Next Lawyer Up Podcast with Attorney Ron Sykstus

Darren Wurz  is a certified financial planner with a master's degree in financial planning. He specializes in financial planning for lawyers and law firm owners.  Darren is the author of the book,  "The Lawyer Millionaire: The Complete Guide for Attorneys on Maximizing Wealth, Minimizing Taxes and Retiring with Confidence published by the American Bar Association.   Darren also hosts  The Lawyer M...

If not for my wife Patty's love of all things Tik Tok, I would not have run across  attorney Adrienne Hines.   Adrienne is a long-standing attorney in Ohio who practiced initially in the area of worker's compensation and now works pretty exclusively in the area of consumer bankruptcy.  More than that, Adrienne has morphed her law practice into providing important and detailed information on bankru...

  Robin Wolfe  is a long-standing and highly regarded criminal defense attorney located in Huntsville, Alabama.  Robin has had a singular focus of practice in the area of criminal law since early in her career.  Robin handles every type of criminal case imaginable to include capital murder and death penalty cases.  She is fortunate to have a highly skilled investigator working with her, Jackie, wh...

Kenya Rothstein  is an environmental attorney   barred in California and Washington, D.C.   I recently learned about Kenya from an article in the  January/February 2025 edition of the Washington Lawyer magazine  which gets distributed to all DC bar members.  Kenya has her own podcast called " Thank You For Saying NO " which is available at all podcast platforms.  She has been doing this podcast fo...

Attorney Charles Brinkley  comes from the long line of highly respected "Brinkley" attorneys in North Alabama, to include   Allen Brinkley, John Brinkley  and  Becca Brinkley .  Charles has had a varied practice of law over the years to include personal injury, criminal defense and family law.  For the past decade or so, Charles has focused primarily on  real estate commercial and residential tran...

Attorney George Flowers  is an exceptional DUI and criminal defense attorney located in Huntsville, Alabama. He practices throughout the state of Alabama. George previously served as a DUI prosecutor in Montgomery, Alabama until he moved to Huntsville and worked for several years in partnership with  attorney Phil Price before starting his own law firm.  George is considered a master of his craft...

Attorney George Smith  is a highly respected and well-known attorney throughout the State of Alabama.  As most attorneys in the state know George, I have known him by reputation, and this is really the first time for me to speak in depth with him. George is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law and he also received an LLM in tax law from the New York University School of Law. Follo...

I have appeared before Judge Carol Ricciardello many times over the years for security clearance revocation hearings. She served for the last twenty years as an  Administrative Judge with the Department of Defense (DOD)  Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA)  where she heard and decided over 1,700 security clearance cases during her tenure. This was really the second job in her career, as...

Judge Patty Demos is a highly respected jurist here in Madison County, Alabama.  She has served on the bench for about a decade, after a long career as a prosecutor with the Madison County District Attorney's Office.  Her main focus during her prosecution time was in the area of child abuse where she ultimately directed the Family Violence and Sexual Assault unit for the DA's office.   She and her...

Zach Guyse  is a highly respected attorney who practices throughout North Alabama.  Zach is a partner at the long standing and well-regarded firm of  Wolfe Jones.   You can find my podcast with another  Wolfe Jones law partner, Matt Hancock, here .  Zach has an impressive background to include serving as a member of the law review at the University of Alabama School of Law and, as I tell him on th...

Kevin Heard  is a highly respected business attorney located in North Alabama. He is the founder and managing partner of  Heard, Ary and Dauro, LLC . Kevin is  board certified in business bankruptcy and he has been practicing law in North Alabama for about as long as I have.  I have always liked Kevin's up-tempo spirit. As you'll hear on the podcast, Kevin is very smart, thoughtful and articulate....

It is not a stretch to say that  attorney Richard Jaffe  is at the top of the legal profession in the state of Alabama.  I say this somewhat objectively, given the fact that he has been consistently named as a top 50 lawyer in the State of Alabama for well over a decade by  Super Lawyers , and  Best Lawyers has listed him Lawyer of the Year for Birmingham in either White -collar criminal law or cr...

Attorney Reed Allmand  runs one of the largest consumer bankruptcy law firms in Texas,  Allmand Law .  Reed is highly respected nationwide in this practice area.  I know him as a colleague with the American Consumer Bankruptcy College.  Born and raised in Texas, Reed talks about his roots and how he has grown his law firm to be one of the biggest bankruptcy filers in Texas over the years.  I enjoy...

Attorney Michelle Cross  is the founder of  Atlanta's Law Firm .  While she hasn't been practicing law very long, Michelle has already established herself in Atlanta, Georgia as an excellent criminal defense lawyer. In fact, she was named to  Atlanta's Jezebel magazine (published by Modern Luxury) 40 under 40 this past year ,  in addition to a cover feature .  As you'll hear on the podcast, Michel...

Attorney Erik Clark  is a highly respected consumer bankruptcy attorney based in California.  He, and his longtime law partner,  Barry Borowitz , run the law firm of  Borowitz and Clark .  I have known Erik and Barry for probably 20 years or so, as both are nationwide leaders in this practice area. It was good to catch up with Erik on this episode of the podcast and to learn how a boy who grew up...

I first learned about attorney Bruce Wolf  through  WLUP,  the preeminent Chicago radio station back in the day.   WLUP was very important to a lot of us growing up in the Chicago area when we did and there is a great new book out about this radio station .  Here is the link to "The Loop Files" by long time WLUP employee Rick Kaempfer.  Rick's book discusses Bruce Wolf in detail and all of the con...

Attorney Martin Conway , founder of  Conway Legal , is a highly respected consumer bankruptcy lawyer who practices law throughout Virgina. I first got to know Martin as a colleague with the  American Consumer Bankruptcy College  (ACBC).  Since Martin is in Virginia, he has many clients who have security clearances. Invariably, when people with clearances run into financial difficulties, they are a...

If you are a lawyer who practices in the area of immigration law, then you undoubtedly know the name of attorney  Kevin A. Gregg . Kevin is a partner with the law firm of  Kurzban, Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt and he practices immigration law nationwide.  Additionally, he is the host of the Immigration Review Podcast which is a "must listen" if you practice in the area of immigration law.  Interestingl...

There are two Mark Zuckerberg's in the country and this podcast features the one who is a bankruptcy lawyer practicing in Indianapolis, Indiana.   You can imagine how often the name confusion comes up for Mark over the last several years!  Mark is the de facto "Dean" of the  American Consumer Bankruptcy College  (ACBC), which is how I got to know him.  Mark is an expert in consumer bankruptcy law...

I have known Scott Lawrence since 1996.  I can pretty much guess the exact date since he and his family moved into the same neighborhood at the same time that my family did and we all became immediate fast friends. In fact, our builder told us that Scott, Mary Carol, Jackson and Mary Kathryn were moving in at about the same time as us and  predicted we would get along well and, in the end, he was...

Attorney Sam Givhan  is very well known in Huntsville and, really, throughout the state of Alabama.  A highly respected attorney, Sam is currently a law partner at  Lanier Ford  which is based in Huntsville. By the way, you can listen to my podcasts with other Lanier Ford partners Andy Sieja ,  Laura Harper , and former law partner and now full time author,  Robert Bailey .   Sam also serves our a...

This 150 th  episode of the Next Lawyer Up podcast is quite personal to me.  As I readily tell people, I was an 18-year-old first generation (and somewhat aimless!) college student who ventured from Chicago to the University of Arizona. There, very quickly, I fell in with Sigma Chi fraternity  and pledged immediately.   Philip "Flip" May  was our pledge class trainer,  called Magister in the Sigma...

Colonel (R) Greg Gunter is a 30-year Army veteran and we were both commissioned as U.S. Army Second Lieutenants on the same day in May 1984 from  the University of Arizona . My  Sigma Chi fraternity  brothers liked Greg so much that we offered him a bid late in his college career. Greg went through pledgeship in the spring of his junior year so that we could be fraternity brothers and have an upro...

Luke Homen is a bankruptcy attorney and Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee who practices throughout the state of Oklahoma.  He runs the law firm of  Convenient Bankruptcy .  Luke is a colleague of mine with the  American Consumer Bankruptcy College . As you'll hear, originally from California, Luke made his way to Cleveland, Ohio and, finally, he ended up in Oklahoma where he'll be for good!   Luke has...

William Messervy  is a highly respected personal injury attorney with the Huntsville firm of  Timberlake, League and Brooks . You can also listen to previous podcast episodes with  Michael Timberlake here  and  Will League here.  In addition, this law firm sponsors the popular  LawCall show on WAAY/ABC 31 on Sunday nights at 10:30pm.    As you'll hear, William has been working at that same firm, i...