The Slippery Slope:
A Legal Variety Podcast
The Slippery Slope

Episode 18: A Conversation with Kia Franklin of the Drum Major Institute

This podcast features a conversation with Kia Franklin of the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy ("DMI"). Kia is a Senior Fellow in Civil Justice at DMI.  She has published opinion pieces in, among other newspapers, Newsday, The Houston Chronicle and The Washington Post.  She has a recent article on health care and "civil Gideon" in the Touro Law Review, and also blogs on civil justice at Tort Deform.

Topics include: the work of DMI, DMI's civil justice platform, "mandatory" arbitration, arguments for a civil right to counsel ("civil Gideon") and the effects of the current economic crisis on these issues.

Kia is a rising star - so have a listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:25:23

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 2/6/2009 | Add Comment

Episode 17: A Conversation with Jennifer A. Klear about the Legal Pitfalls of Blogging

This podcast features a conversation with Jennifer Klear, an attorney in the New York office of Gibbons PC. Jennifer's practice includes First Amendment counseling and litigation.  She has advised clients on issues relating to the Internet, and has developed an expertise in the legal risks of blogging.

The discussion topics include: the troubles that bloggers may run into with intellectual property, risks for employees who blog, potential liability for defamation, and how a victim of defamation might unveil an anonymous blog poster or commenter.   

Listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:18:55

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 12/19/2008 | Add Comment

Episode 16: A Conversation with Ari Kaplan, Author and Principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors

This podcast features Ari Kaplan of Ari Kaplan Advisors.  Ari provides consulting services to law firms, speaks at law schools and ghostwrites.  Our conversation focuses on his book, The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development.

Ari's book is well-written, thoroughly researched, encouraging, and dense with helpful hints on building business.  It might be summarized (at least in part) as letting the reader in on a little secret they never quite tell you in law school: be a mensch, it will come back to you. And, in my conversation with Ari, I learn that he is the consummate mensch, sincere and undoubtedly practicing what he preaches in the book.

Topics include: "organic self-promotion," what law school career services never told you, making friends not contacts, the importance of publishing, and commonalities among rainmakers.

Listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:19:33

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 12/3/2008 | Add Comment

Episode 15: A Conversation with Rebekah Cook-Mack of the Foreclosure Prevention Project at South Brooklyn Legal Services

This podcast features a conversation with Rebekah Cook-Mack, a Skadden Fellow in the Foreclosure Prevention Project at South Brooklyn Legal Services.  The Foreclosure Prevention Project represents lower-income homeowners facing foreclosure due to predatory lending. 

Topics include: causes of the subprime lending crisis, abusive lending practices, modifying mortgages to keep people in their homes, and why it is good policy to use government bailout money to guaranty mortgage modifications. 

Listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:21:44

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 11/21/2008 | Add Comment

Podcast Downloads Pass the 2000 Mark

The Slippery Slope passed the 2000 download mark with 2098 podcast downloads as of the end of yesterday!  We have been averaging over 50 downloads per day.  Modest but steadily increasing numbers; and, here at The Slippery Slope, we judge our success by the quality of our listeners, not the quantity.

Don't hesitate to leave some feedback in the comments section of the site, or send us suggestions to theslipperyslopepodcast (at) gmail (dot) com.

To those of you out there in the podcastosphere, thanks for joining us.  

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 10/24/2008 | Add Comment

Episode 14: A Conversation with Dr. Jillian Weiss about Transgender Workplace Diversity

The upcoming December 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review will feature a fictional case study "When Steve Becomes Stephanie."  The study looks at how companies accommodate an employee who is changing gender. (Teaser discussion on HBR site here). In anticipation, we have the privilege of presenting a podcast with an expert on these issues.  

This podcast features a conversation with Dr. Jillian T. Weiss, Assistant Professor of Law and Society at Ramapo college.  Jillian is an expert in gender identity and transgender diversity in the workplace.  She blogs about these issues at Transgender Workplace Diversity.  Jillian also works as a consultant to numerous companies and organizations on transgender workplace issues.

Topics include: what "transgender" means, the status of workplace anti-discrimination laws, why companies voluntarily adopt non-discrimination policies, why society gets anxious about gender nonconformity, and the differences in Jillian's own experiences as an attorney before and after she began living and practicing law as a woman.

Listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:22:34

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 10/24/2008 | Add Comment

Episode 13: A Conversation with Douglas Chermak of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society

Lately, the podcasts here at the Slippery Slope have focused on technology and, with that, cramming more into less time and cutting through information overload.  With our economy in a downward spiral and the election five weeks away, it seemed a good time to step back and say: look at yourself.

That is why today's podcast features a conversation with Douglas Chermak, an environmental lawyer in Alameda, California.  Doug serves as Law Program Director for the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. The organization hosts meditation retreats for law professionals and law students.  At the retreats, participants spend days in silence, with hopes of coming back to themselves and, with that, becoming better counselors.

Topics include: the benefits of meditation for law professionals, what it is like to keep silent, contemplative practices, the difference between a retreat and a vacation, and incorporating contemplative practices into a hectic schedule.

Listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:14:56

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 10/1/2008 | Add Comment

Episode 12: A Conversation with Larry Zerner about Lifehacking for Lawyers

Today's podcast features a conversation with attorney Larry Zerner. Larry has an entertainment law practice in Los Angeles. (A practice area for which he is well-suited, given his frightening filmography).

The discussion is about Larry's "life hacks."

The term "life hack" was originally coined by a British journalist, Danny O'Brien. He polled a group of programmers (or, "overproductive alpha geeks") on their work processes and discovered that the most productive "geeks" had developed scripts or shortcuts to get their work done. Originally, the term referred to these programmers' tricks to weed through the information overload and organize data.  Now, the term has expanded to describe any method of simplifying life, cutting through information overload or getting work done more efficiently -- and not only to produce more work, but to create more recreation time.

Noticeably absent in the blogosphere has been any discussion of life hacks for lawyers, and that's where Larry comes in.  In this podcast, he talks about some of his favorite life hacks.  Some of the techie tools he mentions: IWantSandy, Sugarsync, Grand Central, and Jott.

Topics include: cutting through the e-mails, eliminating phone tag, protecting and storing data, dueling computer monitors, a virtual personal assistant, and other life hacks that lawyers may come to find that they can no longer live without.

Listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:23:28

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 9/23/2008 | Add Comment

Episode 11: A Conversation with Stephanie Kimbro about the Virtual Law Office

Today's podcast features a conversation with attorney Stephanie Kimbro. Stephanie is a solo practitioner with a virtual law practice ("VLO") based in the physical world in Wilmington, North Carolina. Stephanie operates her law practice completely virtual - offering 'unbundled legal services' and, for the most part, publishing fixed prices for those services.  

Stephanie has authored an ebook titled Practicing Law Online: Creating a Web-Based Virtual Law Office. She also blogs about the ethical and technological considerations of operating a VLO at Virtual Law Practice.

The podcast focuses on her VLO and the software (VLOtech) that Stephanie and her husband developed to make a VLO possible. 

Topics include: the difference between a VLO and a 'brick and mortar' practice, how a VLO benefits clients, the security of information exchanged through in a VLO, licensing limitations and ethical issues.

Listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:19:32

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 9/16/2008 | Add Comment

Episode 10: A Conversation with Phoebe Eng of 1000voicesarchive.org

Today's podcast features a conversation with Phoebe Eng.  Phoebe was a corporate attorney before becoming the publisher of A Magazine, which covered Asian American issues.  She is also the author of a memoir titled Warrior Lessons: An Asian American Woman's Journey into Power. 

Among many other philanthropic and civic minded pursuits, Phoebe currently serves as Director of Creative Counsel.  Creative Counsel is an organization that showcases art that promotes "dignity, compassion and opportunity for all."  It does this "through large-scale collaborative projects featuring the top arts, media and technology talent to connect and inspire audiences to action."

Creative Counsel has partnered with the Fledgling Fund to compile the 1000 Voices Archive.  The archive features professionally produced videos of people telling stories related to social justice causes.  The short vignettes are composed by talented filmmakers, and tell compelling stories. The website is visually stunning and powerful tool for spreading information about social justice issues, and has links to organizing tools by the videos as the play on the site.  The series currently in the archive feature stories that provide an intimate human face to many social justice issues.

This podcast focuses on the 1000 Voices Archive.  Topics include: the inspiration for the project, the power of storytelling, some of the causes addressed in the videos, early achievements of the project, how educators (including law professors) and activists can use the archive to encourage discussion of issues, and the connections Phoebe sees between this project and her own memoir writing.

Check out the 1000 Voices Archive and listen to the podcast on your computer by clicking on the play button below.  Or, listen to the podcast on your mp3 player by subscribing to the podcasts on iTunes.

Download | Duration: 00:24:06

Posted by Meredith R Miller at 9/9/2008 | Add Comment
Older Posts
Copyright (c) 2008