Legal Leaders

Episode 13 is a solo episode where I discuss my first week of law school at Berkeley, the premise of the podcast, and some of my personal interests outside of school and work. Thanks for tuning in!

David Baron has been a successful trial attorney for more than 40 years. His prestigious accomplishments include serving as Judge Pro Tempore of the Riverside County Superior Court, holding a former record for the largest employment related verdict at $62m, and helping mediate over 300 individual cases.  He is currently the managing partner at the firm he helped found in 1995 called SBEMP which sp...

Matt Samuels is senior product counsel at Databricks. Before spending the last 5 years in house, Matt focused on IP litigation matters. He spent several years at big law firms as an associate and has also clerked for both a US District Court in Los Angeles and also a US Court of Appeals in Washington DC. Matt is also a graduate of Stanford Law School.

Stacy Bratcher is the chief legal officer of Cottage Health, one of the largest healthcare providers in California. She has over 20 years of experience in the field of healthcare law. Stacy’s path to success in the legal world of healthcare started when she worked on healthcare policy in college. From there, she’s held positions at law firms, USC, and most recently Cottage Health. She also has a p...

Toney Jacobson is an IP partner at Fenwick and West, where he has been practicing for the past 14 years. Toney focuses on IP-related issues and has worked with companies ranging in size from Y Combinator startups to Fortune 500 companies. Toney’s inspiring story takes us back to humble beginnings where he and his wife were struggling to get by as graduate students. Through hard work and dedication...

Ashley Pantuliano is the Deputy General Counsel at OpenAI, where she leads the product, privacy, and commercial legal teams. Ashley began her legal career as a paralegal and then transitioned into big law. She then led legal teams at Dropbox and Loom. Tune in to learn about her remarkable career.

Adam Lovingood is a technology, media, and internet in-house legal and business executive. Adam has served in the legal function in many industries including television, broadcasting, and most recently accounting, as General Counsel of Xero. In this episode, Adam discusses his in-house career path starting from his early days as a law student at Berkeley Law School.

Founder and Principal Attorney Jason Amsel is an intellectual property attorney, entrepreneur, and startup advisor. Prior to founding Amsel IP Law, Jason spent 15 years at a large Silicon Valley law firm working with technology startup companies from inception through major acquisitions and IPOs. Throughout his career, Jason has drafted and prosecuted thousands of patent applications for companies...

Tifani Sadek is a clinical assistant professor of law and co-director of the Zell Entrepreneurship Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. She also directs the Law and Mobility Program at Michigan Law and is the editor-in-chief of its  Journal of Law and Mobility . Before entering academia, Sadek’s legal career traversed many sectors and primarily centered on the intersection of law and b...

Steven Tonsfeldt is an M&A partner at Cooley based out of Palo Alto. Over the past several years, Steve has led lawyer teams in acquisition transactions having an aggregate value of well over US$100 billion. Steve has been ranked by Chambers USA for almost 20 years and has been practicing law for almost 40. Steve is a member of the advisory board of the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and th...

Today's interview is with Gabriel Kuris: As a top-rated law school admissions consultant and author of U.S. News’ Law Admissions Lowdown, Gabriel has helped hundreds of law school applicants pursue their dreams. He has advised applicants and taught LSAT prep since 2003, working for JDMission, Powerscore, and EssayEdge. A Yale and Harvard Law graduate, he has worked as a writer and legal schola...

In this episode, I discuss my LSAT and law school application journey.

Ali Rafie discusses his sales background and why he decided to transition from the tech & software sales world to pursue a career in law.