The Attorney Lounge

Kannon Shanmugam, Supreme Court Lawyer at Paul Weiss

Brian Roberts (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) talks to Kannon Shanmugam (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kannon/). Kannon is widely recognized as one of the nation's top appellate lawyers, having argued 36 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and over 100 appeals in courts across the country, including all thirteen federal courts of appeals.Kannon and Brian both grew up at the same time in Lawrence, Kansas, both attending Lawrence High School and sharing a love for the Royals, Chiefs, and University of Kansas athletics. At the beginning of the show, Brian and Kannon take a trip down memory lane sharing their favorite stories of Kansas athletics, including personal anecdotes from KU's amazing run in 1988 when they won the NCAA national championship with Danny Manning, affectionately referred to as Danny and the Miracles. They also both share memories of fellow Lawrence High grad Sri Srinivasan, who now serves as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals and is regularly mentioned as a potential candidate to serve as a Justice on the United States Supreme Court. Kannon shares what it was like attending Harvard as an undergrad, graduating summa cum laude, and then attending the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, before ultimately graduating from Harvard University Law School, magna cum laude. After law school, Kannon served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and he describes what it was like meeting him for the first time, being invited to clerk, and the feeling of working in the Supreme Court and getting to know the other justices. Kannon also shares some poignant thoughts on Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.Kannon talks about his practice as an appellate lawyer, where he currently serves as Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Practice at Paul Weiss. He shares a first hand account of what it's like to argue a case before the Supreme Court, including a funny anecdote from his first oral argument (which he won) while serving as Assistant to the Solicitor General of the U.S. Department of Justice. Kannon also offers some tips for anyone considering becoming an appellate lawyer. Links:Kannon Shanmugam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kannon/Paul Weiss: https://www.paulweiss.comBrian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/Array: https://www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

Kristine Campbell, General Counsel at U-Haul

Brian Roberts (https://twitter.com/beeberts) talks to Kristine Campbell, the General Counsel at U-Haul. Kristine joined U-Haul in 2011 and was appointed General Counsel in 2023. Prior to joining U-Haul, Kristine was a member of the class action legal team at Greenberg Traurig LLP. She received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School and her undergraduate degree from Connecticut College. Kristine talks about growing up in Phoenix, going away to college and working on the east coast before deciding to return home after 9-11 to be closer to family and friends. She talks about what it was like practicing law at a large firm and how much she enjoyed her time at Greenberg Traurig and then, ultimately, why she transitioned in-house and what that transition was like when she joined U-Haul. Kristine shares how she manages a large team of in-house lawyers along with a large network of outside counsel and the personality traits she looks for in the attorneys she works with, both in-house and outside. Brian and Kristine compare notes and share stories about what it’s like to serve as the general counsel of large, publicly traded companies, what they believe makes for a good general counsel, and advice for young attorneys who aspire to that position.Links:Kristine Campbell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristine-campbell-7ba5144/Brian Roberts: https://linktr.ee/attorneyloungeU-Haul: https://www.uhaul.com/Array: www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

John Jackson aka @AttorneySomm, Accomplished Litigator, Competitive Eater, and Popular Social Media Wine Expert

Brian Roberts (https://twitter.com/beeberts) talks to John Jackson (https://www.instagram.com/attorneysomm), an accomplished litigator at Jackson Walker in Dallas, Texas, who is also well recognized for his fun and informative wine videos on YouTube under the name@attorneysomm. John obtained his level four diploma (DipWSET with merit) from the WSET and, in addition to his job as a litigator, devotes a substantial amount of time to the world of wine on his various social media platforms. John shares how he became interested in law, attended the University of Illinois College of Law, worked as a judicial law clerk and then joined a small law firm that merged with Jackson Walker where John practices today. John recounts some interesting cases he has worked on, including representing skateboarder Tony Hawk and comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla. John then recounts stories from his career as a competitive eater where he started out hustling coworkers and eventually ended up competing in the world corn dog eating contest at the Texas State Fair, then finished third at a tamale eating contest, then competing at a burger eating competition, before eventually retiring around the time he took up an interest in wine. John explains how he became interested in wine and ended up completing wine education courses to obtain his level four diploma (DipWSET with merit). He then talks about his decision to start posting online, adopting the name AttorneySomm, and ultimately growing into a well-known brand for fun and educational videos on wine. John gives some insight into how he manages his brand and produces his videos as well as some of the benefits of his expertise, including the ability to take some amazing trips to beautiful wineries all over the world. He reveals that his favorite wine is the 1990 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, he shares some holiday wine recommendations, including some sparkling wines from Piper-Heidsieck, Lanson, Cremant and some wines from the southern Rhone region like Chateauneuf-Du-Pape and Gigondas.Links:John Jackson: https://linktr.ee/AttorneySommBrian Roberts: https://linktr.ee/attorneyloungeJackson Walker: https://www.jw.com/Array: www.trustarray.com
Lawyers careers

Aloke Chakravarty, Prosecutor in Boston Marathon Bombing and Partner at Snell & Wilmer LLP

Aloke Chakravarty (https://www.swlaw.com/people/aloke_chakravarty) joins Brian Roberts (https://twitter.com/beeberts) for a compelling discussion about his life and career, including a detailed account of his involvement in the investigation, trial and conviction of the surviving brother responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing. Al shares his personal journey from starting out as a pre-med major at Johns Hopkins University to transitioning to law and attending Emory University School of Law. After beginning his career at a prestigious law firm in Delaware, he made the bold decision to get more trial experience by taking a position in the District Attorney’s office in Boston. Al shares that he recalls losing his first dozen cases and questioning his trial strategies, even going so far as to adopt a Boston accent in an attempt to become more persuasive with juries. Al eventually hit his stride and shares several details of his incredible career as a trial attorney working on many high-profile cases, including a behind the scenes look into the successful investigation, trial and conviction of the Boston Marathon bomber. After serving many years as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice in the District of Massachusetts, Al transitioned into private practice where he currently is a Partner at Snell & Wilmer and co-Chair of the firm’s investigations, government enforcement and white-collar protection practice group. Al’s practice also focuses on matters involving cybersecurity, data protection, data privacy and cryptocurrency.Links:Aloke Chakravarty: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aloke-chakravarty-618753139/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-roberts-7108497/Snell & Wilmer: https://www.swlaw.comThe Attorney Lounge YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAttorneyLounge-fd1lo/featuredThe Attorney Lounge Twitter: https://twitter.com/AttorneyLoungeArray: www.trustarray.comArray’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/trustarray
Lawyers careers

Jamie Boggs, VP of Athletics at Grand Canyon University

Brian Roberts (https://twitter.com/beeberts) interviews Jamie Boggs (https://twitter.com/JamieBoggsJD) about her life and career and how she rose through the ranks to become the Vice President of Athletics at Grand Canyon University. During her first year of law school, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in sports over law and, after graduating from law school at the age of 22, began her career at a sports agency in Washington, DC. She then began her collegiate athletics career by taking a position at Duke University where she worked directly with Coach K and shares some advice she received from him. Jamie then decided to take ten months off from her career to focus on raising her children before getting a call from Georgia State University asking if she would join their athletic department and assist with their transition from FCS to BCS. After a successful transition there, she moved to Phoenix to take the position of Deputy Athletic Director at Grand Canyon University and assist with their transition from NCAA Division II to Division I. Brian previously served as the former General Counsel and Chair of GCU’s NCAA Transition Committee and he and Jamie recount their experience working together at GCU. Jamie discusses her appreciation for working at GCU and directly with President Brian Mueller and Senior Advisor Jerry Colangelo. The show closes with a discussion of NCAA athletics generally, including conference realignment and NIL, and Jamie provides advice to anyone interested in having a career in athletics.Links:GCU: www.gcu.eduGCU Athletics: www.gculopes.comThe Attorney Lounge YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAttorneyLounge-fd1lo/featuredThe Attorney Lounge Twitter: https://twitter.com/AttorneyLoungeArray: www.trustarray.comArray’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/trustarray
Lawyers careers