Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

Attorneys are held to a strict ethical code, but that does not mean they always follow it. Attorney Cynthia Payne, Executive Vice President of US Legal Groups, joins the show to unpack why it took until 2002 for the American Bar Association to formally address whether attorneys can have sexual relationships with clients, and why the power imbalance in that dynamic makes consent far more complicated than it appears. Payne walks through real cases from her decades in the profession, including an attorney whose relationship with a client on a murder case led to a vacated conviction, a case involving a client who felt coerced into a relationship with her own divorce attorney, and an especially extreme case of an attorney who bribed witnesses, revealed client confidences in court filings, and was ultimately disbarred after shooting someone in his office. The conversation also turns to judges who abused their positions, from arrests involving drugs and domestic violence to one particularly bizarre courtroom scandal, and to the gender dynamics Payne has witnessed firsthand across thirty years of practice, including moments early in her career when jurors commented on her appearance rather than her performance. Payne closes with guidance for anyone who feels taken advantage of by their attorney, including how to seek a second opinion, file a disciplinary complaint, and exercise the right to fire an attorney at any time, even mid case.

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Get a look into a part of the legal world that paralegal professionals work with closely, but often don’t get to know: court reporters and transcription and documenting professionals. Guest Jennifer Hines, the founder of Hines Reporters and a 40-year veteran court reporter, chats with Mila Alcantar, a stenography student who represents the next generation of courtroom recording and transcription professionals.

The field of professional documentation, recording, and legal transcription is constantly evolving. Depositions, video conferencing, and even understanding languages and dialects are all vital parts of the legal process that intersect directly with the paralegal profession.

As the court reporting profession works through a shortage of trained workers, hear how ASR, automated court reporting, voice recording, and even a potential problematic trend in “digital” recording is challenging the field.

Curious about how the transcripts you include in legal filings get made and how state requirements vary? How do you know you’re working with a valid, defensible transcript? This episode of Paralegal Voice digs into the process and ethical standards of legal reporting and explains what paralegal professionals need to know.

Resources:

California Court Reporters Association

National Court Reporters Association

NCRA A to Z Online Program

NALA, The Paralegal Association

NALA Conference & Expo 2026

Subscribe to The Paralegal Voice: https://play.megaphone.fm/sq1e-saoq6ga2fue1-y_qw

AI assistants can be incredibly helpful to attorneys, but what exactly can and should these tools be doing for your law firm? Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell welcome Maddy Martin of Smith.ai for a roundtable discussion on the current landscape of AI assistant tools and their value for lawyers. They examine these tools through the scope of jobs to be done, looking at real-life attorney pain points and explaining ways to identify which tasks can effectively and ethically be handed off to AI assistants to improve both attorney and client experience.

As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation that you can use the second the podcast ends.

Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for the answers to your most burning tech questions.

Show Notes:

Copilot for task tracking.

Wispr Flow for easy voice dictation.

Subscribe to The Kennedy-Mighell Report: https://play.megaphone.fm/yyu1pthsr22j6_xfnb0vnq

Leaders do not simply enter a room. They change it. In episode 632 of the Lawyerist Podcast, Stephanie Everett talks with Debbie Foster about leading self, the first cornerstone from their new book, Be a Next Level Leader.

Debbie explains why “leaders bring the weather” and how a leader’s emotions, attention, and energy can shape an entire meeting. Together, they explore what happens when leaders make promises they cannot realistically keep, become bottlenecks for their teams, or undermine decisions by delivering them as someone else’s instructions.

They also discuss why honoring commitments is essential to building trust, how to renegotiate a deadline without hiding behind busyness, and what it means to speak as a leader even when you disagree with a decision. Debbie and Stephanie share practical scripts, exercises, and shared language law firm teams can use to make better leadership habits part of everyday work.

If you want your team to trust your word, follow your direction, and feel secure when pressure rises, better leadership starts with understanding how you show up.

Listen to our previous episodes on Law Firm Leadership, Self-Awareness & Building Stronger Teams.

#627: Building Stronger Law Firm Teams Through Better Communication, with Zeina Baydoun Apple | Spotify | LTN

#615: How to Stop Being the Bottleneck and Build Stronger Teams, with Debbie Foster and Stephanie Everett Apple | Spotify | LTN

#596: The Athlete’s Mindset for Lawyers, with Jess Sargus Apple | Spotify | LTN

#592: Client Care, Culture, and Character: A Framework for Great Leaders, with William O’Neal Apple | Spotify | LTN

#527: Casting Your Vision and Leading Your Firm, with Kevin DeShazo Apple | Spotify | LTN

Links from the episode:

https://beanextlevelleader.com/



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If today's podcast resonates with you and you haven't read The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited yet, get the first chapter right now for free! Looking for help beyond the book? See if our coaching community is right for you.

Access more resources from Lawyerist at lawyerist.com.

Subscribe to Lawyerist Podcast: https://play.megaphone.fm/xrm0mqp4tqwi0ozntiu41g

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction

01:19 – Why Leadership Teams Need Shared Language

03:16 – Meet Debbie Foster

03:45 – Why Leadership Starts with Leading Self

04:13 – Leaders Bring the Weather

05:27 – Showing Up Fully Present

06:17 – How Broken Commitments Erode Trust

08:15 – When the Leader Becomes the Bottleneck

09:29 – Speak as a Leader, Not a Messenger

10:11 – Disagree, Commit & Support the Decision

12:02 – How Leaders Undermine Their Own Credibility

12:57 – Turning Leadership Theory into Practical Tools

14:31 – Scripts for Renegotiating Commitments & Receiving Feedback

16:10 – How the Book and Workbook Took Shape

17:21 – Shared Language Creates Stronger Leaders

19:26 – Leading When Responsibility Exceeds Authority

21:21 – How Do You Show Up Under Stress?

22:34 – Closing Thoughts

Generative AI usage among attorneys jumped from 31% to 69% in a single year, but most law firms still haven't caught up with formal policies or training. Attorney and legal tech columnist Nicole Black, who has covered the intersection of law and technology for two decades, breaks down what's driving that gap and what it means for firms trying to keep pace. She explains why solo and small firms tend to adopt new technology faster than their mid-size and large counterparts, and why immigration attorneys in particular are using generative AI at a much higher rate than other practice areas. Black also discusses the slow erosion of the billable hour, why in-house counsel and insurance defense attorneys are among the most likely to push firms toward flat rate pricing, and what the current wave of legal tech consolidation means for the tools attorneys rely on day to day. The conversation turns to the rise of vibe coding in the legal industry, including attorneys building their own case management software from scratch, and Black shares her own experience using AI tools to navigate a New York liquor license application for a winery she and her husband are launching. She closes with her honest take on where she lands between AI optimism and AI pessimism, and why she thinks regulation may already be behind the curve.

Subscribe to The AI Sidebar: https://play.megaphone.fm/6yvcqiwqqtmrvsjkgthoiq