Mid-Size Firm

After a long career in litigation, Diane Sorenson, a graduate of the University of Kansas, is transitioning to arbitration and mediation, also known as alternative dispute resolution or ADR. She discusses the differences and similarities between litigation, arbitration, and mediation. For ADR, experience is paramount not only for getting cases to resolve but also figuring out how to actually resolve them.

Melina LaMorticella, a graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School, worked as a paralegal for 15 years before going to law school. After graduation, she moved from a local immigration boutique to a larger firm in Portland to practice business immigration law. In this episode, Melina talks about how the U.S. considers immigration applications from professional workers and the charged political atmosphere she operates in, as well as what her typical day looks like.

Seamus Boyce, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire School of Law, is an education lawyer at a mid-size firm with offices throughout Indiana. In this episode, he tells us about routine work advising clients with one-off questions, as well as more complex work involving student services, discrimination, and legislation. Seamus also discusses his ascent to partner and the choices his firm makes in pursuit of client satisfaction.

Andy Park, a graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law, discusses his work as a junior associate for a mid-size business law firm in Philadelphia. He tells us about his involvement in negotiating and originating loans, litigating and settling loan defaults, and selling commercial real estate acquired from a trial verdict or settlement. While he's still new to practice, he sees how observing issues in litigation can positively affect his work reviewing his clients' deals.

Deacon Haymond, a graduate of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, discusses his small and growing law firm that specializes in trusts and estates. Deacon talks us through his fees, how he finds clients, and what happens when he's too nice to his clients. While advances in legal services technology pose challenges to his practice long term, he's emphatic that so far, they're helping him.

Meghann Joyce, a graduate of the University of South Dakota School of Law, is an insurance defense litigator. While she's hired and paid by insurance companies, her clients are the insured defending, among other claims, professional liability and employment suits. Despite being a litigator, she's almost never in the court room. Instead, her work can be categorized as largely pre-trial practice. Her job responsibilities and expectations have evolved since she started, but the unpredictability of her days continues. A lawyer's duty of loyalty is to the client, but Meghann exemplifies how business realities produce complex ethical dilemmas.