ABA Legal Career Central's Career Insights podcast is designed to explore cutting edge issues, trends and practices impacting the legal profession and lawyers entering and growing in the profession.  Each podcast is led by an experienced interviewer who will introduce a subject that is current and will involve leading experts, academicians and practitioners reacting to the interviewer’s questions.

It's no secret that some attorneys have reputations for being crooked, sneaky, or self-serving. Attorney misconduct has recently seen a resurgence in mainstream conversation in light of the #MeToo movement, the raid on President Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen, a 60 Minutes episode “Against the Odds,” and numerous New York Times articles. As cultural and societal norms shift, it's caused the profession to look back at the origin and application of the character and fitness prerequisite to practice law. What does it mean? How should it be regulated? 
Professor David Wilkinson argues that practicing good and virtuous character is essential to being a good and successful lawyer. He explores the characteristics attorneys must have to be successful and how he sees character and fitness evolving in the future.

Speaker:

David B. Wilkins, Lester Kissel Professor of Law, Director, Center on the Legal Profession, Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School

Moderator: 

Derek Davis, Executive Director, The Center on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School

Character and Fitness - Part 1 of 2

ABA Legal Career Central's Career Insights podcast is designed to explore cutting-edge issues, trends and practices impacting the legal profession and lawyers entering and growing in the profession.  Each podcast is led by an experienced interviewer who will introduce a subject that is current and will involve leading experts, academicians, and practitioners reacting to the interviewer’s questions.

In the second part of this program, our experts continue the conversation on how attorney character and fitness can be regulated, how the spotlight on lawyer misconduct has increased in the media (eg, a 60 Minutes story called “Against all odds” and several NYT articles in recent years, and how we see character and fitness evolving in the future given shifts in cultural and social norms.

Speaker:
David B. Wilkins, Lester Kissel Professor of Law, Director, Center on the Legal Profession, Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School

Moderator:
Derek Davis, Executive Director, The Center on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School

Character and Fitness - Part 2 of 2

Special guest podcast by the ABA Section of Litigation! Take less than 15 minutes to hear how to suppress your fight-or-flight response in times of extreme stress, like the bar exam. Our expert in witness preparation, with a background in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, offers essential test-taking and stress-management strategies for bar-takers.

The guest is Matt McCusker of Convince, LLC. Matt is a nationally renowned Litigation Consultant with extensive plaintiff and defense experience in civil and criminal cases.  He is a former president of the American Society of Trial Consultants and has a strong history of success in crafting winning strategies for trial teams, government entities and major corporations

The host is Joshua Jones, a principal at Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C. and a member of the ABA Section of Litigation. Josh focuses his practice in the defense of brokerage firms and financial institutions against claims asserted by their customers and employees in state and federal court and in arbitration proceedings throughout the United States.  In addition, Josh has a general litigation practice, defends companies and individuals in connection with criminal and regulatory investigations, and represents lenders in reorganization, workout and litigated insolvency matters.

Presented by the ABA Section of Litigation as part of its Sound Advice series on June 19, 2018. Learn more about what Litigation does at ambar.org/litigation.

The Fight-or-Flight Plight: Staying Calm During Bar Exam Prep

First year exams are stressful. Let's consider historical rites of passage, the Ming dynasty Confucian civil service exam, and your upcoming career in an effort to provide some perspective to the process. Hosted by Joshua Jones. (12 minutes, 22 seconds)

Putting Your First Year Exams in Perspective

Speakers: 
Amir Whitaker - Policy Attorney, ACLU of Southern California
Daiquiri Steele - ABA YLD Assembly Speaker

Moderator:
Abre’ Conner - Staff Attorney, ACLU Foundation of Northern California

In partnership with the ABA YLD Public Education Committee, this talk highlights the steps you can take to file an education-based complaint, the challenges you might run into, and other tips you need to be successful in ensuring justice for all students.This talk was originally recorded on Wednesday, August 14, 2019.

If you’d like to know more about Abre’ Conner’s work, read her piece, Why I Became a Civil Rights Attorney at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/publications/after-the-bar/professional-life/why-i-became-a-civil-rights-attorney/.

Administrative (In)Action? State and local options for student and education-based complaints

The ABA Career Center's Career Insights Podcast series is designed to explore cutting-edge issues, trends, and practices that impact the legal profession and the lawyers entering and growing in the profession. Each podcast is led by an experienced interviewer who will introduce a subject that is current and will involve leading experts, academicians, and practitioners reacting to the interviewer’s questions.

ABA Career Insights Podcast

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