Today’s guest is Stephanie Corey, a true pioneer in the field of legal operations. She started her career in business and finance, but became the first legal ops professional in Silicon Valley when she assumed that role for HP. She then co-founded and is a former executive member of the leading legal operations trade organization CLOC—the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium. Today Stephanie is a co-founder of UpLevel Ops, a consulting firm specializing in providing services for in-house legal ...
Apr 20, 2022•34 min
Today’s guest is Jordan Furlong, a legal industry analyst who has been writing, thinking, and speaking about the intersection of law and business for more than 20 years. As the mastermind behind Law21, he is on the constant lookout for critical new developments and emerging patterns in the legal services ecosystem. He uses these insights to advise legal organizations on how to plan their strategies and achieve their goals. Listen in as we discuss: • Jordan’s fascinating take on “lawyer formation...
Apr 13, 2022•33 min
Today we welcome back our first two-time guest, the one and only Susan Hackett, for another enjoyable discussion about life, law, and business. For those of you who don’t know her, Susan is the CEO of Legal Executive Leadership, LLC, and was vice president and general counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for more than 20 years. While at the ACC, she presided over the creation of the Value Challenge, designed to recognize the in-house teams and outside counsel who are driving val...
Apr 06, 2022•38 min
Today's guest has a fascinating in-house role, and is a leading voice for the LGBTQ+ community in the legal industry. Wesley Bizzell serves as senior assistant general counsel and managing director of Political Law and Ethics Programs, External Affairs for Altria Client Services, Inc. He oversees a comprehensive compliance program covering the regulation of government affairs, providing advice and guidance on political law compliance for more than 75 jurisdictions. Just as important for our purp...
Mar 30, 2022•24 min
To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Pioneers and Pathfinders, we present this “best of” episode, featuring our first guest, Dr. Heidi Gardner. Dr. Gardner is a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and faculty chair of the school’s Accelerated Leadership Program and Sector Leadership Masterclass. She is also the best-selling author of Smart Collaboration and noted thought leader on the topics of collaboration, lateral hiring, in-house legal teams, leade...
Mar 23, 2022•45 min
Today's guest is Matthew Stubenberg. Matthew is the associate director of legal technology at Harvard Law School's Access to Justice Lab, and president of MDLegalApps. Early on in his career, he recognized the power of pairing technology with public service, and he committed himself to exploring that potential. Shortly after graduating from the University of Maryland Law School, Matthew created a number of technology applications that increased access to justice for thousands of Marylanders and ...
Mar 16, 2022•28 min
Today's guest is Laura Safdie. Laura is the chief operating officer at Casetext, whose products include the number one-rated legal research platform Casetext Research, an all-in-one research and drafting print platform Compose, and Parallel Search, which offers the first application of concept-based search for the law. Laura joined Casetext after stints at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and a clerkship in the US District Court for the Southern District of New ...
Mar 09, 2022•36 min
Today we have the distinct honor of being joined by Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack. Her passion for access to justice has been a constant throughout her career in public service. Immediately out of law school in New York, she joined the Legal Aid Society and the Office of the Appellate Defender. As a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, she launched a number of clinics devoted to domestic violence, pediatric health, mediation, low income taxpayers, hum...
Mar 02, 2022•28 min
Throughout the year, we highlight episodes of Pioneers and Pathfinders that deserve a second (or third) listen. This month, as we celebrate Black History Month, we are revisiting our interview with Laurie Robinson Haden, founder of Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC). Today, CCWC provides an important platform for Black women attorneys to network and forge successful career paths in law. Laurie Robinson Haden is an award-winning lawyer and agent of change who personifies the pioneering spiri...
Feb 23, 2022•34 min
Long before the nonstop stressors of the last two years, Jeena Cho was a vocal advocate for the well-being of lawyers. It started when she realized how meditation and mindfulness could help her deal with the stress of practicing bankruptcy law. Since that time, her message about the urgency of wellness for lawyers has resonated throughout the industry, thanks in large part to her best-selling book, The Anxious Lawyer. She is a regular contributor to legal and traditional media, and she also spea...
Feb 16, 2022•32 min
Today’s guest is Professor Dan Katz, a scientist, technologist, and educator who applies innovative approaches to teaching law. His goal is to help create lawyers for today's biggest societal challenges by integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Dan’s programs at Michigan State University College of Law and Illinois Tech Chicago-Kent College of Law have produced some of the most innovative lawyers practicing and working in the business of law today. He is also actively inv...
Feb 09, 2022•30 min
Today’s guest is Jayne Reardon, executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, which promotes a more civil, professional, and inclusive legal culture in the state. In her nearly 16 years at the commission, Jayne has overseen a growing roster of initiatives rooted in civility, including programs on ethics, diversity, well-being, and the future of law. These programs are united by her belief that the legal profession can and should do better in meeting the legal ne...
Feb 02, 2022•30 min
Today we are joined by Bea Seravello and Brad Blickstein, leaders of new law advisory services at Baretz+Brunelle, a strategic communications and digital marketing agency. Bea and Brad bring complementary experiences to their roles. Bea is a longtime business of law leader at top Am Law firms, and Brad is a renowned legal industry futurist. Most recently, they released a two-part report on innovation adoption in law firms, which provided fascinating insights on the current rates of adoption—spoi...
Jan 26, 2022•32 min
Isabel Parker has long been a leader in pushing boundaries and driving change in the legal profession. She started her career as an associate at Freshfields, and after a brief break, she rejoined the firm to lead legal services. Isabel eventually took on the role of chief legal innovation officer, where she was part of the leadership team driving the firm's digital transformation initiative. During that time, she spearheaded the formation of Freshfields’ legal services center in Manchester, a fi...
Jan 19, 2022•28 min
Today’s guest is Basha Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Priori Legal, a global legal marketplace that helps in-house teams find the right legal provider for their next project. She founded Priori with classmate Mirra Levitt immediately upon graduation from Yale Law School, and they never looked back. Last year, Priori raised $6.3 million in Series A financing from leading investors in legal technology, and their growth continues to be fueled by demand resulting from the pandemic. Listen in to today’...
Jan 12, 2022•30 min
Joy Heath Rush has spent virtually her entire career supporting lawyers, and has had a leading role in defining the value of allied professionals. Her career path started at Sidley Austin in document services, where her devotion to excellence and love of technology helped her move into a number of leadership roles. After a stint at Litera, Joy is now CEO of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA)—what she calls her dream job. Listen in to today's conversation to learn: - Why she lo...
Jan 05, 2022•34 min
Today we continue our exploration of the efforts underway to close the justice gap with our guest, John Mayer, the executive director of the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) at Chicago-Kent, the law school of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). One of CALI’s key projects is A2J Author, a software tool that enables nontechnical stakeholders from the courts, legal services programs, and law schools to rapidly build and implement user-friendly interfaces for document as...
Dec 15, 2021•35 min
The justice gap is one of the most serious issues facing our country. Of low-income Americans experiencing civil legal problems, the vast majority receive inadequate or no legal help at all. This gap is the result of overlapping issues facing the legal industry: the cost of law school, the complexity of our justice system, and the slow adoption of technology by lawyers and the courts, among others. Our guest today is David Stern, a legal industry pioneer who has spent the majority of his career ...
Dec 08, 2021•40 min
Today’s guest is librarian, lawyer, knowledge management, computer programmer, blogger, and podcaster Renaissance man Greg Lambert. Like so many of our multihyphenate guests, he is a very busy man. Many of you will know Greg from the long-running 3 Geeks and a Law Blog, which was founded in 2008 and is one of the first blogs to focus on what we now think of as “the business of law.” Greg also co-hosts The Geek In Review podcast, which dives into the world of legal information professionals. If t...
Dec 01, 2021•30 min
Today’s guest is Laurie Robinson Haden, an award-winning lawyer and agent of change who personifies the pioneering spirit that defines this podcast. During a nearly 20-year stint in various leadership roles in CBS’s law department, she founded Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC), the largest and most influential professional organization of its kind. What started as an informal group of friends exchanging contact information in 2004 has now become a powerhouse network of nearly 5,000 women o...
Nov 17, 2021•34 min
We've had a number of guests from legal education who are helping law students find and forge alternative career paths that prioritize business skills alongside legal. Today's guest, Amani Smathers, is among the first generation of young lawyers to embark on one of these new—some might say non-traditional—career paths being forged. In fact, when Amani was still a law student, she introduced the industry to the concept of the T-shaped lawyer, which combines breadth in business skills with depth i...
Nov 10, 2021•32 min
Thanks to Michael Lewis, we all know the term “Moneyball.” Very few people actually apply those concepts though. Today’s guest, Caren Ulrich Stacy, has used the Moneyball concept to change the demographics of law firms and the face of law firm leadership. Informed by her education as a journalist and her work with top law firms on their talent strategies, Caren co-founded Lawyer Metrics, a startup company that pioneered a data-driven approach to lawyer recruitment and development. From there, Ca...
Nov 03, 2021•40 min
David Cambria is known as the “godfather of legal operations,” a moniker he earned in-house at giants Aon and ADM, and the name has followed him ever since. He is unique in that he has also held roles at the world’s largest law firm as chief services officer, and is currently at one of the Big Four accounting firms as managing director of legal operations, overseeing “modern legal.” David is someone who has been a leader on every side of the value equation. In today’s conversation, we learn how ...
Oct 27, 2021•32 min
Today our guest is self-described “sociologist of lawyers,” Marcie Borgal Shunk. She has a fascinating multidisciplinary background that she brings to her work with the Tilt Institute, which offers analytics, leadership training and coaching, cultural assessments, and more to help law firms transform their businesses. Initially intrigued by the question of why some firms perform better than others, Marcie has spun her skills in analytics, statistics, and data visualization into a fascinating bod...
Oct 20, 2021•38 min
Today's guest, David Wilkins, is one of the foremost thinkers on the legal profession today. Though he’s had many significant roles and accomplishments in the legal field, his resume doesn't capture his inspirational story or the enormity of his contributions to the profession. Nor does it captures his intellect, quick wit, warm personality, or joyful presence. He’s without a doubt the most recognizable voice in the legal industry today. Listen in to our conversation to hear about: - David’s jou...
Oct 13, 2021•40 min
As buyers of legal services, in-house counsel are in a powerful position when it comes to legal industry innovation. Today’s guest, Kristen Cook, has used that position to do remarkable things as vice president and deputy general counsel at 7-Eleven. Kristen has been at the forefront of transforming how legal services are procured, how services are delivered back to the organization, and using Lean to improve legal operations. Her work has been recognized across the industry, including two ACC V...
Oct 06, 2021•38 min
Today’s guest is a longtime friend of Seyfarth, Susan Lambreth. Susan is a founding principal at LawVision and is nationally recognized as one of the top leadership, practice group, and project management consultants for law firms. She is also the chair and founder of the LPM Institute, a leading resource for educating law firms and law departments on implementing project management in their organizations. Susan has been extremely influential in shaping the business of Big Law for many years now...
Sep 29, 2021•38 min
Today’s guest is a departure from our typical slate of legal industry change agents. Over the course of 23 interviews, we have focused on the unique journeys of our guests, which is—by its nature—a backward-looking endeavor. Join us as we take a look into the future with world-renowned futurist Ross Dawson, to help shed light on the path ahead. Ross recently joined Seyfarth for an exclusive conversation on The Future of the World of Work. During part one of this special two-part series, he discu...
Sep 22, 2021•36 min
Today’s guest is the one and only Bill Henderson. In his day job, he’s a professor of law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law where he holds the Stephen F. Burns Chair on the Legal Profession. Bill is a prolific writer and speaker on the legal market who is well known for assembling some of the best and brightest thinkers on the legal industry in his blog, Legal Evolution. Bill has been a longtime friend of Seyfarth, and he's worked with the firm on our own innovation journey. Listen in t...
Sep 15, 2021•35 min
Long before the pandemic raised the curtain on issues of workplace flexibility, today’s guest was leading the way in changing how law firms think about flexibility, and how they can best use it to drive performance, productivity, and innovation. Manar Morales is president and CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance—a think tank dedicated to helping organizations create inclusive cultures that advance diversity and flexibility in order to attract and retain top talent. Seyfarth has long s...
Sep 08, 2021•40 min
