ABA Law Student Podcast

When the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dobbs reversing Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood, it began a rapidly evolving conflict between the States on one of the most high profile and controversial constitutional debates of our day. While much has been made of the laws which have either restricted or protected access to abortions, conflicts often reach beyond the borders of States due to interstate commerce, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, and the Extradition Clause. For law students, this is an opportunity to see with unusual clarity the dynamics of the law in motion and to better understand state-federal conflicts.

To help you better understand how these conflicts are playing out today and where they may be leading in the future, host Chay Rodriguez is joined by professors Rachel Rebouché and David S. Cohen, co-authors of an article entitled “Abortion Shield Laws”, which has helped lead 18 States and D.C. to adopt laws protecting healthcare practitioners who provide abortion services for patients from states where abortion is illegal.

Every day, each of us produce more data that ends up in the hands of third parties: browsing data, shopping data, stored images, writings, and communications.  And each of us expects a certain degree of privacy and protections. But when that data can play a critical role in criminal justice, our regulations have struggled to balance the need for personal privacy while also serving the fair and equal pursuit of justice.

Join us as we explore the intersection of data privacy, evidence law, and criminal defense with Professor Rebecca Wexler. Discover the challenges of accessing digital evidence, the evolving legal landscape, and the potential wide-ranging impacts of Snap v. Pina on data privacy laws. And learn how you, as a law student, can play a role in redefining how our laws manage data in the future.

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Grab your backstage pass as we dive into the fascinating world of entertainment law and uncover the ins and outs of Hollywood contracts with attorney Leah Stevenson! Leah takes us behind the scenes of her career representing music artists, influencers, and filmmakers. 

Learn how Leah found her starring role in the competitive field of entertainment law, the importance of networking to land your big break, and why authenticity should take center stage in client relationships. She even gives us the inside scoop on the rising genre of influencer law and why young lawyers are perfectly cast to take the lead.

Whether you're dreaming of a red-carpet legal career or just curious about how lawyers make Hollywood magic happen, this episode gives you a front-row seat to the action.

As technology continues to impact our personal and professional lives in new and often exciting ways, the law plays a vital role in ensuring a proper balance between advancement and societal protection.  As litigators, advocates, and even possibly legislators, law students are preparing to be in a position to help define the role technology plays in our society.  Franklin Pierce School of Law Professor Daniel Pi joins host Manny Fernandez to discuss the intersection of law and technology and how law students can be ready to play their part in influencing our tech future.

• (00:00) - Opening
• (01:27) - Introduction of Topic and Guest
• (04:28) - The Role of Lawyers In Regulating Tech
• (06:29) - The Law as Creator of Incentives for Tech Innovation
• (07:58) - The Historical Influence of Lawyers Over Tech Innovation
• (10:49) - Finding the Balance Between Innovation and the Greater Good
• (12:45) - The Modern Challenges Of Keeping Pace with Tech
• (14:44) - Cryptocurrency Today Compared to the Internet of the Early 90s
• (16:24) - Autonomous Vehicles: Innovation vs Public Safety
• (21:01) - How Law Students can Prepare to Engage in the Law and Technology Intersection
• (24:36) - Reflections and Takeaways by the Hosts

In 1963, the US Supreme Court ruled that all criminal defendants were guaranteed a right to counsel under the 6th and 14th Amendments. Jonathan Rapping, a former public defender and professor at John Marshall Law School, co-founded Gideon’s Promise to address the inadequacies of our public defender system by empowering motivated, passionate public defenders to work across the United States and bridge the gap between the ideal of the 6th Amendment’s right to counsel and the inadequacies of our criminal defense system. Prof. Rapping explains why a quality public defender system is so important for marginalized communities and our country as a whole, what it takes to be a great public defender, and how public defenders are addressing changes in our legal landscape.

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (00:51) - Introducing Prof. Jonathan Rapping
• (03:19) - What it takes to be a public defender
• (04:29) - How law students can maintain their empathy and humanity
• (06:43) - Prof. Rapping’s personal journey
• (08:25) - The conflict of training lawyers in public defender offices
• (10:16) - The mission of Gideon’s Promise
• (12:19) - How Gideon’s Promise trains public defenders and why it matters
• (13:47) - The real challenges public defenders face
• (17:27) - YSL, OJ Simpson, and the public perception of criminal defense lawyers
• (22:42) - Why underfunding public defense fails the American ideal
• (24:37) - How public defenders are facing legal and social changes
• (28:55) - Host takeaways and discussion