to How I Lawyer, where I interview lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. Today’s guest is Lindsay Barnes who is a Senior Counsel at Capital One, where he advises on consumer financial services for one of the largest credit card issuers in the United States. Lindsay began his legal career clerking for both state and federal judges, Judge Pamela White in Maryland State Court followed by Judge Ronald Buckwalter in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Af...
111
May 12, 2023

#111: Paul Sarker - Entertainment Lawyer

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 as well ...
Guest: Paul Sarker
109
April 28, 2023

#109: Priya Coffey - Real Estate Lawyer

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 advising ...
Guest: Priya Coffey
19
May 11, 2021

#019: Kannon Shanmugam - Supreme Court Advocate

In this episode I speak with Kannon Shanmugam who is a Partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP where he is both the Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group and the Managing Partner of the Washington D.C. office. Kannon is one of our generations most prominent and prolific Supreme Court advocates. He was recently named 2021 Appellate Litigator of the Year by Benchmark Litigation and has argued 32 cases before the United States Supreme Court. Prior to joining Paul W...
15
March 31, 2021

#015: Pia Owens - In-House Technology Lawyer

In this episode I speak with Pia Owens. Pia has worked as a technology lawyer at a big law firm, in state government, and now for a technology company based in Massachusetts where she is responsible for commercial agreements, software licensing, cybersecurity, and data privacy. Pia is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law. Before attending law school in her late 20s, Pia was a software engineer. In our conversation, we discuss how Pia handles new and complex cybersecurity regulatory reg...
13
March 16, 2021

#013: Tiffany Wright - Civil Rights Lawyer and Clinic Director

In this episode I speak with Tiffany Wright. Tiffany is the Co-Director of the Howard University Law School's Human and Civil Right's Clinic. Tiffany is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Georgetown University Law Center where she completed her law degree at night while also serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Law Journal's Annual Review of Criminal Procedure and working full time as a law clerk and paralegal at the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maryl...
9
Feb. 9, 2021

#009: Andrew Trask - Scientist Turned Patent Litigator

In this episode I speak with Andrew Trask, a Partner at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington D.C. where he practices patent litigation. Andrew has played practically every professional role in the patent process. He started his career as a scientist/chemist where he was the co-inventor on a number of patents. He then went on to work as a non-lawyer Patent Agent at a large law firm in New York City while he completed law school at night. After graduation he clerked on the Federal Circuit (the fe...
Jan. 18, 2021

#006: Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle - Federal District Court Judge (Retired)

In this episode I speak with Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. Judge Huvelle recently retired from the bench after twenty years of service on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (federal trial court) and ten years on the D.C. Superior Court before that. In our conversation, we discuss her pioneering career as the first woman elected to the partnership at Williams & Connolly LLP, the shifts in the practice of law over the past forty years, her path to the bench, why she loved ...
5
Jan. 9, 2021

#005: Nick Boyle - Accomplished International Litigator

In this episode I speak with Nick Boyle who is a litigation partner at Latham & Watkin’s Washington D.C. Office. Before that he was a litigator at Williams & Connolly for almost twenty years. Nick hails from Scotland and came to America after completing degrees at King's College and Cambridge to study at Harvard for an LLM. His international practice focuses on commercial litigation where he has represented business to business data providers, software companies, movie studios, investment banks,...