Higher Callings

Renee Landers is a Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. She teaches Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Health Law, and Privacy Law, among other academic pursuits. She also has served in a number of other impressive positions, including a term as President of the Boston Bar Association and another as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Among her many volunteer activities, Professor Landers has played and continues to play a significant role in the area of judicial ethics in her home state of Massachusetts. And, perhaps most important, she happens to be a great role model for aspiring lawyers. I’ve known Professor Landers for a number of years and could think of no one I’d rather talk with about some of the most significant decisions issued by the United States Supreme Court in the final weeks before its summer recess, and about the current controversy over whether the Justices should be bound by Congressionally-imposed rules of judicial conduct, as are all other federal judges. I learned a lot from the conversation and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. 

Lauren Stiller Rikleen is a force of nature. An accomplished lawyer and author, past President of the Boston Bar Association, and holder of several leadership positions in the American Bar Association, she now has her own leadership institute and serves as Executive Director of an organization of lawyers devoted to defending American democracy. Lauren also recently served as editor of an inspiring book, presenting the stories of 25 women judges, all of whom, like her, have received the ABA's prestigious Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. In this episode of Higher Callings, I talk with Lauren about some of her recent work, including the work of Lawyers Defending American Democracy and the publication of her new book.You can find the Rikleen Institute website here.You can find the website for Lawyers Defending American Democracy here.You can learn more about, and order a copy of, Lauren's latest book, Her Honor: Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges, here.

In February, I interviewed Boston IP attorney Chinh Pham, a former colleague of mine and current President of the Boston Bar Association. At the beginning of the interview, Chinh told me the remarkable story of his family’s rescue from Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in 1975 in the final days of the Vietnam War, and his recent renewed contact with the American naval personnel from the U.S.S. Duluth who rescued them. The February episode began in Chinh's adult years and explored his career as a lawyer and his work with the Boston Bar Association. I now present this bonus episode, in which Chinh recounts the story of how a 10-year-old boy and his family were rescued from a war-torn country in the South China Sea and their happy reunion 44 years later with some of the Americans who rescued them.

The American legal system is only as healthy as the lawyers and judges who populate it. Yet, the system as it’s structured places enormous stress on many of them, which not only affects their personal happiness and career satisfaction, but also can diminish the level of service they provide to their clients and the public who depend on them. In 2017, a National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being issued a groundbreaking report. The report found that the legal profession was falling short when it comes to lawyer well-being; that too many lawyers experience chronic stress and high rates of depression and substance abuse; and that those conditions could not support a profession dedicated to client service and dependent on public trust. That National Task Force recommended that the Chief Justices of the fifty states each undertake a review of lawyer well-being in their jurisdictions. In response, the late Chief Justice Ralph Gants of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court convened a Steering Committee in 2018 to begin that review and make recommendations to the Court. He appointed Margot Botsford, a recently retired Associate Justice of the Court, to chair the Steering Committee, and included Boston attorney Denise Murphy, who at the time was Vice President of the Massachusetts Bar Association, as one of its members. The 2019 report of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Steering Committee on Lawyer Well-Being confirmed that an unacceptably high number of Massachusetts lawyers in a variety of practice settings experience debilitating levels of stress and anxiety from their work, and identified several root causes. Higher Callings is pleased to present this recent interview of Margot Botsford and Denise Murphy, who initially chaired, and today continue to serve on, the Standing Committee which emerged from the Steering Committee's work and which continues to monitor and address the well-being of Massachusetts lawyers.You can find the website for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Lawyer Well-Being here: https://lawyerwellbeingma.org/You can find the website for Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers/Massachusetts here: https://www.lclma.org/You can find Margot Botsford's Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margot_BotsfordYou can find Denise Murphy's law firm biography here: https://www.rubinrudman.com/attorneys/denise-i-murphy/

Democracies are fragile things. Many of us who pay attention have watched democracies rise and fall. So far, American democracy has survived attempts to weaken it, but no one can guarantee its continued survival.Two of the pillars of democracy are a free press and an independent judiciary. Those pillars often are the first targets of world leaders who want to weaken their countries’ democracies and establish autocratic rule. It takes people with vision and courage to push back against anti-democratic forces and shore up the freedoms that "we the people" too often take for granted.  Bob Cordy is one such person. A former public defender, turned federal prosecutor, turned a Republican governor’s chief legal counsel, turned an associate justice of his state’s highest court, Bob has become a go-to lawyer for foreign countries seeking to root-out corruption in their court systems and keep their courts independent from the other branches of government. In the early 2000s, he was part of extensive but ultimately failed efforts at establishing judicial independence in Russia and Turkey, then helped lead a successful anti-corruption effort in the courts of Uzbekistan, and for the past few years has worked with an international team making great inroads at eliminating corruption in the courts of Ukraine.  In the first half of this episode of Higher Callings, I ask Bob about how he advanced from his humble beginnings as a public defender ultimately to become a respected member of his state’s highest court. In the second half of the episode, we talk about Bob’s work overseas, the weakening of democracies around the world, the importance of preserving a strong, independent judiciary in our own United States, and the crucial role of lawyers in accomplishing that indispensable goal.You can find Bob's law firm biography here.You can find a story about Bob's 2018 lecture at Boston College Law School here.You can find Bob's published article about the interdependent relationship between the free press and an independent judiciary here.

Pro bono publico, a Latin phrase meaning “for the public good,” is most often associated with free legal services lawyers provide to people who need help but cannot afford to pay for it.  No lawyer I know better reflects that commitment than Boston lawyer Susan M. Finegan, a Partner and Chair of the Pro Bono Committee of the Mintz law firm.  In this episode of Higher Callings, I asked Sue about the pro bono work she and other Mintz lawyers perform. We also discussed a number of other topics about pro bono legal services, including why lawyers and other legal professionals choose to engage in pro bono work, how law firms incentivize their lawyers to take on pro bono cases, how working on pro bono cases provides important training for new lawyers, what Massachusetts has done to provide pro bono opportunities for retired lawyers, and how in-house corporate lawyers and government lawyers work with law firms to staff pro bono cases.  I began the interview by asking Sue about an extraordinary scene I witnessed during a formal Boston Bar Foundation charity event on a cold Saturday night in January during the earliest days of the Trump presidency, when she and other lawyers were called into action to address a sudden legal crisis.You can find Sue Finegan's law firm bio here:  https://www.mintz.com/our-people/susan-m-finegan

When Chinh Pham was 10 years old, he and his family, like thousands of others, fled the chaotic capital of what was then South Vietnam on the final day of the Vietnam War. They were rescued by the 7th Fleet of the U.S. Navy, and eventually landed in the United States, where they began a new life. Today, Chinh is a successful intellectual property lawyer in a large international law firm, and is at the midpoint of his one-year term as President of the Boston Bar Association, the first Asian American ever to serve in that position. In this episode of Higher Callings, I spoke with Chinh about his decision to become a lawyer, his leadership positions in a number of nonprofits, his commitment to mentoring young professionals, and his work with the Boston Bar Association.  We began our conversation with Chinh recounting his family’s rescue from the South China Sea, and that portion of Chinh’s interview will be published in a later episode of the podcast. This episode focuses on Chinh’s adult years, beginning with his decision to attend law school at the University of California San Francisco School of Law after graduating from Berkeley, years after his family’s arrival in the United States.You can find Chinh's law firm bio here:  https://www.gtlaw.com/en/professionals/p/pham-chinh-hYou can find the Boston Bar Association's news release profiling Chinh as he began his term as BBA President here: https://bostonbar.org/news/chinh-h-pham-begins-term-as-new-bba-president/

Lawyers wear many hats. Some go into private practice, some into government service, and others represent the poor. Among those who choose courtroom work, some lawyers become prosecutors, some become criminal defense attorneys, and some become civil litigators. And of course, let’s not forget lawyers who become law school professors and those who become judges.  Of all the lawyers I’ve known throughout my long career, few have excelled in as many areas as Karen Green. Coming out of Harvard Law School in the early 1980s, Karen was a rising star in one of Boston’s largest and most prestigious law firms, eventually becoming chair of its renowned litigation department and then co-chair of the litigation department of the powerful successor firm that resulted from a law firm merger.  Despite her success at private practice, and influenced by her parents’ devotion to public service, Karen felt the pull to do more. So, over the course of her distinguished career, she also has worked as the First Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, became a state court trial judge, served on dozens of non-profit boards and committees, taught law students at her alma mater, and even worked briefly as Chief of Staff for the Massachusetts Governor. Now retired, Karen continues to give back, dedicating significant time to the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights, and serving as a member of the Rule of Law Leadership Council of the World Justice Project.  I can think of no lawyer who better represents the ideal of what a lawyer can and should be – a contributor to the private bar and business community, and a dedicated public servant. Speaking with Karen for this podcast was an absolute delight for me, and I hope you find her story as inspiring as I do.You can find information about the American Bar Association's Center for Human Rights here, and information about the World Justice Project here.

This episode is an abridged version of the previous episode, picking up the story from the time Professor Babcock entered academia, and quickly focusing on the fascinating and important work she and her students have done and continue to do in the African country of Malawi. You can learn more about Professor Babcock and the work of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide here and here.You can read about the recent success of the Cornell Law School International Human Rights Clinic in Malawi here.You can learn more about the Cornell Law School Death Penalty Program here, and find the short video mentioned in the podcast here.You can find the NY Times photograph that inspired Professor Babcock to begin her work in Malawi here. (May require a NY Times subscription).

Malawi is a landlocked country in southeastern Africa. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. Like many countries, Malawi still applies the death penalty for capital crimes, although the death penalty is no longer mandatory in capital cases and may be abolished entirely in Malawi soon. Several years ago, a law professor named Sandra Babcock took an interest in the Malawi penal system after seeing a New York Times article about horrific prison conditions there. Having spent much of her early career representing persons awaiting execution in American prisons, Professor Babcock, then at Northwestern Law School, arranged to bring six of her students to Malawi to see how they might help Malawian prisoners subjected to those conditions, many of whom had no lawyer and were still awaiting trial after years of incarceration. That first trip resulted in the release of 12 incarcerated persons, and marked the beginning of a multi-year project Professor Babcock led, first at Northwestern and later at Cornell Law School. Today the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide that Professor Babcock leads continues to assist Malawian prisoners, and has extended its work to Tanzania, with a focus on representing women on death row in that country. I recently had the pleasure of talking with Professor Babcock about the public defense and death penalty work she performed before becoming a law professor, and the extraordinary work she and her students have done and continue to do on behalf of Malawians on death row. You can learn more about Professor Babcock and the work of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide here and here.You can read about the recent success of the Cornell Law School International Human Rights Clinic in Malawi here.You can learn more about the Cornell Law School Death Penalty Program here, and find the short video mentioned in the podcast here.You can find the NY Times photograph that inspired Professor Babcock to begin her work in Malawi here. (May require a NY Times subscription).

Welcome to the new year! As we prepare for Season 4 of Higher Callings, we are pleased to offer this sampler of highlights from the five episodes of Season 3. We will be back soon with the new season, featuring more great guests from the world of law and other backgrounds who have dedicated their time and talents to the common good. Please enjoy this bonus episode and stay tuned for more to come in 2023!

As Higher Callings begins planning its next season, we’ve decided to post an excerpt from our very first episode. Don's guest was David Hoffman, founder of the mediation firm, the Boston Law Collaborative. After clerking for Justice Stephen Breyer when Justice Breyer was still a judge on the First Circuit Court of Appeals, David joined the venerable Boston law firm, Hill & Barlow. This month marks the 20th anniversary of that firm’s decision to dissolve, a decision that sent shock waves through the Boston legal community and epitomized the seismic shift in private law practice from being thought of primarily as a profession to fundamentally a business.  When Don interviewed David in 2021, they spent a few minutes talking about the legacy of Hill & Barlow and some of the great lawyers who began their careers there. The following is a brief excerpt from that part of their conversation. You can find David’s written tribute to his former firm on his blog at the Boston Law Collaborative website, linked here.

Solomon Oliver is a United States District Judge based in Cleveland, Ohio. Born and raised in the segregated South, he moved north to attend college and, after years of working as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and teaching at both the college and law school levels, was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the federal bench in 1994.  In this episode of Higher Callings, I talk with Judge Oliver about his childhood in Alabama during the early years of the civil rights era, his experience in the late 1960s as a minority student at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, his decision while there to become a lawyer and later to become a judge, the values he looks for and hopes to instill in the law clerks who work for him, and his lifelong commitment to the principle of equal rights and opportunity for all enshrined in America’s founding documents. I’m proud to present Judge Oliver’s inspiring story on this episode of Higher Callings. Judge Oliver's October 27, 2020 Distinguished Jurist in Residence Lecture at Fordham Law School on race and policing can be found here. His Wikipedia entry can be found here.

What does it take to find our callings? Some people know their callings at an early age, some discover their callings as they progress through school and career, and others may find their true callings much later in life. Whether in search of a job that fulfills us or an opportunity to advance in the job we have, many of us need help to find our callings. That help often takes the form of a career coach who can listen, observe, and help shine a light on our own unique path. My long-time friend, Joe Miller, is a leadership and career coach who does exactly that. In this episode of Higher Callings, I talk with Joe about the role of career coach – what they do, how they do it, and how they can help people who feel stuck in their current jobs yet are afraid to make a change. We also talk about Joe’s podcast, Titans of Transition, in which he interviews accomplished business leaders who have taken those risks and can serve as role models for those who are grappling with their career choices. To our listeners who find themselves at a crossroads in their own careers, or others who would like to learn about becoming a coach or are simply curious about what coaches do, this episode of Higher Callings is for you.You can find Joe on the Leadership Inklings website by clicking here.

The clinical education offered in law schools can play an important role in preparing future lawyers to pursue their callings, while also empowering students and faculty in real time to provide critical legal services to clients who would otherwise have no access to them. In this episode, I speak with Jens Ohlin, the Dean of Cornell Law School, and Beth Lyon, the law school's Associate Dean for Experiential Education and Director of its Clinical Program, about the impressive array of clinical opportunities Cornell offers its law students, and how that clinical education contributes to the law school's vision of producing, in the words of its founder, "lawyers in the best sense." You can learn more about Cornell Law School's Clinical Program here.You can find Dean Jens Ohlin's biography here.You can find Associate Dean Beth Lyon's biography here. 

Too often, the adherents of one religion understand very little about the traditions of another. In our efforts to promote peaceful coexistence, we often refrain from discussing our religious beliefs and traditions with members of different faiths. Our silence in explaining our religious upbringings and practices to people of different backgrounds perpetuates a lack of understanding and imposes barriers that separate members of one faith from members of another. In 2013, Bob and Diane Frankle, an interfaith couple who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, decided to do something about that. They started a program called Building Bridges that brought Christians and Jews together to share their faith experiences and traditions. They recently have expanded the program, now called Interfaith Bridges, to include Muslims as well. In this episode, I interview Bob and Diane about their experience as an interfaith couple and about the program of interfaith dialogue they have launched through their new nonprofit, Building Bridges Together. You can learn more about Building Bridges Together and its Interfaith Bridges programs at its website, https://www.buildingbridgestogether.net/

What compels someone who has had a successful career in the private sector to suddenly leave it for a completely different foray into public service, and more specifically into serving their country?How does the child of immigrants raised in a small working-class city rise to become the representative of the President of the United States in an important European country?And while we hear about ambassadors all the time, what do we really know about what it's like to be a United States ambassador in a constantly changing and uncertain world? Robert Sherman - Boston lawyer, early volunteer for Barack Obama's first presidential campaign, and later appointee of President Obama to the post of U.S. Ambassador to Portugal - answers these questions and more in the latest episode of Higher Callings. You can find Ambassador Sherman's law firm bio here: https://www.gtlaw.com/en/professionals/s/sherman-robert-a and his Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Sherman

My most recent guest for Higher Callings is Stephen Seckler. After graduating from law school, Steve took a job with Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, where he organized hundreds of educational programs for lawyers over several years. He then formed his own business, helping lawyers learn how to market their services, serving as a legal recruiter, and serving as a career coach for lawyers. Steve also has an excellent podcast called Counsel to Counsel, where lawyers can find career advice from Steve and the impressive guests he interviews. When I spoke with Steve about appearing on this podcast, we agreed that his higher calling is helping lawyers find their callings. Some of his most recent work has focused on coaching senior lawyers about how they can prepare for what lies ahead when the time comes for them to leave their law practices and pursue the next chapter in their professional lives. We talked about that and other topics on this episode of Higher Callings. You can learn more about Steve Seckler and find his podcast, Counsel to Counsel, at https://www.seckler.com/.

In 1963, in a case called Gideon v. Wainwright, the United States Supreme Court held for the first time that a person accused of a crime in a state court has a right to counsel secured by the United States Constitution. Before that decision, a defendant’s federal constitutional right to an attorney in a criminal proceeding applied only in federal cases, by virtue of the Sixth Amendment. In Gideon, the Court applied the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause to extend the same right to state criminal cases. Ever since Gideon, when defendants in state criminal prosecutions cannot afford to hire counsel, the state is obligated to provide counsel for them.  In Massachusetts, the agency responsible to make sure that happens is the Committee for Public Counsel Services, or CPCS. The Chief Counsel for CPCS is Anthony Benedetti, an attorney who himself served as a public defender before becoming General Counsel and, in 2010, Chief Counsel of this important agency.  I recently had the privilege of interviewing Anthony for Higher Callings. In the interview, he provided a close look into some of the most significant challenges facing the agency, its key successes, and the work it has been doing in some of the most important battles of recent times, including the fight against systemic racism, the movement to defund the police, the efforts to release thousands of prisoners to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in jails, and the current crisis facing homeless citizens in the tent city in Boston known as “Mass and Cass.” I was inspired by Anthony’s passion for caring for and protecting the rights of the poor who are caught up in an overburdened and often impersonal legal system, and am pleased to offer this episode of Higher Callings to shed light into the critically important work of an agency that few citizens, and even few lawyers, understand.You can find more information about CPCS at the agency's website, https://www.publiccounsel.net/The Higher Callings website can be found here: https://www.podpage.com/higher-callings/

I got to know Michael Bogdanow when we co-chaired the Litigation Section of the Boston Bar Association in the early 2000’s. An alum of Harvard Law School and chair of the appellate practice at a small but powerful personal injury law firm, Michael also is an accomplished artist. His vivid paintings of themes from the Hebrew Bible and his more secular works of colorful skies and flying planets reveal an artist who has always viewed art as a calling, and one that has many parallels with his other calling of appellate law. We explore these topics and more in this art-themed episode of Higher Callings. You can find examples of Michael's artwork on his website, linked here.You can find Michael's LinkedIn bio here.