Personal Jurisdiction
Hallie Ritzu, Allison Freedman
When you look up “Personal Jurisdiction” in Black’s Law Dictionary, it directs you to the entry for “Jurisdiction.” We won’t do that to you. We’re here because there’s not enough good information available for law students and new attorneys to make informed choices about their careers.
Join co-hosts Allison Freedman and Hallie Ritzu as we talk to a variety of people within the first 10ish years of practice to hear about their journeys to fulfilling careers and the advice they have for getting there. From government to start-ups; politics to academia; in-house to legal aid—we’ll get the scoop on what it’s really like to work in different areas of the law, so you can chart your own course for success.
Join co-hosts Allison Freedman and Hallie Ritzu as we talk to a variety of people within the first 10ish years of practice to hear about their journeys to fulfilling careers and the advice they have for getting there. From government to start-ups; politics to academia; in-house to legal aid—we’ll get the scoop on what it’s really like to work in different areas of the law, so you can chart your own course for success.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 15, 2022 • 59min
Let's Get Personal with Todd Belcore, Executive Director of Social Change and Advocate for Social, Economic & Racial Equity
Support the work of Social Change by donating, volunteering your time, and following Social Change on social media to keep updated on the important work they're doing. Visit Social Change online at https://socialchange.siteFollow Social Change on Twitter @CHIsocialchange, Instagram @CHIsocialchange and Facebook Connect with Todd Belcore on LinkedIn. Learn more about the Equal Justice Works Fellowship that Todd was a part of after law school. As an EJW Fellow, Todd worked at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago where he focused on litigating, organizing, educating, and crafting legislation to ensure that individuals with criminal records are not unjustly denied employment or occupational licenses.Todd is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Northwestern University School of Law.Todd also makes an impact by mediating disputes and teaching law students how to transform systems to make them equity-centered via a class called "The New Jim Crow" (that he teaches at Northwestern Law and University of Chicago Law School).As a result of Todd's commitment to transforming lives and communities, he has received 23 honors, including the ABA's National Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year and the White House's Champion of Change Awards. Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comOn Twitter @PersonalJxPod And on Instagram @PersonalJxPodcastPersonal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. Our logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Personal Jurisdiction is edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod.Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7614-pleasant-porridgeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Feb 8, 2022 • 55min
Let's Get Personal with Katherine Leung, Labor Lawyer
All opinions in this episode are those of Katherine Leung, personally, and not intended to be attributed to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).Katherine Leung is a Field Attorney at the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. Katherine is a graduate of Wellesley College (2014) and Harvard Law School (2017). Connect with Katherine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineeleung/ Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comOn Twitter @PersonalJxPod And on Instagram @PersonalJxPodcastPersonal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. Our logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Personal Jurisdiction is edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod.Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7614-pleasant-porridgeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Jan 4, 2022 • 37min
Let's Get Personal about Season 1
Get excited for Season 2 by catching up on the great episodes from Season 1. During Season 1, we talked to: 🗳Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, Esq.,✏️Marquette University Law School Assistant Dean of Students Anna Fodor, 📃ACLU Staff Attorney My Khanh Ngo,👐 Executive Director of Charleston Pro Bono Legal Services Alissa Lietzow💉AbbVie Corporate Brand Counsel Amy Chapple,💼Sidley Austin LLP Pro Bono Bono Counsel, Leslie Kuhn Thayer⚖️Public Defender Courtney Francik, 🇺🇸Former US Attorney Jordan Matthews, 📊 Solo Practitioner and Owner of Law Office of Thomas R. Kayes, LLC, Thomas Kayes, 📚Bookoff McAndrews, PLLC Patent Attorney and DEI Professional Dan Sharpe, and 🐯Princeton University Athletic Director John Mack.Allison Freedman and I even interviewed each other in Epsiode 1!Whether you're a law student or a practicing attorney, there are so many great insights in these episodes. We hope you'll support Personal Jurisdiction by sharing your favorite episode with your friends and colleagues. 📩We'll see you soon for Season 2. In the meantime, drop us a line at personaljxpod(at)gmail.com! We'd love to hear from you!
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Dec 7, 2021 • 1h 14min
Let's Get Personal with John Mack, Director of Athletics at Princeton University
John Mack is a graduate of Princeton University (2000) and Northwestern Pritzker School of Law (2012). John is the Director of Athletics at Princeton University. Learn more about John here: https://alumni.princeton.edu/stories/john-mack-princeton-athletic-director Connect with John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-mack-7b66194
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Nov 30, 2021 • 1h 19min
Let's Get Personal with Dan Sharpe, Patent Attorney and DEI Professional
Dan Sharpe is a Patent Attorney and DEI Professional at Bookoff McAndrews in Washington, D.C. Dan is a graduate of Princeton University (2007) and the University of Virginia School of Law (2012). Connect with Dan on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-sharpe-922b389/If you'd like to learn more about implicit bias, Harvard's Implicit Association Test is a good starting point and is used by many law school clinicians. https://edib.harvard.edu/implicit-association-test-iat. In addition, the American Bar Association has helpful resources based on Harvard's IAT. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/initiatives/task-force-implicit-bias/implicit-bias-test/Dan recommends the following article as well: https://www.vox.com/2014/4/21/5637068/reviewers-will-find-more-spelling-errors-in-your-writing-if-they
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Nov 16, 2021 • 1h 10min
Let's Get Personal with Thomas Kayes, Solo Practitioner and Owner of the Law Office of Thomas R. Kayes
Tom Kayes is a graduate of Pomona College (2007) and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law (2013). He is a solo practitioner and owner of the Law Office of Thomas R. Kayes where he practices civil rights litigation. Check out Tom's firm here: https://www.kayes.lawFollow Tom on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/kayes_tom?s=20 And on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kayes-7644557/ Tom recommends the following book: Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! by Greg Crabtree. Check it out here: https://simplenumbers.me/the-books/
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Nov 9, 2021 • 1h 17min
Let's Get Personal with Jordan Matthews, Former Assistant United States Attorney
Jordan Matthews is currently Of Counsel at the law firm of Jones Day in Chicago. She is a graduate of Yale University (2006) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (2009). Jordan was an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois from September 2014 - March 2021. Here's some history on Chicago's iconic Merchandise Mart: https://www.themart.com/about/history-and-future/
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Nov 2, 2021 • 1h 16min
Let's Get Personal with Courtney Francik, Assistant Federal Public Defender, District of Maryland
Courtney Francik is a graduate of Harvard College (2011) and the George Washington University Law School (2015). She is currently an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Baltimore, Maryland. On the state side, Courtney was an Assistant Public Defender first in the Law Office of the Shelby County Public Defender in Memphis, Tennessee from 2015-2018, and later in the Maryland Office of the Public Defender from 2018-2019. As a student at GW Law, Courtney worked in the Neighborhood Policy and Law Clinic. Learn more about GW Law's clinics here: https://www.law.gwu.edu/clinics Courtney discussed the cash bail system. Learn more about this important topic below:Adureh Onyekwere, Brennan Center for Justic, How Cash Bail Works, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/how-cash-bail-works (last accessed 10/29/2021).Lea Hunter, Center for American Progress, "What You Need to Know About Ending Cash Bail" available here: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/reports/2020/03/16/481543/ending-cash-bail/ (last accessed 10/29/2021).We're sure that you can tell that Courtney was a very prepared podcast guest. Preparation is key to everything! Below are a few articles about the importance of preparation:Farnam Street, "How to Do Great Things" - "When someone repeatedly does great things it is because they prepared in advance to advance to recognize, work on, and fill in the blanks when necessary. This is the essence of intelligent preparation." - https://fs.blog/great-things/ Herbet Lui, Fast Company, "Your Brain is on Overload. This is How to Augment Your Intellectual Capacity." https://www.fastcompany.com/90661984/your-brain-is-on-overload-this-is-how-to-augment-your-intellectual-capacity?utm_source=pocket_mylistWe're still a fan of paper To Do lists but we also love the app ToDoist. It's simple and functional. Check it out here: Https://www.todoist.com Our Theme Song is: Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7614-pleasant-porridgeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-licenseOur Logos were designed by Lizzie L. O’Connor.
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Oct 27, 2021 • 1h 20min
Let's Get Personal with Leslie Kuhn-Thayer, Pro Bono Counsel at Sidley Austin LLP
Leslie Kuhn-Thayer is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Law School. During law school, Leslie worked with the Wisconsin Innocence Project. Learn more about the Wisconsin Innocence Project here: https://law.wisc.edu/fjr/clinicals/ip/ Leslie served as a judicial law clerk directly out of law school and again several years later when she became a career clerk. Learn more about clerking here: https://media.law.wisc.edu/m/nmjkn/judicialclerkshiphandbook_000.pdfAnd here: https://abaforlawstudents.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/FederalLawClerks.pdfLeslie currently serves as Pro Bono Counsel at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago. Learn more about Sidley's commitment to pro bono here: https://www.sidley.com/en/us/probonolanding/
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
Oct 19, 2021 • 1h 10min
Let's Get Personal with Amy Chapple, U.S. Commercial Brand Counsel at AbbVie
Please note that the content in this podcast reflects Amy Chapple's opinions only and not the opinions of AbbVie. Amy Chapple is U.S. Commercial Brand Counsel at AbbVie in Deerfield, Illinois. She is a 2014 graduate of University of Illinois Chicago School of Law and a 2007 graduate of Loyola University of Chicago. We tried some new things in this episode with Amy. Let us know what you think! We'd LOVE to hear from you. Email us at personaljxpod@gmail.com or tweet at us @personaljxpod Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod.Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7614-pleasant-porridgeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-licenseOur logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with SimpleCast. Find us online at www.personaljxpod.com and on Twitter @PersonalJxPod
Get new episodes by email by subscribing to our Substack! Thank you to our sponsor, Themis Bar Review! Listen to this episode for a special code to get the lowest price of the year on the February and July 2026 Themis Bar Review Course.Find us online at https://www.personaljxpod.comFind us on LinkedIn on our new page and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletterFind us on Twitter @PersonalJxPodWe couldn't do this alone! So...Personal Jurisdiction is powered and distributed with Simplecast. We use Riverside.FM to record our episodes. Our episodes are edited by Scott Donnell at Run and Drum Media https://www.runanddrummedia.comOur new logo/branding was designed by Ellie Mejia, a graphic designer and illustrator located in Chicago, Illinois. Check out Ellie's work here. Our previous logos were designed by Lizzie L. O'Connor.Our Theme Song is Pleasant Porridge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Show Less
