Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law

Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a while but Legal Grounds is back!  As anyone inside or outside the legal arena knows, trying a case can lead you to places that take up a significant amount of bandwidth – and that’s exactly where Team TBF (The Bassett Firm) has been.    But while I’ve had more back-to-back 12 hour days in the past two months than I’ve had in most of my legal career, as I got...

Hey there listeners.  This week we’re serving up another light roast. While no one from The Ivy Leagues reached out for me to speak to this years graduates, I figured I’d give it the old “college try”.  And yes, you can expect that level of Dad-joke to appear at least once. What follows is a mediation on a phrase you hear me say often. “Be easy.” I hope it can be a sliver of light in the darkness....

I usually don’t ask questions to start off these episode descriptions, mostly because I don’t know how you, the listener, will answer.  But here we go: Do you think you could give up eating meat?  If you’re like me, the gut reaction is probably heck no!   But then maybe you start to think about your health… or maybe you start to think about the health of the planet… or the plight of animals on fac...

One thing I think we often forget about leadership is that it's not a solo mission.  Leaders build leaders; full stop.  I've had a lot of fun with this podcast and gotten to know and chat with a lot of interesting & influential people. But this week's conversation was a much-needed reminder that leadership is a communal AND active endeavor.  My guests this week are both co-hosts...

I knew that I wanted to record an Easter episode of the podcast, but it wasn't until I I sat down to write that I discovered that it was the first time in a long time that Easter, Passover, and Ramadan were all happening concurrently.  Most people know that there is overlap in the three Abrahamic religions, but this is literal overlap.  In this episode, I explore how each of these celebration...

I’ve been in a lot of rooms full of smart people. But very rarely do I think I’ve found myself in a room full of wise people.  Of course, this isn’t a dig against my peers in any way. I think all of us possess unique bits of wisdom we’ve picked up on our journeys, but to become a “wise person” is a task that often seems to border on Sisyphean. So when I was thinking about my conversation this week...

Anyone who has watched an 80’s college-comedy knows that one of the things you never want to have happen is to be called into “The Dean’s Office”... Now of course, there is PLENTY in those comedies that absolutely DO NOT fly in our world today. But past the obvious misogyny, racism, ect., my conversation this week made me realize the humor of the uptight, ivory-tower-dwelling academic might be agi...

In the history of The Bassett Firm, we have only ever run one advertisement. It was in the bulletin of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church of Waxahachie, and I don’t even think it counts as a proper “ad”.  It was a simple notice that - if someone was in a legal bind - our firm would be happy to listen to their issue and point them in the right direction, or, if it was in our wheel-house, do what we c...

There’s a pretty weird statistic out there that my guest this week brought to my attention.  In a recent Gallup Poll, 86% - so more than 3/4th’s - of folks reported being disengaged from the task they call their “career”. That’s why when he started introducing himself, my guest decided to start asking people, “what do you love doing?” instead of “what do you do ?” It’s the deeper questions like th...

While I am far from being a luddite, I also wouldn't claim to be the most savvy guy when it comes to technology.  I mean, you're talking to someone who was stoked to beat his son to the punch on buying a iPad Pencil cap holder. And while my time in the world of business has essentially forced me to keep up with at least the big changes in tech, I can't say I've spent a lot of e...

This week’s episode feels like a throwback to the early days of Legal Grounds when it was just two lawyers talking shop.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love getting to talk with folks about pretty much anything and I’m always thrilled by how diverse my pool of guests continues to be. But something about getting into the nitty-gritty practice of trial law with someone who shares the same passion for th...

Growing up in the desert, you get used to wild swings in temperature. But if you've kept up with the Texas forecast recently, then you'll know what I mean when I say things don't even make sense anymore. Or as one solid meme I saw simply put it: Go Home Weather - You're Drunk. But if there's a silver-lining, it's that I'm reminded of the little things - I have a...

Considering the timing of Justice Breyer’s retirement announcement, coupled with the Biden Administrations promise to nominate a Black Woman to the Supreme Court,  I couldn’t have asked for a better guest this month.  Returning to the podcast is one of the top appellate attorneys in the country, who has contributed to cases that have reached from the Supreme Court to the International Human-Rights...

There have been a lot of things I've turned to over the past 2 years to help "take the edge off" of what seems like an increasingly chaotic world. Now, not all of them have been healthy - like working 14 hour days because you now live where you work - but some have been a godsend. And one of the biggest has been Comedy. Movies, T.V. Shows, Standup, hell, I even know how to watch Tik...

What do you do when you realize the deck is stacked against you?  Oftentimes - and I’m guilty of this - it’s easier to cash in your chips and move on to the next thing. After all, if the ‘house’ always has the advantage, then what’s the point?  Thankfully, life isn’t a casino. And those people who are willing to take risks, who are willing to shock the system, well, most times they at least walk a...

I was tempted to release this week's episode as my New Year's podcast, but I think it’s still early enough in the year that the sentiment is still there.  As we enter year three of an ever-changing pandemic, it might seem like there’s just nothing left to laugh about anymore. Much less, things that leave us in ‘awe’! That’s why I thought it might be a good idea to find someone who not on...

Hot Sports Opinion: Radical honesty is the coin of the realm when it comes to growing any relationship - business or otherwise.  I’ve learned that when you screw up - and trust me, I’ve done it plenty - the best thing to do is just come out and say it. Next, have a plan for how you want to fix it. And finally move forward with the experience gained.  But now imagine not just doing this work intern...

Well listeners, we’re back with full length interviews this week and I’m pretty dang excited to start sharing these conversations we’ve built up over the winter break.  This week’s episode felt like the perfect way to start off a new year and a new season because at its core, it's a conversation about fresh starts and redemption.  Lida Citroën is an award winning personal branding and reputat...

I'm excited for this upcoming season of Legal Grounds.  The interviews we have on-deck are some of the best yet, and I feel beyond fortunate to watch us go into our third year of the show.  This week, however, I wanted to share some of the tougher New Year's thoughts I've been wrestling with - because I think they're far from unique to me.  So as this fresh year begins, here&ap...

Hey y’all, This episode feels a little simpler than most, but it’s from the heart. I’m fortunate enough to remember the KCSC (a local country station) ‘Santa Tracker’. I’ve learned the hard way what it’s like to not be able to decorate for the holidays. Nothing about this holiday season feels normal - but maybe that’s a good thing, Even if it’s a rough four minutes, hopefully it expands your horiz...

It’s crazy to think that the holidays are right around the corner. It feels like it was only last week I was thankful to have made it through 2020 and ready to start a new year.  Now I’m planning to spend the weekend wrestling Christmas decorations down from the attic. And I’m not saying that in my best “Grinch” voice! I’m saying it as someone who is genuinely a little freaked out by how fast time...

It's important to color outside the lines every once in a while. And this week's conversation was a good reminder of that fact. But that doesn't always mean it's comfortable to do - especially if you're like me and thrive off of systems. Whether it's the messy side of life we see in ZOOM meetings, the blur between work and home, or the way we've had change how we...

There’s plenty of talk these days about the link between our physical health and our mental health, and it’s a conversation I’m very much here for.  According to the CDC’s last survey, nearly half of American adults (49.1%) attempt some form of weight loss in a given year. And I’m not shy in saying that I have been a part of this statistic on and off throughout my adult life.  But it wasn’t until...

Maybe it's just me, but the phrase, " celebrating Veterans Day", has always struck me as a little odd. After all, there aren't too many 'celebrations' that include a 2 minute moment of silence observed in countries all around the world...  There is a necessary solemnity about the day, and it's one I've been contemplating these past couple of weeks.  In this...

Every writer will tell you there is often nothing more intimidating than the blank page. One of the ways I’ve learned to eliminate this fear is by getting started with my favorite writing device: Bullet Points.  Now I always knew this trick worked when it came to composing legal documents, but when it came to writing “The Man in the Ditch,”  I wasn’t sure if something like bullet points, which fee...