Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law

While it’s no secret that a lot of the “grind” culture has become eye-roll worthy.  In fact, it reminds me a lot of the ‘sleep is for the weak’ mentality that persisted in the 80’s and 90’s.  On the other end of this spectrum, you have what I’m going to call Mindfulness Culture.  And while there are amazing benefits to be had from deep breathing and meditation, just like the “grind,” mindfulness i...

WARNING: This week’s episode contains discussions of sexual violence. My guest this week is Madison Campbell , the co-founder of Leda Health Co. and advocate for victims of sexual assault A survivor herself, Madison decided set out on a mission not just to make herself whole, but to heal communities and to change the way we as a culture deal with the epidemic of sexual violence.  Since founding Le...

For lot of us, myself included, the resetting of the calendar is a good time to look back and try and figure out two fundamental things:  What could I be doing better? & How can I go about improving on those things? As leaders, these questions can seem so broad that they somehow become both vague and insurmountable. The basketball legend Larry Bird once said: “I wasn't real quick, and I w...

As we wind down this holiday season, it’s easy to start making those “Big Plans” for the New Year. After all, if you’re like me and ate your body weight in dessert this Christmas, it’s tempting to want to dig ourselves out of the glutinous rut we’ve settled into. But before you buy that brand new pair of running shoes or throw out every item from your kitchen with sugar on the ingredient list, I’m...

For this year's Holiday episode we take a look at a lesser-loved character of the Gospel's account of the birth of Christ - the Innkeeper.  For a long time I can't say I ever really held an opinion of the guy. After all, it's not his fault his place was packed... So I decided to do a little thought experiment: what would I do if I found myself in the shoes of the Innkeeper? As...

Imagine a world without Anger.   Sounds kinda good, right?  Everyone being nice to each other, never fighting to merge for traffic or crowding the grocery store aisles…    But, counterintuitive as it may seem, a world devoid of Anger would actually be a pretty terrible place to live.    See, a lot of us have been taught that our negative emotions are, in a way, "not fit to print."    Sad...

If you like technology, then you’re going to love this week’s episode. But if the rise of things like A.I. and the ‘Blockchain’ seems foreign, even scary, well then I hope this week’s episode can broaden your perspective and maybe even put your mind at ease.  My guest this week is Larry Bridgesmith , an attorney with more than 4 decades of experience in the legal arena, who has tried cases before...

If there’s one thing you can count on in this world, it’s irony.  To cut to the chase, my guest this week is Rena Cook, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma who teaches a myriad of subjects including voice, speech, dialects, acting and directing.  …and for some. dang. reason. my normal audio setup betrayed me.  So please don’t think I ‘masked’ my voice for fear of being judged by the...

This week on Legal Grounds we’re here to ease you into your holiday with our  annual Thanksgiving Light-Roast The past year has seen a lot of changes in my life. From stepping back from my managerial role to more jury trials than I’ve had in years, 2022 is on track to close out on a high-note for me. So as you can imagine, my list of things to be thankful might have to be cut short, lest the food...

One of the best pieces of wisdom I ever received came from a judge talking to a defendant before his sentencing.  The judge looked at the man and said, “Sir, you have made a mistake, and you will pay for it. But do not let this mistake define who you are as a person.” The only downside of receiving that advice was being the defendant the judge was addressing.  Owning a complicated past is never ea...

If you hadn’t noticed by now, this is an employee’s economy.  Over the past year there have been, on average, two job openings for every one unemployed person.  And though it’s still not enough to keep up with inflation, since the beginning of the pandemic, workers have seen wage-growth go from 3.2% in 2020 to 6.7% in 2022.  Now, as leaders, it’s not only our job to seek out the best talent but al...

As both an attorney and business owner, most of my days are split between being “serious work Mike” or “relaxed and fun not working Mike”.  Now, this doesn’t mean my day is binary.  And even though there are a lot less people in the actual office, those little hall-way moments and inside jokes still let the fun Mike peek in on the serious Mike from time to time.  But what if we could have the mind...

For this week’s episode, make sure you don’t mistake the casualness for lack of substance.  I’ve known Clarence Easterday for a “hot minute” as the kids say.  He is a veteran of the trucking industry with more than three decades of experience and, luckily for me, a dear friend.  Clarence is now a Senior Advisor for Western Express , a motor carrier with 3,330 power units and over 1,800 trailers, b...

We’ve talked a lot about the emotional aspects of leadership on this podcast, and the concept of vulnerability is (I hope) a through-line that appears in each episode.  But there is another emotion that I don’t think we’ve covered in-depth: forgiveness. Now, I know we’ve touched on this idea, especially in the realm of forgiving one’s self, but I can’t say we’ve ever dedicated an entire episode to...

So this week’s episode is different from anything we’ve ever done for the podcast to date.  It’s not quite a fully brewed episode, but it’s also not one of our lightroasts either. My guest this week is…well, me.  Now don’t worry, I relinquished my hosting rights to a dear friend, so I promise this won’t sound like some experimental one-man-play where I interview myself.   And in fact, it was this...

There’s a lot of jargon when it comes to relationships in the professional world.  Networking, collaboration, client development, team-building events – all of these are simply another way of saying you’re attempting to build a lasting, meaningful, and trust-filled connections.  But as important as getting along with others is to…well, everything… this week’s conversation was a good reminder of wh...

One thing young lawyers often have to learn the hard way is that you could have the most air-tight case in history, but if you don’t understand or anticipate how people will process information, then you can quickly lose a jury, and then, of course, your case. But understanding how people react isn’t just a skill reserved for jury trials. From depositions, to mediations, to simple client correspon...

In my 35 years of practicing law I have never felt uncomfortable during the course of my work.  Now, have I screwed up big time – yes. Have I been weighed down by guilt and shame – yes. And have I been judged for the mistakes I’ve made – yes.   But I sincerely can’t recall a time where I felt uncomfortable just for being myself . Unfortunately, the power disparities inherent to the legal professio...

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got from my Old Man was to use my time as an undergraduate to earn degrees in Business Management.  His logic was simple: the lawyer thing might not work out, but people will always need managers.  What I didn’t expect was how well that degree would serve me once this whole “lawyer” thing did, in fact, work out.  As any attorney will tell you, law school pre...

I think the biggest mistake that many of us make is to confuse the facts of someone’s life for the story of their lives.    And notice I said “us” because, as much as I hate to admit it, I have been guilty of this miscalculation.   The best-case scenario with this error in thinking is that we miss out on learning about the emotionally rich and complex interpersonal lives of others.    After all, t...

This week’s episode is definitely a pot-stirrer; you’ve been warned. Now, as a business owner it is never lost on me that if it wasn’t for a killer support-staff, you could have the smartest lawyers in the world working for you but damn near nothing would get done.  As we move into this Labor Day weekend I want to look past the cook-outs and mattress sales and get back to the root of why this holi...

One of the things I’ve always tried to do on this program is present a variety of viewpoints.   Even when a guest and I have a phenomenal conversation, that doesn’t always mean I agree with everything they’ve said.  But I never believe anything is lost by their opinions being in the world, and in the end, it’s up to you, the listener, to glean what whatever it is you want to take away. Now, I thin...

 One of the things I enjoy most about being a trial lawyer is that to do it effectively you have to construct a narrative.  The clear-cut facts are the constants, they can’t be polished over with a story, or at least they shouldn’t.  And the variables?  Well, that’s where narrative steps in.  So as odd as it may sound, in a lot of ways the great lawyers of history have more in common with great ma...

Every once in a while you have a conversation with someone that you didn’t even know you needed to have.  Usually we think of these as happening among close friends or family, but sometimes you get lucky and a complete stranger can blow your mind.  That’s the kind of episode you can expect. My guest this week was Nick McGowan , a Mindfulness & Self-Mastery coach and the Senior Sales Executive...

Every once in a while, life is going to hit you in the face with the unexpected. This fact, in and of itself, shouldn't come as a shock to most of you.  Then, the bigger question becomes, " what is life going to hit you WITH?" Sometimes it's a gentle punch on the shoulder reminding you to pop your head back up and pay attention. And other times...well other times it feels like...