

How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin
Jonah Perlin
In this podcast Professor Jonah Perlin (Georgetown Law) interviews lawyers from across the profession about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 1, 2023 • 43min
#120: Hilary Gerzhoy - Legal Ethics and Malpractice Lawyer
Hilary Gerzhoy, Vice Chair of HWG LLP's Legal Ethics and Malpractice group, discusses her journey to becoming a lawyer, the unique nature of legal ethics and malpractice work, the future of legal work and AI, the surge in high-profile legal ethics cases, joining legal committees and making connections, and advice for those entering the legal profession.

Aug 25, 2023 • 43min
#119: Aliza Shatzman - Judicial Accountability Advocate & Non-Profit Founder
Aliza Shatzman, Judicial Accountability Advocate & Non-Profit Founder, discusses her decision to become a lawyer, her own clerkship experience, and her mission to improve the judicial clerkship system. She talks about the ups and downs of founding a non-profit advocacy group as a young lawyer and the challenges faced by students in the law field. The podcast also explores the future of the clerkship market, cultural changes, and the importance of career planning.

Aug 4, 2023 • 32min
#118: Joshua Scharff - General Counsel & Director, Programs at Brady
Joshua Scharff, General Counsel & Director, Programs at Brady, talks about pursuing dual degrees in law and international relations, the challenges of working towards a safer future amidst gun violence, and provides advice for starting out in the legal profession.

Jul 21, 2023 • 52min
#117: Allison Snyder - Construction Lawyer
In today’s episode I speak with Allison J. Snyder, a long-time construction attorney, arbitrator, and mediator based in Houston, Texas. She has over 35 years of experience as a construction attorney specializing in construction and commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation, construction contract negotiation and drafting and the resolution of various construction claims/work-outs. After 22 years at the Law Firm of Porter Hedges LLP, she went out on her own in May 2023 and will continue to focus on her own ADR practice focused on the construction industry. Ms. Snyder is a Fellow in the American College of Construction Lawyers and the College of Commercial Arbitrators. She has served as Chair of the State Bar of Texas Construction Law Section and as Chair of the Houston Bar Association ADR Section. She is listed as one of America’s leading lawyers in construction law by Chambers USA. Allison was recommended by a longtime How I Lawyer listener who wrote the following: Allison is one of the absolute best construction lawyers in Texas, if not nationwide, and is a personal role model of mine. The first thing out of every single person’s mouth when her name comes up is invariably “Allison is so smart. . . Her demeanor is very calm and thoughtful, she comes across so well and authoritative without ever having to appear to push for it — accomplished, aggressive lawyers from all ages and backgrounds seem to just listen when she speaks." With that intro, how could I not interview her. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.👍 Want to Support the Podcast in 2 minutes or less? Leave a Review (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners) Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify Purchase How I Lawyer Merchandise Share on LinkedIn or Twitter

Jun 30, 2023 • 45min
#116: Betsy Philpott - Sports Lawyer & Washington Nationals General Counsel
In today’s episode I am excited to speak with Betsy Philpott who is a Senior Vice President & General Counsel of my hometown Major League baseball team the Washington Nationals. After starting her career as an associate in BigLaw for 4.5 years, she took a career pivot by starting over as an intern and going back to school for her Masters in Sports Industry Management. She has now been with the Nationals Organization for more than 9 years starting as a Legal Affairs Specialist and working her way up to General Counsel.This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.👍 Want to Support the Podcast in 2 minutes or less? Leave a Review (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners) Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify Purchase How I Lawyer Merchandise Share on LinkedIn or Twitter

Jun 23, 2023 • 49min
#115: Panel Opinion - Getting a Judicial Clerkship (Collaboration with The Appellate Project)
In today’s special Panel Opinion episode of How I Lawyer produced in collaboration with The Appellate Project I am excited to welcome four lawyers to talk about the judicial clerkship process and how to secure a judicial clerkship. Specifically I speak with:
Megan Moffett
Grayce Zelphin
Ramon Ryan
Justin Lam
I am excited to partner with the Appellate Project once again 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. On Episode #103, I spoke with four appellate lawyers about their paths to appellate practice and I previously spoke to TAP's Executive Director and Founder Juvaria Khan on Episode #10.
Learn more about The Appellate Project at http://www.theappellateproject.org. The Clerkship Handbook discussed on the episode is available here.
This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.
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Leave a Review (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners)
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Jun 9, 2023 • 41min
#114: Beth Kurtz - Child Welfare & Civil Rights Lawyer
In today’s episode I speak with Beth Kurtz. Beth, who is appearing on the show in her personal capacity, currently works as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Before DOJ, Beth was an Attorney at the American Bar Association at the Center on Children and the Law and before that worked for five years at the Children’s Law Center first as an Equal Justice Works Fellow and later as a Supervising Attorney. Beth started her legal career as a judicial law clerk on the DC Court of Appeals. Before attending law school, Beth worked at American’s United for the Separation of Church and State.This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.👍 Want to Support the Podcast in 2 minutes or less? Leave a Review (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners) Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify Purchase How I Lawyer Merchandise Share on LinkedIn or Twitter

May 26, 2023 • 49min
#113: Mark Fava - Aviation Lawyer
In today’s episode I speak with veteran Aviation Lawyer Mark Fava. Mark started his career as a judicial law clerk and litigation attorney in Charleston, South Carolina but for the past 20+ year he has worked in aviation. In August 2001 mere weeks before 9/11 he went to work for Delta as a Chief Operations Attorney managing passenger litigation and defending the company for all FAA actions. He then worked as a Law Firm Partner focused on litigation and regulatory matters related to airlines, and for the past 13 years has been at Boeing where he has served in a number of different legal and executive roles.Mark is also active in writing and speaking about the legal profession and aviation law. He has a blog called www.theaviatorlawyer.com, he has taught CLE courses about what he learned from his time as a law clerk, and now he is almost done with a book called What I Learned from the Admiral about business and leadership lessons I learned as an admiral's aide over 30 years ago.Mark is a graduate of University of North Carolina and the University of South Carolina Law.In our conversation we discuss Mark's path to the law, finding and then carving out a niche in aviation, what it was like to be working as an airline lawyer on 9/11, his time as a junior associate and then later as a partner after being in-house, his move back in-house to Boeing, his transition from a legal role to his current role as ombudsmen, his public-facing speaking and content and why that has been so important to his growth, and so many lessons he has learned along the way. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.👍 Want to Support the Podcast in 2 minutes or less? Leave a Review (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners) Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify Purchase How I Lawyer Merchandise Share on LinkedIn or Twitter

May 19, 2023 • 51min
#112: Panel Opinion - How I Law Student (An Episode About Paths to Law School & Finding Success Once You Arrive)
Hello & Welcome Back! In today’s very special panel opinion episode, I am excited to welcome four FUTURE lawyers to the podcast to talk about their paths to law school, their lives as Georgetown Law students, and their tips for success. I think this episode is a great starting place if you think you might want to go to law school. It is also a great listen for those who haven't been in law school in a little while.
My guests are Noah Curtiss, Naman Gupta, Jon-Mark Overvold, and Alexis Marvel. I couldn't be more grateful to them for sharing their time and their personal stories. On the episode we discuss their different paths to the profession, their motivations to attend law school, what a day in the life of a law student is like and their tips & tricks for success.
I am lucky enough to work with law students everyday but recording this episode was really powerful for me. It is a reminder that the future of our profession is very bright.
One final note. Our four panelists today were selected because of their support of the Georgetown Law Equal Justice Foundation auction, an entirely student-run program that helps provides funding for Georgetown Law students working in unpaid summer internships within public interest organizations in Washington, D.C., across the nation, and around the world. I couldn't be more pleased to support EJF with this episode.
This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.
👍 Want to Support the Podcast in 2 minutes or less?
Leave a Review (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners)
Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify
Purchase How I Lawyer Merchandise
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May 12, 2023 • 51min
#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 as at other law firms in the Entertainment space. In addition, Paul is the co-host of Better Call Paul, a podcast that discusses the business and legal side behind the scenes of Hollywood, sports, and entertainment. In our conversation we discuss Paul's path to law, his decision to take an in-house job at Marvel out of school, his first day on the job, the differences between BigLaw and in-house practice, skills for junior lawyers, the power of visual communication, his podcast, and more. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.👍 Want to Support the Podcast in 2 minutes or less? Leave a Review (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners) Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify Purchase How I Lawyer Merchandise Share on LinkedIn or Twitter