Episodes

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 of the...

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 Directo...

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 is a co-...

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 years sin...

💯 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 today's ...

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, DOJ, a...

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 Trailblazer by Amer...

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) asked if ...

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 Nebras...

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. Kevin is a...

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 experience...

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 coach and c...

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 was a pol...

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, personalized le...

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 spon...

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 been...

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 lawyer ...

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 betw...

In this episode I speak with Ashley Herd who is the founder and CEO of Manager Method where she helps employers and employees through training, coaching and tools that are engaging and actionable. Previously she was the SVP of People & Legal at Modern Luxury, an Associate General Counsel at McKinsey, a Legal Director at Yum foods, as well as in-house counsel at several other companies and as an employment lawyer at several private law firms. You may have seen Ashley on LinkedIn or TikTok where s...

In this episode I speak with Helen Wan. Helen is an author, speaker, and diversity and inclusion consultant who previously worked as a corporate, media, and intellectual property lawyer at law firms and in-house. She is best known as the author of The Partner Track which was recently turned into an original TV series on Netflix. Helen was born in California and raised in Northern Virginia. She is a graduate of Amherst College, UVA Law, and my alma mater Thomas Jefferson High School for Science ...

In today’s episode I am excited to speak with Housing Rights Attorney Sateesh Nori. Sateesh went from pursuing human rights law as a career to working in housing court in Brooklyn. He spent more than twenty years as a legal services attorney at The Legal Aid Society of New York City (including most recently as Attorney in Charge of the Queens Neighborhood Office) and Bedford Stuyvesant Community Legal Services. In those two decades Sateesh became a manager, started teaching as a clinical adjunct...

In today’s episode, I speak with Megan Cacace who is a civil rights lawyer and anti-discrimination advocate focused on the intersection of civil rights and technology. She currently serves as the Director of Anti-Discrimination & Equity Programs at Airbnb. Previously she worked as a civil rights lawyer at the law firm of Relman Colfax for almost 14 years. In that role, in addition to plaintiff-side civil rights litigation, she worked on civil rights audits including Facebook’s 2020 Audit. Before...

In today's episode I speak with Professor Mauricio Noroña who is a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic at Cardozo Law School. In that role, he supervises Clinic students on individual and impact litigation matters and drives large-scale immigration policy advocacy projects. Before joining the clinic, Noroña was the supervising attorney at African Services Committee where he led a team providing comprehensive legal services to immigr...

In today's episode I speak with M.C. Sungaila who is an Orange County-based shareholder and leader of the appellate practice at Buchalter. M.C. has briefed and argued appeals in a number of different practice areas at the California Supreme Court and throughout the country. She has won numerous awards including California Lawyer of the Year from California Lawyer Magazine and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. In addition to her practice, M.C. is active in pro bono and professional organizations. ...