Leveraging Latitude: Cultivating a Full Life in the Law

The Legal Influencers series continues as Tim Haley sits down for a conversation with William Henderson, professor and Stephen F. Burns Chair on the Legal Profession at Indiana University Maurer School of Law. William is the founder and principal editor of Legal Evolution, an online publication that blends theory, data, and detailed examples of successful legal industry innovation. This publication is a dynamic hub of research spanning a range of topics, including the business of law, leadership in the law, and the economics shaping the legal profession.William sheds light on several fascinating aspects of his work, including: The pressing business challenges faced by the legal industry today, from providing corporate clients with cost-effective legal services to ensuring access to representation for individuals;How Legal Evolution began and how applied research and meaningful dialogue can address issues within the legal space;William's own law career story, which began after he realized his passion for negotiating contracts in his role as a firefighter paramedic union representative; andA sneak peek at his upcoming book which presents case studies of law firms as modern business organizations.We dedicate this episode to the memory of Sergio Agustín Castillo Hernández, our talented producer who passed away unexpectedly over the summer. Sergio's invaluable contributions to our podcast remain etched in Leveraging Latitude's journey, and his enduring enthusiasm and consummate professionalism continue to inspire us.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

In the second installment of Latitude's Legal Influencers series, Candice Reed speaks with Brittany Leonard, general counsel at Civix, a multinational technology company that provides services and software solutions to over 100 airports, 90 percent of U.S. nuclear power plants, and nearly half of the country's secretaries of state.Candice and Brittany discuss Brittany's inspiration for her creative, authentic, no-holds-barred posts providing strategic business leadership and pragmatic career advice to her online community of thousands of attorneys and legal operations professionals. They discuss:Brittany's unique path from contemplating leaving the practice of law to becoming General Counsel;Hot topics among the legal industry, including the impact of AI, the growth and significance of legal operations, and the pursuit of healthier work environments;Conquering self-censorship and fear that may hinder active participation in these conversations on social media and elsewhere, empowering attorneys to engage in meaningful dialogue;Tackling imposter syndrome by reflecting upon past accomplishments; andBrittany's advice for not performing within other people's framework and showing up as your authentic self in the practice of law.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

In the first podcast in Latitude's Legal Influencers series, Candice Reed speaks with Alex Su, head of community development at Ironclad, a contract lifecycle management platform. Best known for his TikTok videos satirizing the legal profession, Alex is the author of “The Unauthorized Guide To Getting Into Law School With Bad Grades” and the popular newsletter, “Off The Record”. Candice and Alex discuss Alex's fascinating career journey and the legal trends he's identified using his own experience and by staying close to the people on the front lines of the legal industry.Alex's journey from global law firm attorney to legal influencer with viral TikTok videos and a newsletter with over 5,000 subscribers.How career setbacks and embracing authenticity can lead to new paths to success for legal professionals.To be a successful lawyer today requires a diverse set of skills, including building relationships with mentors and sponsors and developing a book of business earlier than traditionally expected.How AI and a new generation of lawyers will impact how legal work gets done for both legal departments and law firms.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Royalty visits Leveraging Latitude as the reigning Mrs. Universe catches up with Candice Reed. Juanita Ingram is an attorney, author, award-winning actress and filmmaker, and she is also the first black woman to be crowned Mrs. Universe. Juanita speaks about her unique career path and the life lessons she's learned along the way. With her characteristic charm, wit, and vulnerability, she shares how she came to embrace her full self and the opportunity to be found in stepping outside the confines of established expectations. She discusses:Why, in the midst of a successful legal career, she began competing in pageants;The challenges she faced as a “trailing spouse” after leaving her in-house position with Rolls-Royce to move to London for her husband's job;The advice from her life coach that helped her to embrace the possibility and value of a successful and meaningful nontraditional legal career;How a backyard BBQ gave her the idea for the award-winning docuseries, The Expats International Ingrams;Why she believes it is critical to tell a variety of black stories in film and television; andHow she found her purpose by charting her own path.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Tim and guest host Michelle Culligan speak with Lisa Ann Cooney, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary at Day & Zimmermann, listed by Forbes as one of America's Largest Private Companies. For Lisa, leadership and business are personal, and she shares the lessons she's learned about advocating for herself and her career goals, inviting and responding to constructive criticism, adapting leadership styles to varying situations, and giving back through coaching and mentoring. A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Conference season is in full swing! On this episode of Leveraging Latitude, Candice Reed and Tim Haley speak with special guest Alexandra Guajardo, Conference Director for Legal Value Network's LVNx Conference taking place September 21-23 in Chicago. Alexandra shares an exciting preview of the conference and Legal Value Network's unique approach to accelerating evolution in the legal industry. From her experience serving as Pricing & Analytics Officer at Shell, Alexandra also shares her insights on the growth and trajectory of legal operations in supporting the people and the business of law.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Special guest Michelle Browning Coughlin, Founder and President of MothersEsquire®, joins Candice and Tim in examining systemic gender biases in the legal profession and how they hurt both men and women. Michelle sheds light on “the motherhood penalty” across professions and suggests big and small pragmatic changes that legal institutions and employers can make to help support women and parents. Exchanging personal parenting and professional anecdotes, Michelle, Candice and Tim discuss what it means to “parent out loud” in the workplace.  A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Lawyers are the last ones to give themselves permission to step back and think, “Am I happy, should I do something else?” We often are tasked with solving everyone else's problems, but are reluctant to ask ourselves if what we're doing is helping us meet our own career goals or priorities.Cynthia Moon and Joan Blackwell, Directors of Legal Recruiting and Placement at Latitude, share their personal experiences as attorneys who chose to pivot their legal careers into law-adjacent recruiting positions. They take us through their decision-making process when considering whether to leave the daily practice of law and the value of choosing work you love (over what is expected). In this episode, we talk about looking forward to Monday mornings, finding meaningful work slightly outside the practice of law, and asking ourselves the important questions, “Is the work I'm doing now fulfilling? Is it helping me achieve my current professional and personal goals? Can I leverage my legal experience to do something else I might enjoy more?”A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

All eyes will be on Indianapolis as the College Football Playoff National Championship Game is scheduled for Jan. 10, at Lucas Oil Stadium. On this Leveraging Latitude episode, Tim Haley talks to Kobi Wright, Chief Legal Officer & Business Operations Director for the Capital Improvements Board of Managers (CIB), and Eric Neuburger, Attorney & Stadium Director for Lucas Oil Stadium, about their unexpected career paths and their work to bring this game (and other high profile events) to the city of Indianapolis. They also talk about remaining open to opportunities that may come into your life as you never know where they will take you.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Candice Reed talks to Brad Blickstein about the trends in Legal Ops over the past 13 years and his 14th Annual Law Department Operations Survey – open to Legal Operations professionals right now. Eligible professionals should participate, and by participating can learn what the Legal Futurist is learning about the growing role of Legal Ops in the market. A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Tim paraphrases Billy Madison and Candice defends herself.  Our special guest this week, Lucian Pera, sets them both straight with his expertise on the topic of legal ethics and how that relates to working remotely.  This is a very current topic as more and more attorneys adapt to a pandemic reality. A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

The traditional law firm secondment has been used for more than 50 years to help in-house clients expand their internal bench strength to meet peak work demands. However, that doesn't mean that this model is without its disadvantages. In this episode, Candice interviews her Leveraging Latitude co-host Tim Haley and Latitude CEO Ross Booher about "The Secondment Trap" on the heels of a National Law Review article they recently wrote outlining why this traditional model is not always the best option and how utilizing experienced flexible legal talent can positively impact the client-firm relationship, while also providing cost savings and protecting associates' career trajectories. This turns the trap into a win-win-win scenario. A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

In this episode, Candice talks with Yanika Smith-Bartley, lawyer and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at Asurion – a global industry leader in mobile insurance, technology, and support – which has been repeatedly recognized for fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. Nikki provides a primer for companies and law firms looking to increase the diversity of their teams by discussing specific and proven strategies for creating and sustaining a culture of diversity and inclusion and why it matters. A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

In recent years, attorney wellbeing has taken its rightful place among the legal industry's discourse, and we have spoken previously on this podcast about ways employers may promote wellbeing in the workplace. Today, we talk with Reid Murtaugh, co-founder of the Lawyers Depression Project, about the breadth and depth of mental illness among practicing lawyers and the ways in which Reid (and others) are addressing this crisis. Reid shares his own mental health journey and what led him and others to create a safe space for practicing attorneys to anonymously share their mental health experiences. Law can be a lonely profession, and it may be tempting to think that no one else understands. But as we learn from Reid: there is a community of lawyers who do understand; no one has to be alone, and it's okay to admit when you're not feeling fine and seek help.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Research studies suggest that attorneys can significantly reduce stress and even global rates of depression by going on vacation and participating in social leisure activities. But too often, attorneys shun the prospect of taking time off due to the volume of work on their desks or the number of emails in their inboxes. In this episode of Leveraging Latitude, Candice and Tim celebrate the start of summer by reminiscing about favorite past family vacations, discussing their travel plans for this summer, and encouraging all lawyers (including each other) to recharge from a particularly stressful year by spending time away from work and with the people and activities that fill up their tanks.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

This week's episode explores the growing role and benefit of legal operations within the law firm. Tim Haley interviews Esther Bowers, Director of Practice Management at the Am Law 200 law firm, Honigman. Esther serves in a key role in the firm's Operating Committee and has built her career in the growing legal operations role for the Firm.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

As vaccines roll out and the days get longer, everyone seems to be waking up from a hibernation of sorts, which seems to be spurring a white-hot job market for attorneys and other legal professionals. Latitude Directors of Legal Recruiting and Placement Katie Bennett and Emily Romberg discuss best practices for searching for a new job, working effectively with a recruiter, and finding the right fit among a myriad of opportunities. Spoiler alert – this isn't the same job search you did in your third year of law school.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Resilience expert and former practicing lawyer, Paula Davis, discusses her new book Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-being and Resilience as we celebrate the annual Well-being Week in Law during the first week of May. A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Meet Latitude's Candice Reed and Tim Haley.  On this episode, they lay out the vision for the podcast.  Through conversations with leading lawyers and thought leaders from across the legal industry, they will discuss best practices and personal stories relating to lawyers' professional development, the evolving business of law, legal department and law firm leadership, and attorney wellbeing. Join them on their journey as they discover how to leverage the hard work of becoming a lawyer to achieving success and leading a rich and fulfilling life in the law.  Not every lawyer defines success in the same way. The Leveraging Latitude podcast explores the various paths to cultivating a rich and fulfilling life in the law.  And, Candice and Tim plan on doing all of this in an entertaining and educational way.  Oh, and you don't want to miss Tim's baseball walk-out song choice and Candice's theme music and go-to karaoke song!  A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.

Hosts, Candice Reed and Tim Haley are excited to bring you Leveraging Latitude: Cultivating a Full Life in the Law.  Not every lawyer defines success in the same way. The Leveraging Latitude podcast explores the various paths to cultivating a rich and fulfilling life in the law. Through conversations with leading lawyers and thought leaders from across the legal industry, Candice and Tim will discuss best practices and personal stories relating to lawyers' professional development, the evolving business of law, legal department and law firm leadership, and attorney wellbeing. Join them on their journey as they discover how to leverage the hard work of becoming a lawyer to achieving success and leading a rich and fulfilling life in the law. The first 2 episodes premiere on May 5 in honor of Well-Being Week in Law.A podcast by Latitude Legal - Flexible Legal Talent.