“How Did I Get Here?” is a series on the MassBar Beat podcast exploring the path from new lawyer to partner through in-depth interviews with lawyers at law firms, solo practitioners, in-house counsel and government employees about their unique path to a partner-level position.

In this episode, host Michael D. Molloy, who is chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association Civil Litigation Section, talks with attorney Joseph Molina Flynn, who established his own firm after law school (Molina Flynn Law Offices) and practices immigration, criminal law and family law in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He was also appointed as a Municipal Court Judge for the City of Central Falls (Rhode Island) in 2021.

Their discussion touches on Flynn’s unique path to becoming lawyer after initially living in the United States as an undocumented immigrant, the challenges he faced starting up his firm after law school, and the importance of mentors and maintaining professional relationships.

How Did I Get Here? Ep. 7: Joseph Molina Flynn, founder, Molina Flynn Law Offices

The LSAT is facing competition from the JD-Next exam, and many states are reconsidering their licensing methods as the bar exam as we’ve known it sunsets in 2028. Kellye Testy, the executive director and CEO of the Association of American Law Schools, talks with the ABA Journal’s Julianne Hill about why those changes are happening now and what it means for law schools and students.

Tests into and out of law schools—what's changing and why

Justice David W. Ellis has served on the Illinois Appellate Court for the 1st District for nearly 10 years. But readers may know him better as author David Ellis, writer of more than a dozen legal thrillers.

Ellis had enjoyed creative writing as a youth, he tells the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles in this episode of The Modern Law Library. But during his college and law school years, he was focused solely on his legal career path. It wasn’t until he had been in practice for a few years that this changed. During a vacation at the beach, he suddenly decided that he was going to write a novel—and once that goal was set, he worked relentlessly towards it. And in 2002, he won a prestigious Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for that first novel, Line of Vision. 

Both branches of Ellis’s career have seen tremendous returns. He made national news in 2009 as the prosecutor of the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich before the state senate. He was the youngest-serving justice in 2014 when he joined the Illinois Appellate Court for the 1st District, which serves Chicago and Cook County. And along the way, he published 11 novels, including the four-book Jason Kolarich series. He was a finalist for the ABA Journal-sponsored Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction in 2012 and 2013. He has also co-written nine books with James Patterson, the latest of which (Lies He Told Me) will be released in September.

In this episode, Ellis and Rawles discuss his July release, The Best Lies. The germ of an idea that became The Best Lies started off with the notion of a main character who was a diagnosed pathological liar. When the book opens, Leo Balanoff, a criminal defense attorney in Chicago, has just been arrested for murder. Police have collected DNA and fingerprints at the scene that are a match for a college-era bar fight Leo was charged for, and the victim had an ugly history with one of Leo’s clients. Over the course of The Best Lies, twists and turns across multiple timelines and through multiple points of view begin to reveal what really happened. Ellis weaves a tale combining corporate espionage, violin concertos, police corruption and the Estonian mob.

 Ellis also discusses his writing process, his 3:30 a.m. wake-up time, the similarities in his creative and legal writing, and how his judicial ethics concerns sometimes impact his editorial decisions.

Legal thriller author David Ellis's day job? Appellate court justice

Attorney Lisa Gonzalez of Johnson & Pekny discusses being drafted (yes drafted - that's our process in Omaha) into being a poll worker for elections in Omaha, Nebraska.

"Bar Talk" Ep. 61 - Lisa Gonzalez, Johnson & Pekny

Todd Kinney, attorney at Kutak Rock in Omaha, sits down to talk about his legal career and his new book "I Didn't Believe It Either: One Dad's Discovery That Everything Is Better Without Alcohol." 

More info on Todd and his book can be found at https://www.toddkinney.com/.

"Bar Talk" Ep. 62 - Todd Kinney of Kutak Rock, Author of "I Didn't Believe It Either"

Presenters:
    Mallory Hughes, Berry Law Firm
    Tiffany Beerman, Dvorak Law Group
    David Pontier, Koenig Dunne
    Kyle McGinn, Hauptman O'Brien

Description:
One of the most important skills a lawyer can have is rarely, if at all taught in law school. Management of the relationship, communications, work, and expectations with the client is critically important. We've assembled attorneys from Criminal Law, Personal Injury, Family Law, and Business Law backgrounds to discuss their do's and don'ts of client management.

Outline of Discussion:
1.            Initial Consultations – Setting the Stage/Ground Rules

                -Client Screening and Selection

                -Ground Rules for Representation

                -Client Onboarding

2.            Client Communications – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

                -Forms of Communication

                -Updates and Case Progress

                -Using technology for communication (e.g., client portals)

                -Client education and empowerment – help them help themselves

3.            Expectations Game

-Clarity in Expectations, Understanding what the Client is hearing/wanting to hear

-Expect the worst, hope for the best (but don’t talk about the absolute best too much)

-Managing timelines and deliverables

-Dealing with client dissatisfaction

4.            Case Management Systems / Retainer Agreements / Office Staff Points of Contact

                -Billing Practices and Systems – An important part of the relationship

                -Client Feedback and Satisfaction Surveys

5.            Can’t Win Them All – Dealing with Difficult Clients

-Strategies for managing unreasonable client demands

-Conflict resolution with clients

-Recognizing when to withdraw from representation

"Just the Basics" CLE Series - Client Management

September is Suicide Prevention Month and also National Recovery Month. In this episode, host Jordan Rich talks with Amanda Rowan, chair of the MBA’s Lawyer Well-Being Committee and an assistant clerk magistrate in Middlesex Superior Court; Dr. Shawn Healy, PhD., director of administrative operations and a clinical psychologist at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers in Massachusetts (LCL); and Massachusetts Bar Association President Victoria M. Santoro about the importance of de-stigmatizing conversations about suicide and recovery -- and how community support is critical for both of these well-being issues.

Help and Hope for Suicide Prevention, People in Recovery

Much has been made of the gigantic access-to-justice gap in this country. One possible way to help bridge the gap is to expand the pool of people eligible to practice law. Of course, that raises age-old concerns about unauthorized practice of law.

What does the future hold for licensed paraprofessionals?

“How Did I Get Here?” is a series on the MassBar Beat podcast exploring the path from new lawyer to partner through in-depth interviews with lawyers at law firms, solo practitioners, in-house counsel and government employees about their unique path to a partner-level position.

In this episode, host Michael D. Molloy, who is chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association Civil Litigation Section, talks with attorney Steven M. Ayr, who is a partner at Casner & Edwards LLP where he handles corporate law, including helping early-stage companies and founders get their businesses off the ground, serving as outside general counsel to his corporate clients, and handling sell-side M&A work. Their discussion touches on how Ayr became a partner at an established Boston law firm several years after opening his own practice, and some of the events and mentors that helped along the way.

How Did I Get Here? Ep. 8: Steven M. Ayer, Partner, Casner & Edwards LLP, Boston

Jill Barton spent the first decade of her career working as a journalist, with the Associated Press Stylebook always at hand to determine word usage and punctuation choices. But when she became an attorney, she says, she realized that there was no single equivalent style guide when it came to legal writing—and she had to adjust to using the Oxford comma.


As a professor of legal writing at the University of Miami, she also began to notice a contrast between the classic 19th and 20th century court opinions her students were being given to read and the style of writing coming out of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 21st century. Standards were changing at the highest court of the land, but the wider legal community wasn’t necessarily aware of it. Barton spent five years analyzing more than 10,000 pages from Supreme Court opinions, and The Supreme Guide to Writing is the result.


In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Barton and the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles discuss her findings, and what some of the bigger surprises were. One of her biggest takeaways is that the justices are not a conservative bunch when it comes to writing style.


For example, during most of Justice Antonin Scalia’s tenure on the court, he was a strident opponent of contractions—can’t, don’t, shouldn’t were always cannot, do not, should not. But in his final years, Scalia did sprinkle in a few contractions, and his replacement, Justice Neil Gorsuch, is “King of the Contractions,” Barton says.
The justices were willing to depart from grammar rules if adhering to them caused stilted writing, Barton found. Chief Justice John Roberts uses commas based on cadence rather than simply following strict English grammar guidance. All the justices showed a marked preference for active verbs and shorter, simpler phrases. They have adapted to using pronouns that match litigants’ gender identities, and to using the singular “they” rather than “he or she.”


The Supreme Guide to Writing notes when the court shows unanimity in a usage rule, and when there is disagreement. While each justice shows internal consistency with how they show a possessive when a singular noun ends in “s,” there is no group consensus on apostrophe-s versus a single apostrophe. Barton discusses her research process, offers more insight into the way legal language is evolving, and shares how practitioners can use her book to modernize their own writing.

The Supreme Court is a liberal body–when it comes to legal writing

Voluntary association of attorneys, judges, and law students in Omaha, Nebraska. Est. 1875. More information at www.omahabarassociation.com.

"Bar Talk" Ep. 62 - Todd Kinney of Kutak Rock, Author of "I Didn't Believe It Either"

Omaha Bar Association

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