lawyer stories

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 132 features Yasha Osby, Managing Attorney at Optimum Legal Services, PLLC, in South Florida focusing on family law, landlord/tenant and real estate. Yasha shares her lawyer story and tells us what it was like to graduate during a global pandemic.  Yasha hit the ground running with her firm and hasn’t looked back!

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 131 features Lorraine D’Allesio, CEO & Founder of D’Alessio Law Group focusing on Tech and Entertainment Immigration Law in Los Angeles, CA.  Lorraine spent her college years in Toronto before relocating to LA.  Lorraine shares with us her first-hand knowledge about the difficult legal procedure when being employed abroad and therefore brings a greater amount of appreciation for the process and assisting her clients.  Lorraine and her female dominant team are “Dedicated to getting you there,” and use a holistic approach elevating clients beyond a legal approach.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 130 features Scott E. Rahn, Founding Partner of RMO, LLP, Probate Litigation in Los Angeles California and with offices in Kansas City, Miami, and Houston amongst other strategic locations.  Scott shares his lawyer story with us from his early days on the family farm to law school in San Diego and explains why he left big law to launch his own firm.  Scott tells us to lead with empathy when dealing with probate litigation matters and is known for his in-depth financial investigations and handling complicated intra-family dynamics with decades-long friction.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 129 features Karyna Pukaniuk, Corporate & Tax Lawyer | Head of Legal at Phase One: Karma, Lawrina project with headquarters in Ukraine.  Karyna shares her lawyer story with us and about her current life in Kyiv, Ukraine.  We discuss “Lawrina,” a living ecosystem for legal professionals and their clients that changes the experience of law. Clients can read legal guides, and create a professional legal template, while attorneys can benefit from Loio contract drafting and review software and lawyer directory.  Karyna further tells us about the upcoming world of legal-tech. 

Do you want your own podcast?  The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 128 features David Yas, Founder & CEO of The Boston Podcast Network (Pod617) in Boston, Massachusetts.  David shares with us his journey through law school to working in a law firm, his stint in the finance world and as editor of Mass Lawyers Weekly.  We discuss how David got into podcasting and how hosting someone on a podcast has taken the place of a traditional coffee meeting.  David, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University School of Law, has been producing podcasts since 2009 as a creative influencer, host, editor, and promotor. 

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 127 features Ashley-Ann Clement, Owner of Boutique Law Firm, Palmers Law, P.A., in South Florida, specializing in first-party property litigation and personal injury.  Born and raised in Jamaica, Ashley-Ann shares with us her pursuit from undergraduate school in Kingston to law school and then to Northwestern for an LL.M. in Taxation.  Ashley-Ann tells us to be mindful of our network and to seize opportunities.  Ashley-Ann strives to achieve results beyond her clients’ expectations.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 126 features Benjamin Sachs, Consultant (The Landing Group), Law Prof (UVA), and Author (All Rise) in the Washington, DC area.  We discuss Ben’ lawyer story and his inspiration for penning All Rise, Practical Tools for Building High-Performance Legal Teams. Ben shares with us his publication and how he unpacks the science of great teams, identifies best practices across industries, and provides a practical roadmap perfectly tailored to attorneys.  Learn to unlock a more collaborative, more productive, higher retention team.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 125 features Amanda Laub, Founding Attorney at Laub Law in Las Vegas, Nevada, focusing on personal injury and criminal defense. Amanda shares with us that she worked two jobs to put herself through undergraduate school while caring for her mother.  Mandi strongly believes in treating humans as humans and that is one of the reasons Laub Law’s motto is “Lawyers who listen.” We discuss the value of reaching out and making connections when launching a new law firm.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 124 features Chris Carsten, CEO & Managing Attorney at Armada Law, focusing on personal injury in Greenville, South Carolina and also in North Carolina and Georgia.  We discuss Chris’ lawyer story and how a family dinner led him to launching a startup with is brother, Omni Healthcare, and how this experience taught him valuable lessons about entrepreneurship.  Chris shares advice to new entrepreneurs and discusses why systems and processes are so important.  We also discuss what is like to complete law school, become an entrepreneur, and then launch and scale a successful law firm.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 123 features Jim LiCalzi, Partner & Associate General Counsel at Duffy & Duffy, PLLC, in Rockville Centre, New York, concentrating his practice on representing catastrophically injured individuals in both complex medical malpractice and significant personal injury cases. Jim shares with us that he comes from a family of physicians but chose a different path by handling medical malpractice cases.  Jim takes pride in serving underserved communities and making sure everyone has the opportunity for their day in court.  Recently, Jim obtained an $80M verdict for a baby born extremely premature in the Bronx and caused to suffer profound injuries.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 122 features Joe Frick, Principal Attorney at Joe Frick Law, PLLC, and Attorney & Chief Marketing Officer at Idaho Divorce Law Firm.  We discuss with Joe his upbringing on a farm in a Southern region of Kansas and how he decided to enlist in the U.S. Air Force. Joe shares with us that he moved to Idaho and opened his own practice in 2016 and focused on DUI, Bankruptcy, Personal Injury and now exclusively Family Law, while teaching other attorneys how to market their law firms.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 121 features Nigel Phiri, Trial Lawyer & Owner of the Law Office of Nigel Phiri, Esq., LLC, focusing on personal injury in Atlanta, Georgia.  We discuss Nigel’s early days of moving from Zambia in south-central Africa to Atlanta to completing undergraduate at Georgia State in three years.  Nigel shares with us that he accomplished undergraduate school in three years because he had a desire to go to law school.  We discuss Nigel’s multifarious experience, starting at a small law firm, entering big law and then launching his own firm while still giving back to the community.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 120 features Shivani Honwad, Principal Attorney at The Law Firm of Shivani Honwad, LLC.  Shivani is also an entrepreneur and creative philanthropist based in Los Angeles, CA where she is a passionate advocate for women and children.  We discussed the launch of Shivani’s law firm, her focus on start-up businesses and immigration law for companies in the fashion, tech and entertainment realms.  Shivani also shares some helpful advice regarding how to manage your day-to-day, informs us that she is working on 2 books, an empathy platform and will be teaching at NYU’s LA campus in Spring 2023.  

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 119 features Todd Burnham, Founding Partner at Burnham Law, Author, Keynote Speaker, Deep Bench Podcast Host, Life & Business Strategist, and Adjunct Professor at University of Colorado School of Law.  We reflect back on Todd’s story and why failure was not an option when he launched his law firm from an unfinished basement growing the business into an elite eight-office, multi-state law firm.  Todd shares with us how adversity can serve as a launching pad towards success and is empowering hundreds of thousands internationally with the tactics and knowledge needed to generate lasting success in business and life.  Check out more about Todd at www.toddburnham.com

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 118 features Chris Dreyer, CEO of Rankings.io, Host of the Personal Injury Mastermind podcast, Author of "Niching Up: The Narrower the Market, the Bigger the Prize." We discuss the interesting way that Chris got into SEO, his fist website and why he moved on to helping elite-level attorneys.  Chris shares with us the pros and cons of “Niching up,” and when someone should niche.  

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 117 features Nicholas Cronauer, Managing Attorney at Cronauer Law, LLP in Sycamore, Illinois where Nick is a nationally ranked personal injury lawyer. Nicholas shares with us what it was like to grow up in a small agriculture community and how seeing the Village of Hinckley dispute over an issue changed his perspective and taught him not to follow the status quo or what is popular.  Nick shares with us how he started out working with his dad and assisted the firm in handling larger cases and growing the business.  In May of 2022, Nick recorded a record verdict in Illinois.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 116 features Erika Riggs, Partner at Disability Law Group in Troy, Michigan where Mrs. Riggs specializes in assisting the disabled before the Social Security Administration and the VA. We learn Erika’s path to becoming a lawyer, and how during law school she devoted her free time to public service, education, mentorship and continues to work with veterans.  Erika achieved scaling her law firm quickly while successfully balancing a family life. Erika believes that you haven’t truly lived until you’ve done something for someone who can’t repay you.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 115 features Jeffrey Possinger, Founder & Managing Member of Possinger Law Group, PLLC, located in Woodinville, WA.  Mr. Possinger’s law firm is dedicated to the service of small and medium sized businesses and the individuals that own and operate them. We discuss Jeffrey’s lawyer story and how Possinger Law Group, PLLC, founded in the Pacific Northwest, has local roots, even as its practice has regional, national, and international reach.  Jeffrey tells us about the “Miska the Cat,” case which found its way to his office, ended up on the news, and obtained an outcome which had an impact on local governmental law.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 114 features Taylor Kosla & Michael Agruss of the Agruss Law Firm in Chicago, Illinois.  Taylor is a partner focusing on personal injury and consumer rights and Michael is the managing partner, launching the firm in 2012, suing companies all day long, turning the tables on the bad guy, while making happy.  We discuss Taylor & Mike’s passion for helping others and protecting people who are being taken advantage of by taking a “People first,” approach to their practice.

The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 111 features Suzan Hixon, founder & CEO of Legally Blissed, business consultant, certified life coach, trademark attorney & founder of Hixon Law in Louisville, Kentucky.  We discuss Suzi’s lawyer story and career as a trademark attorney and why she decided to launch the Legally Blissed Community; encouraging and assisting female attorneys to design their work around their life and not the other way around.  Legally Blissed provides the “how” to transform women into self-advocates, helping identify what brings success and offering support along the way. Suzi and I also discuss the importance of working in a healthy mental space and why boundary setting is so critical.