The Attorney Lounge

Building a Career in Law with Ariana Tadler

Ariana Tadler joins Brian Roberts in the Attorney Lounge to share her journey from growing up in Queens, New York, to becoming a successful attorney and e-discovery pioneer. She excelled in school and sports, becoming a lacrosse champion and developing leadership skills at a young age. Ariana attended Hamilton College and then Fordham Law School, where she discovered her passion for law. She started her career at a small law firm and later joined the largest plaintiffs firm in the class action field. Early in her career, Ariana became interested in e-discovery and played a crucial role in transitioning the legal industry from paper-based document review to electronic discovery. She also served on the Federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee. The conversation covers various topics related to technology, data, work-life integration, and the future of the legal profession. Ariana discusses the impact of technology on the legal industry, including the use of apps and cloud-based applications in litigation. She also shares her insights on work-life balance and the importance of managing time effectively. Tadler emphasizes the need for human connection in a technology-driven world and offers strategies for maintaining a healthy balance. The conversation concludes with a discussion on legal operations and the role of AI in the practice of law. 

Finding Your Purpose: Insights on Passion and Personal and Professional Growth with Chad Aboud

Chad Aboud (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadaboud/) joins Brian Roberts (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge for a great discussion about the importance of finding and pursuing your purpose with passion. Chad shares his experiences and insights on how giving with intention and focusing on daily actions can reveal new opportunities, rather than chasing milestones. This meaningful conversation is filled with advice on:Purpose and Passion: Discover how aligning with your true purpose can lead to personal and professional growth.Living in the Moment: Lean the benefits of focusing on daily actions instead of just milestones.Opportunities Through Giving: Understand how giving selflessly opens up new paths and possibilities.Tune in to hear more about embracing your journey, finding your purpose, and living passionately every day. Don’t forget to subscribe and listen to future episodes. Special thanks again to Array (https://www.trustarray.com) for sponsoring the episode.Please visit the links below for more information about Chad, Brian and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge. Links:Chad Aboud: https://www.chadaboud.comBrian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/Array: https://www.trustarray.comLawyers careers

Ranching, Navy Seal Training, Law, the NBA and Pickleball!!? Meet Jason Rowley

Jason Rowley https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonrowley71/ joins Brian Roberts (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) to discuss his life and career. Jason grew up on a ranch near the border of Mexico in Tucson, Arizona where he learned the value of hard work and self-reliance. From that small town start, he went on to serve his country in the Navy, practice law and become a respected leader in the NBA as President & CEO of the Phoenix Suns for over a decade, while also serving his community in myriad ways. Jason shares his unique story detailing his life on the ranch, to college at the University of Arizona, service in the Navy and his experience in the Navy Seal program, to law school, his practice as a corporate lawyer and experience as General Counsel and ultimately President & CEO of the Phoenix Suns. He also talks about the importance of service to others and the countless ways he has served his community. Today, Jason is enjoying more entrepreneurial endeavors as President of Arizona's professional pickleball team, AZ Drive, which is owned by Arizona legend Larry Fitzgerald and other prominent Arizona athletes and business leaders. Please visit the links below for more information about Jason, Brian, AZ Drive and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge. Links: Jason Rowley: https://jasonrowley.coBrian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/AZ Drive: https://azdrivepb.com/Array: https://www.trustarray.comLawyers careers

The Art of Strategic Discovery with Jennifer Doran from MoloLamken LLP

Jennifer Doran, Discovery Counsel with MoloLamken https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmoscoso/ joins Brian Roberts(https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) to discuss her life and career. Jennifer grew up in Morton Grove, IL just outside of Chicago, home of Pequod’s Pizza which Jen points out is ranked by Yelp as the best pizza in America! Jen attended Duke University as an undergrad where she double majored in Public Policy and English (and attended some Duke basketball games as well).After graduating Jen worked as a litigation caseworker at Rogers & Hardin LLP for a couple of years where she got first hand experience working at a law firm and she learned that she enjoyed, as she put it, “sleuthing” for the firm in the discovery process. Having enjoyed that experience, Jen knew at that point that she would be heading to law school. Despite some naysayers who thought she wasn’t mean enough or confrontational enough to be a lawyer, Jen knew that great lawyers could be empathic and understanding and successful at the same time. She also understood that there were many different career paths she could take with a law degree. Brian and Jennifer discuss whether you can be an effective lawyer and nice at the same time. Jennifer ultimately chose to attend, and received her law degree from, Emory University School of Law.After law school, Jen worked as an attorney at Stewart, Melvin & Frost LLP in Atlanta where she tried practicing in a variety of different areas of law. She eventually returned home to Chicago where she ended up focusing her practice in complex litigation with a focus on e-Discovery matters and ultimately landed at MoloLamken LLP (https://www.mololamken.com/) where she practices today. Returning to her love of “sleuthing,” Jen realized that she enjoyed living in the documents and finding ways to identify key evidence to support their client’s case. Jen shares her enthusiasm for the discovery phase of litigation and how much she enjoys adding value by leveraging technology to identify key information in a case and give her client’s a competitive advantage in the way she manages that process. Rather than approaching discovery as a burdensome and costly part of the litigation process, Jen shares how a well organized and thoughtful approach to discovery can bring competitive advantages to a case. Jen shares that a good discovery process involves good communication and a clear protocol with the right people and a strategic approach. Jen also advises to not only focus on what you do have but think about what you might not have as well so that you can strategize appropriately.Jen talks about the type of technology she leverages today to assist with discovery and other phases of litigation. She also discusses the opportunities available to lawyers who embrace technology and are willing to learn and understand the tools that are available to create competitive advantages in litigation. Jen talks about how fast technology is developing in the legal industry and encourages young attorneys to research opportunities in the space. Please visit the links below for more information about Jennifer, Brian, MoloLamken and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge.Links:Jennifer Doran, Discovery Counsel with MoloLamken https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmoscoso/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/MoloLamken LLP (https://www.mololamken.com/)Array: https://www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

The State of Trial Law in America and the History of The Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) with Founder Steve Henry

Steve Henry, founder of The Litigation Counsel of America (LCA)https://www.litcounsel.org/ joins Brian Roberts(https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) to discuss his career and how and why he and his wife Dottie founded LCA in the early 2000s. Brian begins the show by remining Steve how he was able to cobble together a tuxedo together for the black tie dinner at the LCA event in Banff Canada last year by collecting various clothing items from different second hand stores in town. Steve discusses his upbringing on a farm outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and, as a first generation college graduate, he developed an interest in the law from watching Perry Mason on television. Steve shares that his tuition for the first semester of college at the University of Alabama was $255 in 1972. After Steve’s first year of college he decided to enroll in the Air Force as a means to help pay for college through the GI Bill and, while in the Air Force, he married his high school sweetheart, Dottie. After graduating college he attended Texas Tech law school where tuition was $190 per semester. A dedicated worker, Steve shared that he painted billboards while growing up in Alabama and worked as a waiter in law school. With the money he earned while working as a waiter while attending law school, together with income earned from an investment in a Texas oil well, Steve was able to graduate from law school with no debt and drive himself to the graduation ceremony in a red Mercedes convertible! Steve had no interest in a desk job after graduating from law school and he loved the aesthetics of being a lawyer – the courtroom, the atmosphere, the judges and juries. And, as a result, Steve’s first job out of law school was as a prosecutor in Texas. Steve recounted his first jury trial where he was told to go to the courthouse and another assistant district attorney would be over in a little while to help handle the case, but the other attorney never showed up. Steve, the fearless young attorney, went ahead and struck the jury, tried the case and won! Upon returning to the office, the other attorney said he got busy and forgot about the case. Having won his first case and recognizing that he could handle himself in the courtroom, the district attorney’s office let Steve continue to try cases and he ended up trying roughly 40 cases in his first year out of law school. In 1983, Steve moved back to Alabama with the goal of providing a better lifestyle for his family where he practiced for the remainder of his career in private practice as a trial attorney.Steve and Brian discuss the changes in the practice of trial law over the course of many decades moving from a process that would quickly go to court with the same attorney handling the filing of the case, discovery, trial and appeal to a process today that is significantly longer and highly specialized. Steve discussed the lack of characters that exist in the law today compared to several decades ago, including famous attorneys like Bobby Lee Cook who was an LCA Fellow and the inspiration for the main character in the Matlock television series. Steve also discussed the art of reading a jury, noting his belief that it is becoming a lost art. Steve mentioned former two-time LCA President, Thomas Mesereau, who represented Michael Jackson and other high profile celebrities, as someone who was brilliant at reading a jury. Steve talked about the changes in juries and the differences in relating to millennials who are serving on juries today with boomers and the ability of a good trial attorney to relate to both generations.Steve shared his motivation for starting LCA when one of his female partners at Baker Donelson attempted to join an elite society of trial lawyers but was denied despite her skills as an elite attorney. When Steve shared this story with Dottie and, having three daughters of their own, Dottie recommended that Steve do something to rectify this injustice and start a society that prioritized and welcomed women and minorities. Dottie took the initiative on this effort and identified several attorneys that would make great members of this new society that they were founding, originally called The American Academy of Trial Counsel. After sending several invitations with acceptances from many notable lawyers across the country, the interest from other lawyers in joining this new society grew quickly. The dramatic rise in popularity of this new society soon drew the ire of an older, similarly named society who insisted they change their name to avoid confusion, which ultimately resulted in Steve and Dottie changing the name to Litigation Counsel of America. Given an ultimatum by his firm at the time to either choose to continue practicing at the firm or continue building LCA, Steve chose to focus his full-time attention to LCA where he continues to focus his efforts today.Steve’s advice to young lawyers interested in trial practice is to volunteer to perform any task in a trial. Experience is the greatest tool to becoming a great trial attorney and Steve notes that the best trial attorneys are able to adapt under pressure, think on their feet, turn on a dime, and get past a moment that could otherwise kill their case. And the only way to develop these traits is to be comfortable in a trial setting, which comes from experience in the courtroom. Steve suggested that young lawyers simply sit in court and watch other cases, even if they are working on something else while there.LCA is a terrific organization that is an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society that is limited to 3,500 Fellows, representing less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. The purpose of LCA, among other things, is to recognize deserving, experienced, and highly qualified lawyers, to provide an outlet for scholarly authorship of legal articles on trial and litigation practice and has established itself as the most diverse honorary professional society in American law. Please visit the links below for more information about Steve, Brian, LCA and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge.Links:Steve Henry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/g-steven-henry-066a1a11/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/LCA: https://www.litcounsel.org/Array: https://www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

Developing a Practice in Mass Tort Litigation with Joshua Neuman, Partner at Pogust Goodhead

Josh Neuman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-neuman-5b4b2a82/) joins Brian Roberts(https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) to talk about his career as a litigator practicing in the area of mass tort litigation at Pogust Goodhead. Josh talks about growing up in Farmington Hills, Michigan and developing an interest in law while working for his dad’s law firm. He attended Michigan as an undergrad before graduating from law school at Temple University. Brian and Josh discuss the importance of networking in developing a book of business early in your legal career and share tips on how best to position yourself for success through various networking activities. Josh talks about the practice of mass tort litigation and details the steps involved in a typical case, including the difficulties of resolving these cases when multiple parties are involved. They talk about finding fulfillment in the practice of law by not focusing exclusively on compensation and pursuing areas of law that build a sense of purpose in your career. Josh talks about the pro bono work he has done and the sense of pride he gets from helping clients obtain justice when they might not otherwise have the ability to stand up for themselves. Josh and Brian offer advice to young attorneys at large law firms, early in their career, to focus on being detail-oriented, understand technology, develop problem-solving skills and look for opportunities to gain exposure to high-profile cases and transactions.If you enjoyed the show, please like, comment and subscribe to The Attorney Lounge.Please visit the links below for more information about Josh, Brian, Pogust Goodhead and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge.Links:Joshua Neuman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-neuman-5b4b2a82/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/Pogust Goodhead: https://pogustgoodhead.com/en-us/Array: https://www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

e-Discovery 101 with Stephanie Clerkin, Director of Litigation Support at Korein Tillery

Stephanie Clerkin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieclerkin/) joins Brian Roberts(https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) to talk about her career and provide a high level overview of e-Discovery. Brian and Stephanie talk about the beginning of their careers and trying to figure out how you learn and build expertise in your industry when you’re starting without any experience. Stephanie discuss how she bridges the gap between legal teams and information technology personnel by speaking the language of both groups of professionals. She walks through what a good process looks like when organizing an e-Discovery project, the technology she leverages, and how to streamline and make the process as efficient as possible.Stephanie grew up in St. Louis, obtained her Finance degree from Saint Louis University and started her career as a Financial Analyst at RubinBrown LLP where she worked on various projects that introduced her to the world of litigation support. From there, she moved to Korein Tillery in 2013 to spearhead the firm’s litigation support efforts. In that time, Stephanie has become a recognized expert in the litigation support and e-Discovery world with a large following on social media. She discusses her interest in building a social media presence and how she balances a variety of roles and activities, including being a Mom, her day job, her social media presence, and the various trade groups she’s involved in. In that regard, Stephanie offers advice on how to manage workloads, avoid burnout and ensure work-life balance in an industry where that can be tough to accomplish.Brian and Stephanie discuss the incredible opportunities that exist in the legal ops industry. Stephanie recommends starting with ACEDS (https://aceds.org/) if you’re interested in learning more about the e-Discovery industry. Given that the industry is relatively new, they discuss how many of the professionals in the eDiscovery industry are essentially founders who have built careers, learned from the beginning and are open to welcoming and educating new entrants.Please visit the links below for more information about Stephanie, Brian, Korein Tillery and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge.Links:Stephanie Clerkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieclerkin/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/Korein Tillery: https://www.koreintillery.com/Array: https://www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

AI is Disrupting the Legal Industry – Jim Sullivan at eDiscovery AI Explains Why

Jim Sullivan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sullivan9999/) joins Brian Roberts(https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) and explains how artificial intelligence is disrupting the legal industry. The conversation starts immediately when Brian asks Jim whether AI lawyers will replace real lawyers and Jim flat out says yes - that while AI is not going to replace all lawyers, it is going to replace certain positions. With that displacement, however, the discussion evolves into conversation about all of the new jobs and opportunities that will develop as a result of this new technology. Jim talks about many of the use cases where AI is being applied in the legal industry today including, in particular, in the classification of relevant documents in the production of discovery.Jim grew up in a small mining town in Minnesota called Hibbing. He went to school for computer science and math, but started looking at law school as an option after graduating from Minnesota State. After taking the practice LSATs and doing well, he decided to go to law school at Mitchell Hamline School of Law as a unique way to combine unique skill sets of law and computer science. Jim talks about his path to entrepreneurship and his willingness to take on more risk than most lawyers. Today, Jim’s past experience as a tech expert and lawyer are now coming together in a unique way to take advantage of these new opportunities to leverage AI in the legal industry. Jim’s wife perhaps sums up his expertise best by referring to him as a “nerd translator.” He’s now leveraging that expertise to disrupt the legal industry.Please visit the links below for more information about Jim, Brian, eDiscovery AI and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge.Links:Jim Sullivan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sullivan9999/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/eDiscovery AI: https://ediscoveryai.com/Array: https://www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

David Horrigan, Discovery Counsel and Legal Education Director at Relativity

David Horrigan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-horrigan-3a482a6/) joins Brian Roberts (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) for a discussion about David’s career and the history and background of e-Discovery and his work at Relativity (https://www.relativity.com/).David grew up as a kid interested in genealogy and the law, actually visiting courtrooms with a briefcase to research geneaology records. David talks about attending Levin College of Law at the University of Florida where he currently serves on the Board of the UF Law E-Discovery Conference. After graduating law school, David took a non-traditional path and began his career as a reporter at The National Law Journal. Immersed in all things e-Discovery, David discusses how he makes an effort to make the topic fun and engaging. Brian and David share some stories of practicing law in higher education as David spent time early in his career representing Brown University and Brian spent a decade as the General Counsel for Grand Canyon University. David explains how he became interested in e-Discovery and learned about legal technology during the September 11 attacks when he was a reporter at the National Law Journal and was one of only two reporters to make it down to Ground Zero, writing for many days on the 9/11 attack and the resulting impact on the e-Discovery industry. As Discovery Counsel and Legal Education Director at Relativity, David talks about how he gets to enjoy the best of both worlds as a lawyer and journalist by researching, writing and presenting across the country on the world of e-Discovery.David advises law students and young attorneys to keep your options open early in your career and consider e-Discovery as a career. He talks about the intersection of law and technology and how quickly the industry has changed in a very short period of time beginning with major amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 2006 where the rules were modified to make clear that emails fell into the definition of what was discoverable in civil proceedings, followed by the Da Silva Moore case in 2012 where Judge Peck blessed technology assisted review, and up to today where ChatGPT has caused an explosion in the use and interest in artificial intelligence in the world of legal technology. David talks about how many e-Discovery firms got their start as litigation copying firms and offers an interesting note that the company IKON stands for “I Know One Name,” which leads to an interesting discussion about the hidden meaning behind some corporate names and logos. The discussion evolves into the history of e-Discovery, the early days of Concordance of Summation and the founding and history of Relativity which was originally named kCura (a mashup of “k” for knowledge and “cura”, the Latin root for management). Relativity understood early that the volume of electronic data was skyrocketing and the legal market needed a solution that could handle the unique demands of dealing with large amounts of data. Today, Relativity is a giant in the e-Discovery industry and annually hosts the popular Relativity Fest conference where industry leaders converge to discuss the latest developments in the industry. David discusses the implementation of AI into e-Discovery and the tools that Relativity has been developing to stay out in front with the latest technology to meet the needs of clients. Given all of the advancements in technology and its rapid adoption in the legal industry, Brian and David have an interesting discussion on the future of law and how they expect it to evolve going forward.Last, Brian and David discuss the future of legal operations and the opportunities that exist for enterprising young entrepreneurs and attorneys. The rapid development of legal ops has led to an explosion of opportunities in that field and the exciting career opportunities that have developed recently.Please visit the links below for more information on David, Brian, Relativity and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge.Links:David Horrigan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-horrigan-3a482a6/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/Relativity: https://www.relativity.com/Array: https://www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

David Rauch, President & GC of Annexus Talks Legal Careers, Thunderbirds and the WM Phoenix Open

David Rauch (https://arsfinancial.com/leadership-david-rauch/) returns to a familiar setting and joins Brian Roberts (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) for a discussion about David’s career and his involvement with the Thunderbirds, hosts of the PGA’s WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.David reflects on his journey from a blue-collar background to successful litigator to President & General Counsel of Annexus (https://annexus.com) and shares his experience as a life member of the Thunderbirds where he served as the WM Phoenix Open Tournament Chairman in 2010.After graduating from San Diego State University with a degree in Finance, David briefly worked in the Finance Division with Robinson’s Department Stores in Los Angeles. While there, he took a $100 bet from a friend over who would get the better score on the LSAT. David not only won the bet but parlayed his good score into an acceptance to attend the UCLA School of Law. After graduating from UCLA, David moved to his wife’s hometown of Phoenix, Arizona and began his legal career in the litigation group at Snell & Wilmer LLP where he practiced for nearly 20 years.David talks about the benefits of launching his career at a prominent law firm and the exceptional foundation it laid for his successful career. He describes how he “earned the right” to get lucky through his work ethic, reputation and network. He recognized that Annexus was a great, fast-growing business, and its founding principals were great partners for him to work with, as he transitioned from life in a big law firm to an in-house role. David started at Annexus as its general counsel and chief operating officer and now he serves as the company’s president where the business continues to grow and develop market-leading fixed indexed annuities and indexed universal life insurance products that help Americans grow and protect their retirement savings.David has also spent over 20 years as a member of the Thunderbirds, a charitable organization that has served as the host of the PGA’s WM Phoenix Open since 1934. David discusses the history of the Thunderbirds organization and the WM Phoenix Open and talks about how it has grown into one of the largest spectator events in the world. The WM Phoenix Open no longer releases official attendance statistics, however, it’s estimated that they regularly host more than 700,000 spectators throughout the week and more than 200,000 spectators on Saturday’s round of the tournament. A highlight every year is the Annexus Celebrity Pro-Am played on the Wednesday of tournament week where notable celebrities like Larry Fitzgerald, Emmitt Smith, Alex Rodriguez and Carli Lloyd tee it up with famous PGA Tour players in a relaxed and fun event with local sponsors. As the title sponsor, David regularly plays in the event and talks about some of his favorite moments, including last year where his daughter served as his caddie and his playing partners were Michael Phelps and Rickie Fowler.David and Brian highlight the incredible charitable and economic impact the WM Phoenix Open has every year on the Valley, with the Thunderbirds having raised a record $14.5 million for Arizona charities in 2023 and having an overall annual economic impact of nearly $1 billion.Last, they discuss the amazing musical acts that perform at the Birds Nest every year following each round of the tournament with David and Brian noting a couple of their favorite concerts over the years as Kid Rock and Snoop Dogg, respectively. They also talk about the Concert in the Coliseum, in its third year in 2024, where the Saturday before the tournament begins, the Thunderbirds turn the famous Par 3 Hole 16 into a sold-out concert venue. Post Malone is headlining this year’s Concert in the Coliseum, while Dierks Bentley, Hardy, and Duran Duran will be performing at the Coors Light Birds Nest.Please visit the links below for more information on David, Brian, Annexus, the WM Phoenix Open, and the host of The Attorney Lounge, Array.Links:David Rauch: https://arsfinancial.com/leadership-david-rauch/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/Annexus: https://www.annexus.comWM Phoenix Open : https://www.wmphoenixopen.comArray: https://www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers