How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin

In this episode I speak with John B. Quinn who is one of the world’s top trial lawyers and also the founder of one of its top law firms. Bloomberg has described John as one of the “most famous practicing lawyers in the world.” During his career, he has represented numerous major companies and prominent individuals in important cases across practically every area of legal practice. Quinn Emanuel, the litigation-only firm which John co-founded in 1986 with three other attorneys, is one of the world's most successful and profitable law firms and boasts more than 800 litigators worldwide.  In our conversation we discuss his path to the law; the decision to leave a prestigious transactional practice at Cravath in New York City as a third-year associate to move to California; starting and growing his own law firm (even after having his first attempt at starting a law firm fail); learning to litigate by litigating (as opposed to the more traditional apprenticeship approach); the techniques and mental models that make high-quality litigators stand out from the pack; the importance of knowing what will ultimately matter in a case first; and the decisions that he and his firm have made to build such a successful, lucrative, and unique practice including, most recently, announcing a shift to a permanent "work from anywhere" model.   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 Emily Dunlap who is a Senior Staff Attorney at Advocating Opportunity in Columbus, Ohio, an organization dedicated to providing comprehensive, holistic, trauma-responsive legal and support services to persons who have experienced sex and labor trafficking. In her practice she focuses specifically on immigration law, post-conviction relief, family law, housing issues, and other civil matters. She is also as an educational and organizational resource who conducts trainings on anti-human trafficking activities.  Emily started her career as a post-graduate Greif Fellow in Juvenile Human Trafficking at the Ohio State University College of Law from which she also holds her JD. Emily is also an alum of the Americorps Vista program and a graduate of Ohio University. In our conversation we discuss her path to the law and more specifically to working with trafficked individuals, connecting with and gaining trust from clients who have gone through challenging situations, the importance and centrality of trauma-responsive and narrative-based lawyering in her practice, the benefits of providing different types of legal services to a single client, ways to separate her work and personal life, and the importance of developing a professional network of people you can trust along the way. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

Welcome back to How I Lawyer!  In most episodes of the How I Lawyer Podcast I interview individual lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. This special episode is the fourth in a series called "Panel Opinion" where I bring together experts on a particular topic. In this episode I discuss the important topic of oral argument with a superstar panel including Judge Patricia Millett, Joe Palmore, and Professor Tiffany Wright for this discussion.  Judge Patricia Millett is currently a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit where she has served since December 2013. Prior to becoming a federal judge, she led the Supreme Court Practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field LLP in Washington DC. Earlier in her career she spent fifteen years representing the United States of America in the federal courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court while working on the Appellate Staff of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division and as an Assistant in the Office of the Solicitor General. In total, she argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court prior to becoming a Judge. She started her career as an associate at Miller & Chevalier and as a law clerk to Judge Thomas Tang on the Ninth Circuit. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Go Illini) and Harvard Law School, Go Crimson.  Joe Palmore is the co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Appellate and Supreme Court Practice and Managing Partner of its DC Office. Joe is an experienced appellate advocate with 12 arguments in the US Supreme Court and more than 45 in other appeals courts nationwide. Prior to joining MoFo, Joe served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice for nearly five years where he was responsible for briefing the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s Minimum Coverage provision. He started his career as a law clerk to Judge John Gleeson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eastern District of New York, Judge Dennis Jacobs of the Second Circuit and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is graduate of Harvard (Go Crimson) and UVA Law (Go Wahoos). Tiffany Wright is the Co-Director of Howard Law’s Civil Rights Clinic and a Senior Associate at Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLP. Professor Wright began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Royce Lamberth on the United States District Court in DC, Judge David Tatel on the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the United States Supreme Court. She has recently briefed and argued a number of key Civil Rights cases and was recognized by the National Bar Association as one of the Best Advocates Under 40 and the Nation’s Best Advocate of the Year. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland (Go Terps) and the Georgetown University Law Center (Go Hoyas) where she completed her law degree at night while also working full-time as a Law Clerk and Paralegal at the US Attorneys Office for the District of Maryland. Tiffany is also the first return guest to the podcast as her story is featured on Episode #13. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or 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 Robert Ingalls who is the Founder and Chief Strategist at LawPods—a company that produces branded podcasts for some of the premier law firms in the world. I have gotten to know Rob over the past several months since LawPods started editing the How I Lawyer Podcast and became a sponsor of the show. If you are interested in lawyers that choose to pivot from the everyday practice of law or if you have ever been curious about why lawyers might want to podcast or how to try it yourself, this is the episode for you. Rob started his career practicing criminal law, civil litigation, and estate planning. But after some time in the trenches he decided to pivot from the formal practice of law to focus on more creative and entrepreneurial pursuits like helping lawyers and law firms create professional podcasts.  My conversation with Rob was one of the most fun I have had to date. We discussed his decision to become a lawyer, some of the struggles he had when practicing law, his pivot to working with lawyers that want to podcast, how his legal training has served him well since starting a small business, the power of storytelling and audience for 21st century lawyers, the ways that starting a podcast can help lawyers build networks and communities, and the importance of embracing who you are and what you want to do every day when choosing a professional path.  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or 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 Jason Bennett who is a Partner at Baker Botts in Houston, Texas where he serves as the firm-wide chair of the Global Projects Practice as well as co-head of the firm’s Energy Sector leadership group. Specifically, his practice focuses on the development and financing of gas & hydrogen, as well as carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS). In this role, Jason assists clients with developing and structuring investments and joint ventures in the energy sector through project agreements and venturing vehicles, as well as acquisitions and sales of interests in energy projects. Before law school, Jason spent a year on a US-government fellowship in Kyiv. He is a graduate of the University of Texas (during which he studied abroad in Moscow) and is also a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. In our conversation we discuss his path to energy law; his time living and working fo Baker Botts in D.C., Dubai, Moscow, and Texas; how he manages billion-dollar energy deals; techniques for junior lawyers to learn a new, technical practice area; the future of the fast-moving field of energy law; and the importance of remaining curious in your legal 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. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

Happy New Year! After some time to reset in January, I am happy to say welcome back to YEAR 2 of the How I Lawyer Podcast. YEAR 1 included 50 episodes and 49,500 downloads. I am so excited to see what YEAR 2 brings.  In this episode I speak with Chief Justice Harold Melton who is the Former Chief Justice of the Georgia State Supreme Court and a current partner at Troutman Pepper based in Atlanta where his practice focuses on complex litigation matters. Prior to serving on the bench for sixteen years, Justice Melton served as executive counsel to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and in the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Georgia where he worked on issues related to consumer protection, tax, the Georgia Tobacco Settlement, and the creation of the Georgia Lottery Corporation. He is a proud graduate of Auburn University (Go Tigers) where he was the first African-American student government president and where the student center is named after him. He is also a graduate of Georgia Law School (Go Bulldogs). In our conversation we discuss his path to law school and the law; how he found himself nominated to the Georgia State Supreme Court at a young age; how he and his colleagues reached decisions on cases presented to them; and what he has taken with him from his time as a Justice to his new role as a Partner at Troutman Pepper in Atlanta.  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys. 

In Episode #050, the final episode of the first year of the How I Lawyer Podcast, I speak with not one but two incredible law firm pro bono counsels about their careers and how to integrate pro bono work into any legal practice.   My first guest is Tiffany Graves who is Pro Bono Counsel at Bradley where she runs the firm's pro bono programs across ten offices. Prior to joining Bradley, Tiffany was the Executive Director of the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission an organization created by the Mississippi Supreme Court in order to improve access to civil justice and civil legal aid. She also served as the interim director of the University of Mississippi School of Law's Pro Bono Initiative and Executive Director of the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers' Project. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and the Co-President of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel.  My second guest is Ellyn Haikin Josef who is Pro Bono Counsel at Vinson & Elkins based in Houston, Texas. Ellyn has been leading Vinson & Elkins's pro bono work for 13 years and is a recognized expert in the field. Prior to joining the firm, Ellyn was a staff attorney at the Houston College of Law Legal Clinic.  In our conversation we discuss what they do each day in the role of pro bono counsel, the ways in which their firms select pro bono projects, the professionalization of their field and its impact on the quantity and quality of pro bono law projects to lawyers today, how all lawyers (not just junior lawyers) can and should build pro bono into their practice and what they can gain personally and professionally from the experience, what questions law students can ask to determine the actual commitment of individual firms to pro bono work, and what you can do in 2022 to use your law degree (or future law degree) to help your community. It was an inspiring conversation for me and I am sure it will be for you as well. The two articles mentioned in the episode are available here: 1. David Lash, The Case for Professionalizing Pro Bono Services 2. Esther F. Lardent, Making the Business Case for Pro Bono Many thanks for listening all year. The How I Lawyer Podcast will be back in February with new interviews and regular episodes. As always, if you enjoyed 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 David J. Ribner who is a CFIUS and international trade compliance lawyer in the Washington D.C. Office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. His practice focuses on counseling clients in the United States and abroad on regulatory matters including securing national security clearances by CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) as well as counseling clients on compliance with U.S. economic sanctions, export controls, customs laws, and the FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). David has been recommended as a leading lawyer for international trade by The Legal 500 US and recognized as an “Up & Coming” CFIUS expert by Chambers USA. In our conversation we discuss the unique nature of his cross-board practice; how to gain expertise in a very technical area of law; the ways that trying different practice areas can make you a stronger specialist in the long run; what its like to work with international clients; how to prepare for a phone call with a client; and how he manages his time while working with dozens of clients each day. 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 my friend Adam Yoffie who is currently Senior Counsel for Litigation & Government Investigations at Bristol Myers Squibb based in Princeton, New Jersey. Before going to Bristol Myers Squibb, Adam was a trial attorney for the Health Care Fraud Strike Force at the United States Department of Justice and an Associate at Williams & Connolly, LLP in Washington DC. He started his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Anita Brody of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Judge Morton Greenberg of United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Before law school he was a Deputy Press Secretary for the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and a Fulbright Scholar in Jerusalem. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and Duke University.  In our conversation we discuss his path to health care law; the differences between practicing as a Big Law litigator, prosecutor, and now in-house counsel; how one's personal story can affect your professional path; techniques for standing out as a junior attorney; the emerging areas of pharmaceutical 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.

In this episode I speak with my dear friend and former co-clerk, Austin King. Austin is currently the Associate General Counsel for Rulemaking at the Federal Trade Commission. I conducted this interview when Austin was in his former role at the FTC as Attorney Advisor to Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Before joining the FTC in 2018, Austin was a counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and an attorney at the nonprofit Better Markets, Inc. Before law school, Austin was an elected official serving as an alderperson in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. He also worked for the SEIU and Acorn. Austin is a proud graduate of the University of Wisconsin, New York University School of Law (where he graduated summa cum laude as a Root-Tilden Scholar), and the Harvard Kennedy School from which he holds an MPA.  He served as a law clerk to Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York and Chief Judge Robert Katzmann of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit where he and I successfully shared an office for 11 months. He spoke with me purely in his personal capacity and his views on the episode do not represent the views of the FTC or the government. In our conversation we discuss his path to public interest law from local politician, the unique role of government lawyer and attorney advisor, the power and importance of being both a good writer and a good editor of the writing of others, ways to land a legal government job, and the differences between clerking on the district court and on the court of appeals. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to sign up for future episodes at www.howilawyer.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.