Libsyn Directory

The Mysteries of the Grand Jury with Sara Kropf

Release Date: 07/29/2021

Crytocurrency, Golem Impressions, And Flexitarianism, with Daren Firestone

The Garrulous Gavel

In this episode, Jon chats with ex-actor and now-lawyer Daren Firestone about cryptocurrency. They discuss emerging legal issues around crypto and blockchain technology, the recent Terra not-so-stable coin debacle, and how whistleblowers can help uncover fraud in the crypto business. Then, Daren does his Golem impression. After Jon recovers from that, he gets garrulous with Daren about “flexitarianism.” As Daren explains, this is a form of ethical eating that is almost—but not quite—vegetarianism. Daren explains his three rules for when he’ll eat meat, one of which involve things...

Lawyers For All Humans and the Legal Services Gap, with Susan Francis

The Garrulous Gavel

Meet Susan Francis, the Executive Director of the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS), a non-profit organization that provides legal help for low-income residents of Maryland in various types of civil matters, including family law, housing issues, tax disputes, estate planning, and criminal record expungement. Susan and Jon talk about the gap between the civil legal services needed by most people, and the lawyers available to provide those services at a cost people can actually afford. The gap is wide, and attorneys providing pro bono services through organizations like MVLS can make a...

The Triumphs And Challenges Of Women In The Law, with Bridget Bailey Lipscomb

The Garrulous Gavel

In this episode, our guest is Bridget Bailey Lipscomb, Assistant Director of the Environmental Torts Section at the U.S. Department of Justice, and President of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Listen in as Bridget describes her path, from growing up on the South Side of Chicago to working in the halls of power in Washington, D.C. We tackle the issue of women in the law, both marveling at how far things have come since the Women’s Bar Association was founded in 1917 (three years before women’s right to vote became a part of the Constitution), but also discussing...

Sports Law and Becoming a Sports Lawyer, with Christopher Deubert

The Garrulous Gavel

Listen in as Jon chats with Christopher Deubert about life as a sports lawyer. Chris worked for the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University, before becoming the General Counsel for the D.C. United professional soccer team. Now in private practice, Chris represents players, clubs, and other participants in the sports industry. Chris talks with Jon about what sports lawyers do, and how a lawyer can get into the field. Chris then unpacks some of the more interesting recent intersections of sports and law, including the Major League Baseball lockout and new collective bargaining...

The Law And Political Economy Project, with Corinne Blalock

The Garrulous Gavel

This go-round, we chat with Corinne Blalock, who is the Executive Director of the Law and Political Economy Project. Law and political economy (LPE) is an intellectual movement within legal academia, and the LPE Project is an organization, housed at Yale Law School, that brings together the scholars working in the movement, and that promotes the ideas of the movement in various other ways. Corinne explains what LPE is, and gives us insight into what it’s like to be on the forefront of building infrastructure for a new intellectual movement. Then, we get garrulous with Corinne...

Legal Protections for the Press, and the Making of Bonaparte, with Anne Champion

The Garrulous Gavel

In this episode, Anne Champion walks us through legal protections for the press and publishers, including Anti-SLAPP statutes, and the “actual malice” standard adopted by the Supreme Court in the famous First Amendment case of New York Times v. Sullivan. Along the way, we hear about Anne’s representation of Mary Trump in two lawsuits, including one brought by former President Donald Trump, relating to Mary Trump’s book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. We also discuss the recent libel case brought by Sarah Palin against the...

Government Secrets and How to Unearth the Truth, with Mark Zaid

The Garrulous Gavel

This time, we talk with attorney Mark Zaid, one of the country’s foremost national security and government secrecy attorneys. Mark has built a fascinating practice around uncovering government secrets, and representing clients in the national security realm. We chat with Mark about the Freedom of Information Act, the pre-publication review process, and other legal tools relating to government classified information. He tells us about the FOIA case in which he sought revelation of the oldest classified documents still being kept secret by the U.S. government (you’ll have...

Export Controls And Sanctions As A Tool In U.S.-China Relations, with Timothy O’Toole

The Garrulous Gavel

Our first episode of 2022 features Timothy O’Toole, and a discussion about U.S.-China relations, and the ways in which the U.S. uses trade—and in particular controls on exports—as a national security and foreign policy tool. Tim also is a great example of the wide variety of work that a lawyer can do over a career; he tells us about spending the first half of his career working as a public defender, focusing on the rights of criminal defendants, and then, 17 years after leaving law school, reinventing himself as a sought-after specialist in trade law. We’ll also get garrulous with Tim...

Climate Change and the Law with Sean Donahue

The Garrulous Gavel

This time around, you’ll hear from one of the country’s top environmental law litigators, Sean Donahue, about various legal issues and challenges associated with climate change. Get the 60-minute version of the semester-long class on climate change law and policy that he teaches at Stanford Law School! Sean also talks about his time as a law clerk for both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens, and the role that law clerks play at the Supreme Court. And we get garrulous with Sean about his experience as a political spouse, creating crossword puzzles in support of his wife’s...

Government Corruption and How To Fight It with Jessica Tillipman

The Garrulous Gavel

Listen in on a conversation with Jessica Tillipman, an Assistant Dean at the George Washington University Law School, where she specializes in government procurement, anti-corruption, and compliance. We explore the nature of government corruption, and why it matters. Dean Tillipman walks us through the key tools in U.S. law for fighting against corruption by government officials. We get garrulous about the Gov. Bob McDonnell case, the Fat Leonard Scandal, Trump International Hotel, and the Hunter Biden paintings! Then, Dean Tillipman shares some personal anecdotes—to which many of you...

More Episodes

Our first episode features Sara Kropf, one of the nation’s top white-collar criminal defense attorneys. Sara not only represents defendants in high-profile criminal cases, but also authors the Grand Jury Target blog. We hear about grand juries in the news all the time. But what exactly is a grand jury, and what does it do? Sara will explain it to us, and then you can listen in as we chat about two of the biggest grand jury issues in recent years: the grand jury indictment of the Trump Companies and Trump CFO Allan Weiselberg, and the grand jury failure to indict in the Breonna Taylor case. We'll also get Sara's take on the Washington Nationals' chances at landing a playoff spot this year.

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