ABA Journal Podcasts - Legal Talk Network

Latest Episodes:

ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : Public-Speaking Skills Every Lawyer Should Master May 22, 2019

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For every lawyer that thinks they have oral presentations down pat, there’s another that has anxiety about talking in front of a crowd. And they both need help. As an attorney and a formal federal law clerk, Faith Pincus gives lawyers the tools they need to succeed at public speaking. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, ABA Publishing’s Ashley Alfirevic speaks with Pincus about how to ditch the notecards, engage the audience and ask the right type of rhetorical questions.

ABA Journal: Asked and Answered : Civics beyond Schoolhouse Rock May 20, 2019

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Do nearly 25% of Americans really think Ruth Bader Ginsburg is chief justice? ABA President Bob Carlson addresses gaps in public knowledge of history and government uncovered by the first Survey of Civic Literacy in this special episode of the ABA Journal’s Asked and Answered hosted by Journal reporter Amanda Robert. Carlson highlights the survey’s most surprising findings, and discusses the ABA’s plans for the data and ideas for how Americans can improve their civic knowledge in the future.

Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay.

ABA Journal: Legal Rebels : David Van Zandt has made a career out of touching third rails in higher ed May 15, 2019

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When David Van Zandt became dean of what is now Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law in 1995, he faced a steep learning curve, he tells the ABA Journal's Jason Tashea. But he had a good sense of the demands on recent graduates and lawyers. He also took on faculty hiring and tenure–a third rail in higher education–by hiring those for tenure track positions with not only JDs, but PhDs. Named an ABA Journal Legal Rebel in 2009, Van Zandt is now the president of the New School in New York. Whether grappling with political issues of the day or an oppositional faculty, Van Zandt has continually forged ahead for the changes he believes in.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Answer1 and Thomson Reuters Westlaw Edge.

ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : The strange tale of the 'Voodoo Reverend' and Harper Lee's lost true-crime book May 08, 2019

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A series of suspicious deaths; a murder at a victim's funeral; a minister whom locals suspected was dabbling in voodoo; a gregarious Alabama lawyer and politician called Big Tom; and one of the nation's most celebrated–and misunderstood–novelists, Harper Lee. These are the backdrop and the main subjects in the newly released, stranger-than-fiction book Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep. The author of To Kill a Mockingbird spent years researching and writing about this true-crime tale, with the intention of producing her own book in the style of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. But did she ever finish it? In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Cep speaks with the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles about how her time reporting on the controversial release of Go Set a Watchman led her to start seeking another book that could be hidden in Harper Lee's sealed papers: The Reverend.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Headnote.

ABA Journal: Asked and Answered : Where the Jobs Are: Hot careers for the Class of 2019 Apr 29, 2019

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Practice areas like cannabis law, M&A and real estate law are currently hot, but the good times never last forever, says legal recruiting consultant Valerie Fontaine of SeltzerFontaine. In this episode of Asked and Answered, she speaks with the ABA Journal's Stephanie Francis Ward about potential slowdowns and how lawyers can be thinking ahead to recession-proof their practices.

Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay.

ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : Why tech tools can hold both promise and peril for policing Apr 24, 2019

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Like everyone else, police are inundated with new gadgets and technologies promised to make their jobs easier. But do they? In his new book, Thin Blue Lie, investigative journalist Matt Stroud digs deeps into the background of various police technologies' promises and perils. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Stroud speaks with the ABA Journal's Jason Tashea about how the desire for quick technological fixes can compound the problems that technology was supposed to solve.

ABA Journal: Legal Rebels : Nonprofit law pioneer applauds 'low bono' growth Apr 17, 2019

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Before they were buzzwords, Luz Herrera was a pioneer in the world of "low bono" practice, nonprofit law firms and legal incubators. In this episode of the ABA Journal's Legal Rebels Podcast, Herrera speaks with Angela Morris about how a low-bono practice can enable a lawyer to balance the desire to help people with making a living. Special thanks to our sponsor, Answer1 and Thomson Reuters Westlaw Edge.

ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : Networking for Introverts Apr 10, 2019

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You have to network to get work. Carol Shiro Greenwald wrote her book Strategic Networking for Introverts, Extroverts, and Everyone in Between for the wallflowers and the social butterflies alike who need help turning cocktail conversations into business relationships. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, ABA Publishing’s Ashley Alfirevic speaks to Greenwald about the networking matrix, interview double dates and random acts of lunch.

ABA Journal: Asked and Answered : Your client’s gone viral–now what? Mar 25, 2019

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Drawing attention to a client's plight can be a great outcome for an attorney wanting justice in a case. But what do you do when your client is trending on Twitter for all the wrong reasons? In this episode of Asked & Answered, the ABA Journal's Stephanie Francis Ward speaks with attorney Pete Wentz, an expert in crisis management and communication strategy. Wentz shares what tactics he's found helpful, when you should know that it's time to address online controversies–and what commonly given legal advice turns out to be the least helpful in putting out fires.

Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay.

ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : A look back at Lizzie Borden Mar 20, 2019

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Cara Robertson has been fascinated by the axe murders of Andrew and Abby Borden–and the daughter who stood trial for those murders–since she was an undergrad at Harvard University nearly 30 years ago. In her new book, The Trial of Lizzie Borden, Robertson uses her skills as a lawyer to go over the strategies used by the defense and prosecution, the evidence brought before the court, and the societal influences that contributed to the trial and its outcome. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles chats with Robertson about the evidence from the crime scene; the differences between Lizzie Borden's trial and what we might see in a similar case today; and why each generation seems to have a different take on Lizzie Borden and what she might have done in in 1892 on a hot August day in Fall River, Massachusetts.