Seasoned Lawyer

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.

This episode is hosted by Kimber Russell.

Ilya Lerma, a 1999 graduate of the University of Arizona, runs a small solo practice where she takes on insurance companies in complicated brain injury cases. She discusses the difficulty of running a contingency-fee practice, litigating as a woman of color, and how she manages the stress of being a lawyer.

Dan Drake, a 1995 graduate of Stetson College of Law, went to law school after a decade of law enforcement to become a prosecutor, but couldn't make the money work with his student debt. Today, he does real estate transactions and litigation at a small firm in Florida.

Zoe Sharp, a 2003 graduate of Stanford Law School, is assistant general counsel at Optoro, a software company that keeps her busy in many areas of law. She talks about how she plans for the worst, which has been especially helpful after a tornado destroyed one of the company's warehouses and during a pandemic.

In this episode, Dan Minc, a graduate of Seton Hall School of Law, discusses how he managed to rise up to his firm's managing partner after starting there as a first-year lawyer. He also talks about how he builds his book of business and what he assesses when determining whether to take a client. After all, as a personal injury attorney he's only paid if his client wins.

Virginia Whitner Hoptman, alum of the University of Virginia School of Law, changed course several times throughout her career before settling back where she started with a highly-specialized appellate process. She discusses elitism in the world of appeals, how difficult it is to become a full-time appellate lawyer, and fundamental differences between appellate and trial lawyers.

Seamus Boyce is a 2006 graduate of the University of New Hampshire School of Law and an education attorney at a 38-person 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.

In this episode we meet workers compensation attorney Royce Bicklein, a 1998 graduate of St. Mary University's School of Law. Royce discusses his firm's practice and what's involved in proving where an injury occurred and what's to blame for the extent of an injury.

How do you plan for your death? In this episode, Deacon Haymond, a 2004 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 happened when he's too nice to his clients.

Minnesota consumer rights lawyer and William Mitchell College of Law Alumnus Pete Barry sues debt collectors who harass or discriminate against consumers. Pete explains the federal law that drives his law in clear terms which helps him market to those who don’t realize they’ve been legally harmed.

Medical malpractice lawyers specialize in the tangle of medical responsibilities, norms, and facts. In this episode, Washington University School of Law alumnus Greg Aycock tells us how he transitioned from representing defendants to representing plaintiffs. He left his insurance defense practice on a leap of faith, and discusses the struggles of being your own boss and getting a firm off the ground.

Biglaw is changing—America's largest firms are testing new attorney tracks and different expectations. Pioneer WilmerHale’s DiscoverySolutions (DS) provides litigation support for the firm's attorneys. Nat Croumer, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is the Discovery Attorney Administrative Manager for DS. Nat discusses how electronic document discovery is essential to modern civil litigation.

Small and mid-size nonprofits have legal needs dependent on the donation of time and resources by lawyers. The Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta (PBP-ATL) organizes volunteer lawyers to serve non-litigation needs of nonprofit clients. Rachel Spears, executive director of PBP-ATL, discusses how rare organizations like PBP-ATL keep nonprofits within the law by leveraging generosity of members of the legal profession.

The famous Marbury v. Madison case involved a writ of mandamus—an order to a government agency or official to behave in accordance with the law. In this episode, Michael Morguess discusses seeking writs of mandamus for clients fired by government agencies. Michael faces immense pressure with jobs and livelihoods on the line, but the intellectual challenge and thrill of victory buoy his non-traditional litigation practice.

University of Texas School of Law alum Barbara Stewart started her career as in-house counsel for a large communications company before venturing into real estate. Today, she spends her time drafting real estate transaction documents to help clients purchase and sell residential homes. If her sky-high malpractice insurance is any measure, its among the riskier practice areas around.