How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin

**Rebecca Blake Chaikin is currently a Partner at Jackson Walker in Houston, Texas** In this episode I speak with Rebecca Blake Chaikin who at the time of her interview was a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York City where she practices in the areas of corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, and financial distress. Before attending law school at NYU, Rebecca was a paralegal at Kramer Levin in New York and a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C.  In our conversation we discuss her path to becoming a bankruptcy lawyer in the wake of the financial crisis, the unique work that restructuring lawyers do, the ways in which her work provides strategic responses to financial uncertainty, the value of what she learned as a paralegal, how to learn to issue spot in a vast new area of legal practice, and more.  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Legal Innovation expert Gabriel Teninbaum discusses transitioning legal practices to a one-to-many model using technology, the future of legal education and practice in tech, and the benefits of spaced repetition for learning in a fast-paced legal world.

In this episode I speak with Jeremy Siegel who is the Vice President for Compliance & Legal Risk at Eaze which is one of the largest cannabis delivery services in the country. Prior to joining Eaze, Jeremy worked as a litigation attorney, e-discovery project manager, and law clerk to Magistrate Judge John Facciola on the District Court for the District of Columbia and for Judge Richard Eaton on the United States Court of International Trade.  In our conversation we discuss his twisting and turning path to working in the cannabis industry, graduating law school in the middle of the financial crisis and finding a fulfilling career, the exciting part of working in an industry where the law is being written every single day, the connections between lawyering and lobbying in this highly regulated space, the joys (and challenges) of being a lawyer in a start up environment, finding ways to support not just the industry but also respond to the historical responses to cannabis including the war on drugs, the future of lawyers in the fast-growing cannabis community, and the importance of connecting to people in any work that you do.  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's special mini-episode I speak with Chrystal Mauro about the newly founded Legal Mentor Network where she serves as Executive Director. The Legal Mentor Network (full disclosure: I sit on the Board of Directors) is a new, non-profit, FREE mentorship program connecting law students and recently barred attorneys to more senior members of our profession. Like the How I Lawyer Podcast, the Legal Mentor Network seeks to provide alternative channels for the informal networking that we know is so important to the future of our profession especially during such challenging times.  The brain child of Brian Potts (Episode 38) and several others, the program has already matched over 1,000 law students and newly admitted attorneys with mentors in their preferred localities and fields of legal practice. Mentors love it. Mentees need it. And it has led to hundreds of new relationships, not to mention the dozens of young professionals who have landed jobs they otherwise would not have obtained. Operating informally since 2020, with the generous support and contribution of founding sponsor DLA Piper LLP, the informal network has been able to form a new non-profit organization, build a website, recruit an amazing executive board, and now the Network can begin implementing a larger, more formal (but still free!) nationwide mentoring program for years to come. If you want to learn more please read the press release available here. Most of all, I hope you enjoy the episode and consider signing up as a mentor or mentee at http://www.legalmentornetwork.org.

In this episode I speak with Suzanne Levy Friedman who is a Senior Associate in the Medical Devices and Technology Regulatory Group at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C.. In that role, Suzanne assists device companies in a wide range of activities across the life cycle of their products, including preparing regulatory submissions for clearance or approval of new devices, advising manufacturers on the lawful promotion and advertising of their devices, and addressing post-market enforcement issues.  She has a particular specialty in dealing with the FDA's evolving paradigm for software and digital health products, and she has helped clients determine the appropriate regulatory pathway for various products in this space and bring them to market. In law school, Suzanne interned at the FDA's Office of Chief Counsel, where she learned firsthand about the range of legal and regulatory issues addressed by the agency's Food, Drug, Device, Veterinary, and Tobacco centers and spent two years before law school working for a health policy consulting firm advising clients on the business impact of FDA actions and related legislation. We live in a world where consumer health products and even software can serve an important role in keeping us healthy. As a result we discuss the fast-moving and ever-growing practice area of medical device law where Suzanne regularly practices before the FDA. We also discuss Suzanne's path, the mindsets and skills necessary to succeed in a scientific practice area (even if you are not a trained scientist), the varied toolbox of experience necessary to work in a heavily regulated area, how to communicate with in-house partners to succeed as outside counsel, and the importance of project management skills to young lawyers.   If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Suchi Pahi who is a data privacy and cybersecurity lawyer who currently works as a Senior Privacy and Product Counsel at Databricks. She previously served as a Director of Privacy and Business Affairs and Acting Chief Privacy Officer at Rally Health and before that as an associate in the data privacy and cybersecurity practice groups at two major law firms: Greenberg Traurig and Baker Hostetler. She is a regular speaker on data security topics and holds her CIPP/US certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. In our conversation we take a deep dive into the worlds of data privacy and cybersecurity (and the differences between the two). We also discuss Suchi's path to these practice areas, ways to pivot to this practice area, the increasing importance of these practice areas in today's legal landscape, and how lawyers who work in these areas can be effective by being genuinely curious, excited about new technologies, empathetic listeners, and most of all ready to work in emerging areas of the law that are rapidly evolving. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Jared Knicley who is a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, DC. Jared's practice focuses on defending imperiled species, protecting communities from chemical spills, ensuring public access to government records, and enforcing federal environmental laws in courts across the country. Jared first joined NRDC as a Beagle Litigation Fellow after clerking for Judge Diana Gribbon Motz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore and Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia where we were co-clerks. Jared is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he studied Urban Planning and Harvard Law where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Environmental Law Review. In our conversation we discuss different ways to work at the intersection of law and the environment, his path from urban planning to environmental litigator, techniques for crafting effective complaints in civil cases, and the importance of finding and cultivating not just mentors but also champions in the early years of a lawyer's career.  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Russ Feingold who is currently the President of the American Constitution Society, the country’s leading progressive legal organization. He previously served as a United States Senator for the state of Wisconsin for eighteen years and for ten years before that as State Senator in Wisconsin. He also served as the Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and as a professor at several colleges and law schools. Russ is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Oxford University where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and Harvard Law School. In our conversation we discuss his path to politics, how becoming a lawyer allowed him to have both an impactful and varied career, the role of thinking big and taking chances in creating social change, the problems of today's political climate, ACS's new podcast "Broken Law," and his thoughts on the future of the federal judiciary and the United States Supreme Court. **PERSONAL NOTE: My wife is a Director of Policy and Program at the American Constitution Society**  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Brian Potts. Brian is a Partner at Perkins Coie based in Madison, Wisconsin. He is an environment and energy lawyer with an active pro bono practice but is also an active speaker, writer, and serial entrepreneur (including inventing the LegalBoard (legalkeyboards.com), the world's first computer keyboard made just for lawyers). He is also deeply committed to demystifying the process of getting a legal job and helping young lawyers find their legal path. During the pandemic he has personally mentored hundreds of lawyers he met on LinkedIn and has started an informal lawyer mentorship network. His book, The Jobless Lawyer's Handbook (https://www.brianhpotts.com/), is scheduled to come out very soon.  Brian's professional story is one of patience and persistence. His firm bio includes the following anecdote about his own path his current position:  "In 2002, as a second-year law student, Brian applied to work at every one of the Top 100 law firms in the country. He received form rejection letters from all of them. Less than a decade later, Brian was among the youngest to make equity partner at one of those firms. And today, he’s an equity partner at Perkins Coie―where his form rejection letter from the firm in 2002 hangs on his office wall."  In our conversation we discuss his path from rejection letters to law firm partnership, how investing in yourself is one of the highest leverage things you can do as a young lawyer, techniques for more senior lawyers to serve as more effective mentors, finding joy and entrepreneurial success in his side hustles, and tips and techniques for standing out and getting hired in today's job market.  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode I speak with Alex Su. Alex is currently the Head of Community Development at Ironclad, a digital contract management company. Before working at Ironclad, Alex was a Sales Team Lead and Director of Business Development at several other legal tech startups and before transitioning to the world of legal tech, Alex was an Associate at the New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell and a law clerk in Chicago to federal district court Judge Edmond Chang. In addition to Alex's work in the legal tech space he is perhaps most well known on TikTok (where you can find him @legaltechbro) where his comedic videos about the legal industry get an incredible 3-4 million monthly views. He is also on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn where he shares his personal story and social commentary on the legal industry. In our conversation we discuss his path to legal tech, how to find the best legal career for you (even if the path is not as traditional), how being authentic on social media allows him to lead conversations about the future of the legal profession, the valuable skill of cold calling (and how to do it better), and advice for consumers of legal tech as well as those who want to enter the space.  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.