Brief Encounters

In this Season 3 episode, co-hosts A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, discuss recent policy shifts at the SEC. Valerie and William discuss the SEC’s rescission of its “No Admit, No Deny” policy an...

Tune in to Robert T. Howard, Esq., Co-chair of the Health Law Community Steering Committee, as he moderates a dynamic conversation with panelists Remi Mehner, Esq. and Amaru Sanchez, Esq., counsels in Akin’s Health Care and Life Sciences practice, as they discuss the topic Food is Health/Medicine: Why Health Lawyers Should Start Paying Attention to Food Policy. This conversation introduces the con...

In this Season 3 episode, co-hosts A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, are joined by Kendra Isaacson, Partner at Mindset, for an in-depth discussion of major policy developments reshaping retiremen...

Breathwork expert Lauren Watkins from Breath is Medicine joins the D.C. Bar's Lawyer Well-Being Community to bridge the gap between high-stakes legal advocacy and physiological regulation. She shares simple, science-backed breathing techniques designed to help attorneys handle intensity, regulate their state, and reclaim mental clarity without leaving their desks. Want more well-being content?...

To mark this D.C. Law Day on May 1, Brief Encounters, the podcast of the D.C. Bar Communities Office, features a conversation between Tamara Kraljic, Counsel at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP and incoming Treasurer of the Women’s Bar Association of D.C., and Dr. Annette Weerth, Consul General and Legal Adviser at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, D.C. In this episode, th...

In this Season 3 episode, co-hosts Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, break down a timely set of regulatory and legislative developments shaping today’s securities landscape. Valerie and William disc...

In this episode of Brief Encounters, host Joyce Williams is joined by former Appellate Immigration Judge Andrea Sáenz and former Immigration Judge Anam Rahman Petit for a timely conversation on U.S. immigration law at the intersection of policy and the rule of law. Together, they unpack judicial independence, detention and adjudication, and the shifting boundaries of asylum—offering an insider’s v...

In this episode of Brief Encounters, Christina Bonanni, Counsel at Clean Energy Counsel interviews Alice C. Hill, the David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and Environment at the Council on Foreign Relations about the growing strain climate change is placing on the insurance market. Alice explains that the increasing frequency and severity of disasters, such as wildfires, floods, and storms...

Join the leadership of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Immigration (part of the D.C. Bar International Law Community) for a timely discussion of India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (the CAA), a law that expressly conditions migrants’ access to citizenship rights on their religious affiliation. Implemented in March 2024, the CAA threatens the country’s longstanding commitment to secularism and e...

In this Season 3 episode, co-hosts Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, break down a timely set of regulatory and legislative developments shaping today’s securities landscape. The episode celebrates V...

Join Gabrielle Kohlmeier—ABA Commissioner on Women, ex-Verizon Global Head of Legal Innovation & Emerging Solutions, and a leading voice on responsible AI governance and adoption—and Tamara Kraljic, Counsel at Hughes Hubbard & Reed and a leader with the Women’s Bar Association of DC, for an International Women’s Day conversation on why we all need to be AI literate and how the ABA’s 21 Day...

In this episode, Shadow Representative Oye Owolewa joins D.C. Affairs Community Co-Chair Angela Parsons to discuss the history of the District of Columbia Shadow Delegation, and explain how it differs from that of the District’s Congressional Delegate. He emphasizes how D.C.’s lack of full voting representation affects the District’s ability to control its budget, pass local laws, and exercise mea...

In this Season 3 episode, co-hosts Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, break down a timely set of regulatory and legislative developments shaping today’s securities landscape. The conversation begins...

In the Season 3 premiere, co-hosts Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, are joined by Caitlin Barnett, Director of Regulation & Compliance at Chainalysis for a timely, practical conversation on how...

Join the leadership of the D.C. Bar’s Human Rights and Immigration Subcommittee (part of the International Law Community) in a stimulating conversation with two leaders in the anti-human trafficking movement. This program is particularly timely at the 25-year mark of the criminalization of human trafficking under U.S. law. Additionally, during the past two decades, survivors have successfully held...

In the final episode of Season 2, Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, joins William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, to recap a truly momentous year - one that brought a new administration, a new SEC Chairman, and the longest government shutdown...

Repressive regimes throughout the world are increasingly relying on political imprisonment to silence opposition and dissent. In this episode, Brian Tronic, Director of the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners at Freedom House , will discuss what a "political prisoner" is; the prevalence of political imprisonment and key countries of concern; common issues political prisoners f...

In this episode of Season 2, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, joins William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, to break down the ripple effects of the unprecedented 2025 government shutdown. The episode was recorded as the 43-day shutdown wa...

U.S. PIRG's Federal Legislative Director, Isaac Bowers, discusses his organization's advocacy for "right to repair" at the state and federal level, including for the military. Such laws guarantee access to parts, tools, and service information for an array of products, from military ships and planes to consumer electronics and general consumer goods. D.C. does not yet have a comp...

In this episode of Season 2, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, joins William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, to discuss the ongoing government shutdown and two recent speeches by SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on enforcement and corporate govern...

Retired Judges Thomas Moukawsher and Bennett Rushkoff speak on the role of dynamic judges in guiding the course of litigation so that it moves efficiently to a reasonable and just conclusion. Judge Moukawsher is the author of "The Common Flaw: Needless Complexity in the Courts and 50 Ways to Reduce It." The book critiques the complexity of modern litigation and judicial practices and pro...

In this latest episode of the series, "Intersections: Energy and Environmental Issues in Law and Tech," Cathy Pagano of the Women's Bar Association of D.C. (WBA) interviews Lorraine Spradley Wilson, Founder and Strategic Advisor at Blue Horizon. Lorraine explains how she founded Blue Horizon, a DC based advisory firm that helps organizations from early-stage startups to nonprofits, a...

In this episode of Season 2, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, joins William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, for a timely discussion with David Adams, Member at Mintz, on the evolving world of crypto assets. As crypto moves further into th...

President Trump's August 7 executive order directs the Labor Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue guidance allowing employers and plan sponsors to include various private assets in 401(k) plans and other defined contribution plans. The permitted assets could include private equity, hedge funds, private credit, real estate investment trusts (REITS), venture capital funds,...

Gwendolyn Cooley, recent Chair of Attorneys General Antitrust Task Force, discusses state and D.C. AG antitrust enforcement. Using case-specific examples, she explains how state-level AGs often coordinate with federal antitrust authorities, and also independently bring cases of local interest. She also talks about instances where state-level enforcers take enforcement positions that differ from fe...