In this episode I speak with Bradford Hardin who chairs Davis Wright Tremaine’s national banking and financial services practice where he frequently supports banks, credit unions, and innovative FinTech companies through high-risk examinations and enforcement investigations at the state and federal levels. Bradford also advises on regulatory compliance and new product development. In his career, he has worked with large banks and fast-moving challengers alike in developing innovative new products, overcoming regulatory barriers, and getting to market. Bradford started his career as a Law Clerk in the Middle District of Alabama and then worked at WilmerHale in its DC office before moving to Davis Wright Tremaine. He is a graduate of the University of South Alabama and the University of Alabama Law School. In our conversation we discuss his path from litigation to a counseling, investigations, and regulatory practice; what he does in his role as a banking lawyer (and law firm practice leader); how he broke into the DC market from his start in Alabama (and how others can make the move to new legal markets); the importance of being autodidactic and constantly learning as a junior attorney; his approach to providing exceptional client service that goes beyond just being responsive; finding your niche in the law; how to stay in the law by being willing to pivot if your first job is not the perfect fit; and the importance of a team and sticking to your sweet spot.  If you enjoy this episode, please make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

David Sparks, known as MacSparky, is a former business law attorney turned consumer technology expert. He shares his journey from a 'country doctor' lawyer to a productivity powerhouse. David discusses the significance of efficient workflow systems in legal practices, how technology can enhance focus rather than hinder it, and the need for lawyers to adapt to advancements like AI. He emphasizes the importance of attention management and effective document handling, offering actionable insights for improving productivity in the legal field.

This month, May 2022, How I Lawyer is teaming up with the Personal Jurisdiction Podcast (https://www.personaljxpod.com/) to feature five interviews on the important topic of mental health in the legal profession. This is the final episode in this series. Thanks to the Personal Jurisdiction team for joining me in this important work. In this week's episode I speak with Doron Gold who is a psychotherapist and former practicing lawyer (primarily in the area of family law) from Toronto, Canada. Doron works primarily with lawyers, law students, and judges as well as other professionals. His personal experience working in the legal profession, coupled with his many years of experiences working with lawyers in distress at the Ontario Lawyers' Assistance Program (OLAP) give him a unique and valuable perspective on the challenges faced by these individuals. In addition to treating lawyers, Doron presents regularly on issues related to mental health for lawyers. He is a graduate of York University and York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Windsor from which he holds a Masters of Social Work. You can learn more about him and his work on Twitter @DoronJGold.  In the episode we discuss his personal path from lawyer to therapist, the mental health challenges that lawyers often face, ways that lawyers can and should find help, why perfectionism is so common in legal professionals (and the challenges resulting from this perfectionism), the importance of thinking about "how you feel as opposed to how should you feel," learning about yourself and the real (as opposed to perceived) expectations of those around you, the power of therapy when you find the right person to talk to, techniques for finding the right person to talk to, the difference between feedback and criticism, the benefit of "finding your people" and building community, the value of showing kindness when you see a meaningful change in a friend or colleague, and more.  This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

**This month, May 2022, How I Lawyer is teaming up with the Personal Jurisdiction Podcast (https://www.personaljxpod.com/) to feature five interviews on the important topic of mental health in the legal profession. This is episode #4 in this collaboration. Learn more here.** In today’s episode, Personal Jurisdiction hosts Hallie Ritzu and Allison Freedman speak with Dr. Diana Uchiyama who is a lawyer & psychologist helping people struggling with mental health and substance use issues as the the Executive Director of the Illinois Lawyers' Assistance Program.  Dr. Diana was previously the Administrator of Psychological Services for DuPage County and worked for the Kane County Diagnostic Center, as both a Staff Psychologist and Juvenile Drug Court Coordinator. She also has an extensive background doing court ordered psychological, sanity, fitness, and sex offender evaluations and therapy. She has implemented numerous changes to court ordered programs both in Kane and DuPage County and is a certified trauma informed care trainer. Prior to obtaining her masters and doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Dr. Uchiyama was an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County. She obtained her law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law. If you enjoy this episode, please make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Stay tuned next week for my interview with another truly inspirational lawyer turned psychotherapist, the Lawyer Therapist Doron Gold. The How I Lawyer Podcast is sponsored by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys. Personal Jurisdiction is edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media.

**This month, May 2022, How I Lawyer is teaming up with the Personal Jurisdiction Podcast (https://www.personaljxpod.com/) to feature five interviews on the important topic of mental health in the legal profession. Learn more here.** In today’s episode I speak with Brian Cuban. Brian is a Dallas-based attorney, keynote speaker, writer, and addiction recovery advocate. Brian has been in long-term recovery from alcohol, cocaine and bulimia since April of 2007. Brian is well known and speaks across the country at law schools & law firms both to tell his story and to offer advice on how our profession can better improve mental health awareness, awareness of substance abuse problems, and building more compassionate communities. He is the author of three books: Shattered Image, the Addicted Lawyer, and most recently his debut novel: The Ambulance Chaser.  In our conversation, Brian candidly shared his personal story from addiction to recovery; what he recommends to individuals who are struggling & those who want to support them, and suggestions for the legal profession and legal education writ large.  **Please note this episode does cover several topics that some might find disturbing including substance abuse, eating disorders, and suicide.** This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

**This month, May 2022, How I Lawyer is teaming up with the Personal Jurisdiction Podcast (https://www.personaljxpod.com/) to feature five interviews on the important topic of mental health in the legal profession. Learn more here.** In today’s episode Personal Jurisdiction hosts Hallie Ritzu and Allison Freedman speak with University of Michigan Law Professors Bridgette Carr and Vivek Sankaran. Bridgette Carr is a Clinical Professor of Law and the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Michigan Law School. She is also the founding director of the Law School’s Human Trafficking Clinic, the first clinical law program solely devoted to addressing this issue comprehensively. Bridgette is also a first generation college graduate who wasn’t sure law school was for her. She didn’t so a journal or apply for a clerkship, and instead spent her spare time during law school working at a local legal aid office and an asylum shelter. Despite now being an expert on human trafficking, Bridgette hadn’t heard of human trafficking work until after she graduated from law school.   Vivek Sankaran is also a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. He directs both the Child Advocacy Law Clinic and the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic, through which law students represent children and parents in trials and appellate proceedings. He is also a father of three boys, he loves coaching youth sports, and he is learning to play the guitar.  Together they teach a course that they created called “Finding a Fulfilling Life in the Law” at the University of Michigan Law School. In it, they ask students to consider what they want out of life after law school and how they can create that life. The course applies innovative principles of problem solving to the concept of designing your life in and beyond law school. Bridgette and Vivek also recently launched an exciting new business—LawLifeProf Coaching—to help lawyers in practice build a toolbox for a fulfilling life.  In their conversation they discuss why being curious, trying new things, and staying connected to people you care about can help you to design a fulfilling life in the law. There is no yellow brick road, there is no checklist - but Bridgette and Vivek share many pieces of advice and personal reflections for anyone who is not quite fulfilled in their career.   If you enjoy this episode, please make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Stay tuned next week for my interview with author, activist, and motivational speaker, Brian Cuban. The How I Lawyer Podcast is sponsored by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

**This month, May 2022, How I Lawyer is teaming up with the Personal Jurisdiction Podcast (https://www.personaljxpod.com/) to feature five interviews on the important topic of mental health in the legal profession. Learn more here.** In today’s episode I speak with Professor Heidi Brown who is the Director of the Legal Writing Program at Brooklyn Law School. Having grappled with extreme performance anxiety as a law student, attorney, and new law professor, Heidi ultimately untangled her fears, and embraced authenticity as a powerful asset in teaching and practicing law. She is the author of two fantastic books on the subject, The Introverted Lawyer: A Seven-Step Journey Toward Authentically Empowered Advocacy, and Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy.  Professor Brown’s brand new book, The Flourishing Lawyer, analogizes law students and lawyers to athletes and performers & offers a fresh lens through which to view the palpable challenge of enriching and safeguarding well-being in the legal profession—an approach that (1) champions individual and collective strengths, rather than stigmatizing purported weaknesses, and (2) redefines “character and fitness to practice law” as attributes we can, and must, actively and continuously cultivate, as individuals and legal communities.  She recently earned her master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BA and JD from the University of Virginia. In our conversation we discuss her path in the law and her decision to study topics related to mental health and success in the legal profession, staying true to yourself as a lawyer, the difference between introversion and social anxiety, techniques from athletes and performers that can be applied to a career in the law, and so much more.  If you enjoy this episode, please make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

In this episode I speak with Fabio Bertoni who is the General Counsel at The New Yorker Magazine and an experienced media lawyer. Previously he served as an Assistant General Counsel at HarperCollins, a Deputy General Counsel at ALM Media, and as an associate at two different New York City law firms. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School and at NYU.  In our conversation we discussed his path from journalist to a lawyer who works with journalists; the process, decision, and value of getting a dual degree; the importance of law school clinics to his legal path; the overlap of the legal and journalistic mindsets; the roles that he plays as an in-house media lawyer including pre-publication vetting and review and other work related to potential libel claims; the future of journalism and the law;  the difference between law-firm lawyering and in-house lawyering; the challenges of leaving and returning to the legal workforce after spending time at home with his then-young children; and more.  If you enjoy this episode, please make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

In this episode I speak with Professor Danielle Citron who is the Jefferson Scholars Foundation Schenck Distinguished Professor in Law and Caddell and Chapman Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School, where she writes and teaches about privacy, free expression, and civil rights. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2019 for her work on cyberstalking and intimate privacy. She also serves as the inaugural director of the school’s LawTech Center. She is a gifted teacher and prolific writer including two books Hate Crimes in Cyberspace and the forthcoming The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age (available for pre-order here) and more than 50 law review articles. More than that, she is a public intellectual who has published in popular outlets, given testimony to lawmakers, and has worked directly with legislators on issues related to technology and privacy.  Before joining UVA Law, Professor Citron taught at the Boston University School of Law and the University of Maryland School of Law where she progressed from Visiting Assistant Professor to a named professorship with the rank of tenure. She started her legal career as a litigation associate at Wilkie Farr in New York and served as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge Mary Johnson Lowe. She is a graduate of Duke University and Fordham Law. In our conversation we discussed her largely unplanned path to legal academia in a field that did not even really exist when she graduated law school, how disappointment and being told no is an important part of growing as a junior lawyer, ways to become a part of a scholarly community even as a law student or junior lawyer, her writing process and how she crafts scholarship that speaks to academic and more general audiences, the fast-growing area of technology and data privacy (and the jobs that are being created as a result), and the importance of being a life-long student as a lawyer. If you enjoy this episode, please make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

In this episode I speak with Sara Y. Razi who is the Global Co-Chair of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice at Simpson Thacher. She joined the firm's Washington D.C. office in 2013 after serving as a senior official at the Federal Trade Commission for nearly a decade. Sara has been recognized as a Leading Lawyer by the Legal 500 and was ranked one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation in the United States by Benchmark Litigation. In addition to advising clients in antitrust investigations and litigation as well as mergers, she serves co-chair of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee. She started her career as an Associate at Jones Day. In our conversation we discussed her path from horse trainer & molecular biology major to antitrust lawyer; how she became interested in antitrust law; the varied daily life of an antitrust lawyer; the differences between practicing as a government lawyer and as a Big Law lawyer (as well as how those experiences informed one another); how junior lawyers can stand out in a technical practice area like antitrust; how law students can prepare for on campus interviews; how she makes time (and helps others make time) to do pro bono work; and more. If you enjoy this episode, please make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.