Is That Even Legal?

Send us Fan Mail Content Note: This episode includes discussion of suicide, self harm, eating disorders, grooming, sextortion, and other sensitive topics involving minors. Listener discretion is advised. Your child’s phone can look like harmless entertainment until it starts changing their mood, sleep, confidence, and sense of self. We sit down with attorney Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social...

Send us Fan Mail A secret only helps you if the law agrees it’s a secret. We sit down with Spencer Schiefer and Russ Richelsoph to break down three recent Arizona Supreme Court decisions that redraw the lines around confidentiality, privilege, and mandatory reporting, with real stakes and very real consequences. We start with clergy penitent privilege in a criminal context: when someone tells a pa...

Send us Fan Mail Your license plate is not just a number, it is a key that can unlock a timeline of where you have been. We sit down with Robert Fromer, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, to unpack how automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) including Flock Safety camera networks collect vehicle data at scale, store it in searchable databases, and create opportunities for both error a...

Send us Fan Mail You can love your family and still leave them a legal mess. We sit down with attorney Eileen Spangrud to talk about the most common reason people avoid estate planning: it feels like inviting death into your calendar. Then we flip the frame. A will is not a superstition, it is a practical way to protect your spouse, your kids, and your future self with one clear set of instruction...

Send us Fan Mail Business bankruptcies are rising, and it’s not just the big names making headlines. We’re seeing small businesses get squeezed by higher borrowing costs, inflation-driven expenses, and customers who simply aren’t spending the way they used to. When cash gets tight, owners often feel forced into quick-fix financing like merchant cash advances, and that can turn a temporary slowdown...

Send us Fan Mail A beach looks simple until you ask one question that changes everything: where does private property end and public access begin? We sit down with Mark Massara, a “surf lawyer” who has spent decades inside California coastal law, land use fights, and environmental regulation. From the public trust doctrine to the mean high tide line, we break down why the shoreline is treated as a...

Send us Fan Mail Arizona’s housing growth just ran into a question that’s bigger than any one subdivision: who gets to change the rules for water, and how? We sit down with Phoenix water law attorney Michele Van Quatham to unpack a trial court ruling in Home Builders Association of Central Arizona v. Arizona Department of Water Resources, a case that turns on the 100-year assured water supply prog...

Send us Fan Mail ChatGPT can draft a motion in seconds, but what happens when the motion is polished nonsense and a real person signs it? We bring on Eran Kahana, a practicing attorney and Stanford Law School research fellow, to unpack a lawsuit that claims OpenAI caused harm by enabling AI generated court filings and effectively “doing law.” The story starts with a settlement, a case of buyer’s r...

Send us Fan Mail Arizona changed the rules of the legal game, and most people have no idea it happened. When the state allowed alternative business structures, it opened the door for non-lawyers and private equity to have ownership stakes in law firms and to share in fees, a shift that sounds like “access to justice” on paper but can reshape incentives in the real world. We sit down with Nate Pres...

Send us Fan Mail A quiet neighborhood, and a pack of teens flying past on throttles—what looks like summer freedom is colliding with a fast-changing legal reality. We unpack the e-bike surge with criminal defense attorney Russ Richelsoph, cutting through confusion about what’s truly an e-bike, what’s an electric motorcycle, and how cities are drawing lines on speed, sidewalks, and rider age. If yo...

Send us Fan Mail A forged deed, a ticking clock, and a court that says the fix belongs to lawmakers—this conversation goes deep into how Arizona’s property laws shape real lives. We walk through Dominguez v. Dominguez, where a recorded deed alleged to be forged collided with a five‑year statute tied to property tax payments. The result is unsettling: an elderly homeowner can lose title if fraud is...

Send us Fan Mail A viral kiss cam, a CEO resignation, and a very public reminder: office romance isn’t rare - and it’s not harmless when power, pay, and promotions are on the line. We dive into the real legal and cultural risks with employment attorney David Weisman, separating sensational headlines from practical steps every company can take today. We walk through why the riskiest relationships a...

Send us Fan Mail A cousin-to-cousin loan sounds simple—until the judgment crosses an ocean. We walk through a striking case where a Nigerian court entered a money judgment and an Arizona court recognized it, revealing how comity, reciprocity, and due process shape whether foreign creditors can collect in the United States. With commercial litigator Marshall Hunt, we unpack the Uniform Foreign Coun...

Send us Fan Mail The law doesn’t care how romantic your story is: creditors, community property rules, and default statutes move the same way whether you’re a billionaire songwriter or a hometown athlete. We dig into the real purpose of a prenup: not to plan a breakup, but to build a clear financial framework that protects income, isolates debt, and keeps your estate plan from turning into a famil...

Send us Fan Mail Behind the wheel of every commercial truck is a driver navigating not just America's highways, but a complex maze of regulations that would fill an entire office if printed. Attorney Zac Hargis pulls back the curtain on the unseen challenges facing the transportation industry in this eye-opening conversation about truck drivers' daily regulatory battles. From the moment...

Send us Fan Mail When Taylor Barlow decided to take on a pro bono asylum case, he never imagined it would become the most emotionally significant work of his legal career. His client's story reads like a political thriller – a peaceful activist from Togo who organized an 800,000-person march against a dictatorial regime, only to face years of brutal retaliation including kidnappings, beatings...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when someone dies with cryptocurrency assets but no one can find the keys? Is cryptocurrency just a modern version of the "wooden nickel" scam? How are sophisticated criminals using digital currency to pull off multi-million dollar heists—and why is 2025 shaping up to be the most dangerous year yet for crypto investors?   Former federal prosecutor Seth Goert...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when the government decides it needs your land? Does the Constitution really allow officials to seize your family home, farm, or business property against your will? The answer might disturb you. Attorney Clint Schumacher, a leading eminent domain expert, joins us to unravel the complex world where constitutional rights, property ownership, and government power collid...

Send us Fan Mail Your mom passes and suddenly women from around the neighborhood are showing up at your dad's door with casseroles. Soon, dad marries one of these "casserole ladies." Fine. But after a few months or short years, she begins to tell dad that YOU are evil and should be disinherited. He acquiesces. Now he has passed, and you and your siblings get nothing, according to hi...

Send us Fan Mail Ready to dive deep into the nitty-gritty, the good, the bad, and the downright stinky?  Join your favorite host Bob Sewell and civil litigation maestro, Marshall Hunt, as we take you on a wild journey through the unexpected and surprisingly compelling world of...you guessed it...dog poop! In this episode, we're not just talking sh*t, we're discussing the real legal ramif...

Send us Fan Mail Is there a mental health crisis drowning the legal profession? Is there a higher level of depression, anxiety and alcoholism among those licensed to defend our laws and freedom than other areas of the population? If so, does it impact society as a whole? And...what can be done? Our guest, Claire Parsons , an employment attorney and mental health expert. Claire weighs in on the int...

Send us Fan Mail Your side hustle might be breaking the law without you even realizing it. From hair styling in your living room to weekend handyman projects, what starts as innocent extra income can quickly cross invisible legal boundaries—with serious consequences. Attorney Marshall Hunt returns to dissect the hidden legal risks lurking beneath today's booming side gig economy. While everyo...

Send us Fan Mail Are you aware of the complexities that can arise when you trust a financial advisor with your hard-earned money? This episode takes you on a journey through a riveting case of betrayal, where a financial advisor exploited the trust of a long-time client, leading to significant financial losses. As we dissect this story, we unveil the crucial lessons that can be learned from such d...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when the iconic term "superheroes" loses its trademark status? Attorney Taylor Barlow from Davis Miles joins us to uncover the intriguing case of DC and Marvel's once jointly-owned trademark and how it fell into the public domain due to genericide. We explore the dynamic world of trademarks, revealing their role as essential source identifiers beyond ju...

Send us Fan Mail Every day we download apps, purchase products, sign up for services and legally bind ourselves at the click of a button or flick of an e-signature. A staggering 91 percent of mature adults surveyed admit they sign contracts without even reading them. 97 percent of younger adults in the same survey say they don't read before they  "accept." And, as is the case with m...