Episodes
Jan. 24, 2025
033: Vishal Shah on moving to the other side of the v. as a plaintiffs employment lawyer, case selection and strategy, and the business of a law firm
Vishal Shah is the founder of Shah Litigation, a high-stake employment litigation firm. This is a unique opportunity to examine the strategy and values a biglaw associate used to launch and grow a successful law firm. We talk...
Jan. 16, 2025
032: Pratik Shah on the market for appellate litigation, the power of networks, and how to choose a practice group for growth
Pratik Shah is the Practice Head of Akin’s Supreme Court and appellate practice. Pratik breaks down his achievements and shares the values and principles he used to challenge himself and create opportunities. This conversatio...
Jan. 10, 2025
031: Tim Yoo on what lawyers can learn from pro-wrestling, applied mathematics, and tennis
Tim Yoo is a partner at Bird Marella and probably one of the few lawyers who can reference both the second fundamental theorem of calculus and The Undertaker. This free-ranging conversation explores how lawyers can use basic ...
Dec. 20, 2024
030: Lora Krsulich on fear as fuel as a first-gen lawyer, approaching work with high-trust, and tuning into your strengths
Lora Krsulich is an associate at Goodwin and a rising star. After clerking in the Central District of California and the Ninth Circuit, Lora litigated at Susman Godfrey before joining Goodwin. She shares her story of finding ...
July 19, 2024
029: Sonal Mehta on making decisions in the face of uncertainty, evaluating opportunity costs, and listening to your gut
This episode with Sonal Mehta is a masterclass on decision-making. We explore her early rise to partner and the path that led her to the management committee at WilmerHale by walking through the tradeoffs and opportunities sh...
June 28, 2024
028: Silpa Maruri on creativity, self-advocacy, and how to launch a law firm
Silpa Maruri graduated from law school in 2011, but she's already been partner at renowned trial firm Quinn Emanuel and is now founding partner at Elsberg Baker Maruri, an elite commercial litigation firm. How did she do it? ...
June 21, 2024
027: Samuel Levine on the prestige trap, changing the law while in law school, and why every lawyer should learn how the law works for poor people
Listening to this episode, you can't miss Samuel Levine's passion for consumer protection. It would be a mistake to look at his remarkable ascent from Harvard Law School to become Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection...
June 14, 2024
026: Heather Stevenson on moving from law to business and back, learning new skills quickly, and negotiating contracts for bananas
Heather Stevenson went from litigator at Sullivan & Cromwell to running a juice bar, then returned to law as a transactional lawyer at the Boston Globe where she rose to Deputy General Counsel, then became General Counsel at ...
May 2, 2024
025: Kalpana Srinivasan on hip-hop dancing, making career gut decisions, and business development strategy
Kalpana is known as one of the top trial lawyers in the country. She’s also co-chair of one of the leading trial firms in the country, Susman Godfrey. That’s a rare combination. I took this opportunity to explore themes in Ka...
April 26, 2024
024: Ryan McCarl on highbrow and lowbrow influences in legal writing and the book publishing journey
Ryan McCarl is a founding partner at Rushing McCarl LLP and author of Elegant Legal Writing. I was intrigued by the practicality and the eclectic range of influences Ryan draws on for this latest contribution to the pantheon ...
March 8, 2024
023: Moez Kaba on boldness, the art of cross-examination, and a career-changing subway conversation
Moez Kaba is the managing partner of Hueston Hennigan, the elite trial firm. Moez’s father drove a cab, and now Moez is one of the most sought-after trial lawyers in the country, and he’s only 42. We spent a lot of time explo...
Dec. 15, 2023
022: Nimesh Gupta on therapy, moving from biglaw to bigtech to startups, and generative AI in law
Nimesh Gupta is the founder of Briefly, a legaltech generative AI company. I met Nimesh through a mutual friend, and we hit it off - our patent litigation background, views on parenting, therapy, and entrepreneurship. We take...
Dec. 1, 2023
021: Neel Chatterjee on moving fast and breaking things, counterintuitive career decisions, and ChatterjeePT
Neel Chatterjee is a partner at Goodwin. Neel is fascinating because on one hand he’s a trial lawyer that handles serious high-stakes tech disputes, and on the other hand he’s the kind of guy who has “partner and very handsom...
Aug. 11, 2023
020: Paul Grewal on asymmetric bets, conspiracy theories, and the best question for career decisions
Paul Grewal is the Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase. As the highly visible head lawyer at a company perennially making headlines, much of Paul's story and approach is well-known. This interview explores the lesser-known aspect...
July 14, 2023
019: Alamdar Hamdani on "the Mama Rule", entrepreneurial civil service, and the most underrated risk in the US
Alamdar Hamdani is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, one of the most important jurisdictions in the country. What I love about his story is that it’s the classic American story of how the son of poor immi...
Sept. 6, 2022
018: Gurbir Grewal on nonlinear career paths, how government should use media, and identifying enforcement priorities
Gurbir Grewal's meteoric ascent to the Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement may seem charmed, but here Gurbir shares the tradeoffs and costs of the steps he took. Gurbir is uniquely down-to-earth for someone so public and prominent, and this inte
Aug. 13, 2021
017: Amandeep Sidhu on turning tragedy into opportunity at The Sikh Coalition, creating consensus and finding allies, and building a portfolio of causes
It's inspiring to hear the origin of The Sikh Coalition in the aftermath of 9/11 and the disproportional impact on the Sikh community. But it's all the more remarkable to hear how Winston & Strawn partner Amandeep Sidhu and his cofounders built an org
July 30, 2021
016: Avaneesh Marwaha on carrying out the goals he wrote on a legal pad at 25, the #1 skill lawyers need to develop now, and what betting on yourself feels like
As the CEO of Litera, Avaneesh Marwaha is responsible for setting the pace of innovation at a leading legaltech company. So when Avaneesh shared some of the goals he set for himself at 25 that he's still carrying out at 40, I had to dig in to learn more.
April 22, 2021
015: Kenneth Anand on writing the book on sneaker law, the returns to focusing on individuality, and lessons learned from Kanye
When I was introduced to Kenneth Anand, I was equal parts excited and anxious. I'm no more than a casual fan of Kanye's work and I've never been into streetwear. But how could I say no to meeting the ex-GC of Yeezy?
Kenneth and I ended up having a spra
March 18, 2021
014: Manik Suri on the alpha of inner confidence, the law clinic origin of his cold chain technology company, and renewable sources of internal energy
It's hard to picture a better time to grow a cold chain technology company like Therma, and it's even harder to picture the legal clinic origins of the business. Manik Suri has made a career out of synthesizing surprising insights and finding talent to pa
March 4, 2021
013: Judge Matthew Kennelly on how he manages his docket, how new ideas spread among judges, and the interesting implications of lifetime tenure
Federal judges are fascinating because they resolve high stakes matters addressing a wide swath of issues touching on every aspect of society. And because of their limited resources and the 30-some new cases they get a month in a busy court like the North
Feb. 19, 2021
012: Chief Judge James Holderman on lessons from growing up on a farm, the hardest task he had on the bench, and how he'd change federal litigation
I'm thrilled to share this interview Chief Judge James Holderman (ret.) formerly of the Northern District and now a mediator at JAMS ADR. Externing for Judge Holderman in law school was an inflection point in my legal development, and I feel like I've bee
Feb. 12, 2021
011: Archit Shah on creating legal solutions for Robinhood, misconceptions about fintech, and yes Gamestop
When Archit and I planned to do this episode in the new year, we didn't quite expect this much attention on Robinhood. We explore Archit's arc from the first lawyer at Robinhood to general counsel. We talked about the lessons learned from building a team
Feb. 5, 2021
010: Megha Parekh on how strengths can become weaknesses, why perfectionism isn't the goal, and being unapologetically yourself
I didn't expect to interview someone at another Florida sports franchise so soon, but I'm glad I had a chance to talk to Megha Parekh, Chief Legal Officer of the Jacksonville Jaguars. One of the most interesting themes from the conversation was around wor