Legal Grounds | Scott Levin on Courtesy as a Prerequisite for Negotiation, Focusing on the Resolution Instead of the Argument, & Finding Grace Despite Our Differences

We all know the question: 'If a tree falls in the forest & no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
This kind of thought-experiment c...

Legal Grounds | Cindy Rendon On the Value Of Humanizing Others in an Adversarial System, Protecting Your Schedule, & the Fine Line Between Helping & People-Pleasing

Back when smart-phones were just beginning to saturate the market, I distinctly remember thinking that one of the best features they had to offer was...

Legal Grounds | Saja Raoof On the State of Immigration Law, the Line Between Complexity & Cruelty, & the Ripple-Effects of Uncertainty

As an attorney that has spent most of their career defending trucking companies, there have only been a handful of times that it seemed a potential pi...

Legal Grounds | Rob Miller On Getting In the Hard Work Early, When to Start Prepping a Case for Trial, & Creating Bridges Between Generational Gaps

My guest this week is Rob Miller, a trial attorney with more than three decades of experience, the founder of Miller Copeland, and most importantly, a...

Legal Grounds | Brian Glass on Building a Life Before Building a Firm, Leadership as an Exercise in Empathy, & the Future of Personal Injury Law

We all know that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I think it’s worth asking why ‘Rome’, of all the great cities of antiquity, was chosen as the subject...

Legal Grounds | Nikita Lamar on the Connection Between a Firm’s Culture & Its Clients, Learning Curves as Breathing Room, and Meeting Zealousness with Empathy

According to the National Association of Legal Professions, when I graduated from Law School in 1988 only 2.7% of graduating attorneys made the choice...

Legal Grounds | Cyndie Chang On How Having a Group Helps You Find Your Voice, When “No” Can Be A Complete Sentence, & Why Relationships are an Investment, Not a Commodity

With some very rare exceptions, all of us have to have a ‘first job’. 


This also means we all remember the nervousness that comes...

Legal Grounds | Dr. Honey Sheff On How A.D.R. is Reshaping Family Law, Retaining Empathy While Keeping Boundaries, & the Difference Between Being an Advocate and Giving Someone a Voice.

As my producer wrote in the margins of this week’s material, the phrase ‘Collaborative Divorce’ can seem, on its face, like an oxymoron. 
After...

Legal Grounds | Ryan Crittenden On Choosing Your Mentors Intentionally, Playing to Your Strengths, & What It Takes to Create a Team

We talk plenty on this program about how frustrating it can be to try and function under poor leadership. Even if the team is strong, if they don’t kn...

Legal Grounds | Larry Praeger On Effective Client Communication, How to Leverage Existing Resources, & Navigating the Nuances of Family Law

There are few areas of the practice that I think are quite as “client-facing” as Family Law.


This is not to say that clients take...

Legal Grounds | Heidi K. Brown On Bringing Identity to Our Legal Writing, Unpacking Introversion, and Why Finding a Shared Vocabulary is Necessary for Success

It always feels like an easy out to say a podcast conversation is “wide-ranging”, but when the guest has written best selling books for attorneys on e...

Legal Grounds | Breeana Somers On Law School as a Non-Traditional Student, the Shifting Landscape of Big Law, & Making Space for Yourself to Make Space for Others

Growing up, I knew I wanted to be an attorney since I was a sophomore in high school; my guest this week had me beat by 8 years. 


...

Legal Grounds | Light-Roast ~ Commencement 2025

Legal Grounds | Suraj Vyas Curiosity as a Catalyst, Helping Others to Help Yourself, & Going In-House Right Out of the Gate

My guest this week is Suraj Vyas, an attorney specializing in patent law with a focus on construction and contracts. 
Having spent the past 6 ye...

Legal Grounds | Molly Kremer on Becoming a Better Time-Keeper, How Consistency Leads to Confidence, & Why We Need to Change the Narrative Around Billing

The first time I ever made a billing entry on a personal computer, I remember thinking to myself, “this is so efficient, I’m never going to miss an en...

Legal Grounds | Astrid Munn On Seeking Out More Narratives, the Language of Dehumanization, & the Frontlines of Immigration Law

The observation that, “justice is merely incidental to law and order” has been on my mind more often than not these past few months. 

Legal Grounds | Ben Morton on Developing the Currency of Leadership, Safety as a Foundation for Growth, & Embracing the Paradox of Planning

In its literal sense, the term ‘Servant Leadership’ is a bit of an oxymoron. 


If you’re the one in charge, shouldn’t you be overse...

Legal Grounds | Marty Strong on Solving Problems in Context, Leaders as Practitioners, and Trusting People so that You can Trust Your Plan

As I get ready for trial this week, I don’t think I could have asked for a better conversation to help remind me that creativity and consistency go ha...

Legal Grounds | Rod Jeter on Deconstructing Our Disagreements, Solving for the Problem Behind ‘The Problem’, & Letting the Relationship Win

When you make your living settling other people’s disagreements, it can be easy to fall back on the skills and tools gained in that Professional envir...

Legal Grounds | Shelly A. Walker on Listening as Collaboration, the Power of Being Present, & the Importance of Intentionality on Both Sides of Mentorship

It's no secret in the legal community that a seasoned paralegal can outmatch most first-year lawyers.
And probably second-year.
And someti...

Legal Grounds | Stephen Jones on the Oklahoma City Bombing, Adherence to the Law in the Face of Tragedy, & the Right to Representation as a Pillar of Justice

Stephen Jones is one of the most well-known trial attorneys currently practicing. 


With six decades of experience working some of...

Legal Grounds | Todd Smith On the Art of Appellate Law, the Benefits & Burdens of Owning Your Own Practice, and Evolution of Technology in the Appeals Process

Whenever a trial is notable enough to make the headlines, the initial verdict is often the only one that sticks in the public-consciousness. 

Legal Grounds | Jack W. Williams On the Shifting Nature of Priorities, the Difference Between Teaching & Telling, Remembering Your Role in Effective Communication

I think it’s fair to say that oftentimes when we hear the word ‘Belief’, we immediately associate it with something either Spiritual or Political – tw...

Legal Grounds | Michael Molthan On Addiction as a Symptom, Replacing “Tough Love” with True Love, and Freeing Others to Free Yourself

Addiction is one of those words that - whether consciously or unconsciously – causes most people to instantly conjure up a stock-image of a person at...

Legal Grounds | Allison Mahoney On Empathizing Without Internalizing, the Nature of Victim-Blaming, and Standing Up for the Voiceless

Creating legitimate points of access to justice is a cornerstone of our legal system.


But when it comes to modern forms of abuse s...

Legal Grounds | John Trimble On the Need to Both Seek & Provide Mentorship, Why Integrity Isn’t Optional, & the Pitfalls of Generational Transitions in Law Firms

Even if they know the exact field of law they want to dive into after graduation, my guest today is a testament to why good mentors make sure young at...

Legal Grounds | Rachel A. King on On Walking Clients Through Their Case, Why Bosses Can’t Be “Friends” & the Perks of a Non-Traditional Path to Law

There are plenty of things about being an attorney that make it seem less than desirable as a potential career choice. The long hours are pretty much...

Legal Grounds | Corey Poirier On Buying Back Your Time, Making ‘No’ a New Mantra, & Why Even Good Lessons Aren’t Always Meant for You

If you've ever dabbled in the world of self-help, then you've probably heard something along the lines of,"saying Yes means saying No to something els...

Legal Grounds | Ryan Christensen On the Questions Behind Our Emotions, the Importance of Staying Curious, and Why There's Actually a Finish Line

Even though most of us no longer ride horses or mend our own clothes, the analogy of a task being, "like trying to find a needle in a haystack" has ce...

Legal Grounds | Christmas Light-Roast

This week we take a break from our normal conversations for the annual Christmas Light-Roast edition of the show. 
It seems like every year when...

Legal Grounds | Mark Perkins On Sustainability Over Balance, the Power of Kindness in an Adversarial System, and Why Seeking Help Doesn’t Make You Less Competent

When discussing any task that was accomplishable but time-consuming, one of my old man’s goto phrases was, “Hell, you can stand on your head and gargl...

Legal Grounds | Renée Pardo On the Next Generation of Female Attorneys, Stepping Away from an Established Career, & Anxious Advocacy

Walking away from this week’s conversation I have a new theory:


If time-machines existed, a lot of attorneys would still be trying...

Legal Grounds | Darl Champion On Holding the Right People Accountable, Winning vs. Problem Solving, and the Importance of Civility in Leadership

The line between zealous representation and being an obstinate ass is often said to be a fine-line to walk as attorneys. 


After al...

Legal Grounds | Dr. Christina Marinakis On Evaluating Juries, the Changing Expectations for Evidence, and Why Diversity Is More Than Demographics

There are few things more stressful as a trial attorney than the jury selection process. 
Even if you’re confident in your case, your arguments...

Legal Grounds | Emily Stedman on Navigating the Billable-Hour, Developing the Next Generation, and Self-Worth Outside of the Law

For as ever present as it is, the Billable-Hour is still one of those topics on the Defense side of the Bar that is deemed somewhat taboo. 
Some...

Legal Grounds | Matt Cianflone On the Origins of the Doom-Loop, How Miscommunication is Mistaken for Malice, and the Benefits of Self-Talk

Of the many many books I used to read to my sons, there are only a few that I could confidently recall, but a family favorite was (and remains) “Alexa...

Legal Grounds | Karl Seelbach on the Future of Depositions, SKRIBE AI, & Why Law Needs to Overcome Its Tech Aversion

Jokes about lawyers and technology are one of those things that tend to write themselves, but in my conversation this week with Karl Seelbach I walked...

Legal Grounds | Anne Redcross Beehler on Building Relationships in Trial, Not Buying Into Bullies, and the Benefits of Being Underestimated

When it comes to watching any sort of legal drama, be it television or film, most - if not all - of the scenes that take place inside the courtroom fo...

Legal Grounds | Joe Bogdan On Relinquishing & Relearning Leadership, Why Better has No Finish-Line, and Using Small Transitions to Help Us Adapt to Larger Changes

While I know there isn’t any science to back it up, somewhere in my 30’s I remember hearing the “Fact” that if you could do something for 30 days stra...

Legal Grounds | Star Hansen on the Psychology of Clutter, Replacing Shame with Curiosity, and Why Boxes are Only the Beginning

One of the questions we ask every potential new hire at our firm is when your laundry comes out of the dryer, how long does it take you to put it away...