The Hearing – A Legal Podcast

We could try to make a witty or poignant comment about this year, but we respect you all too much for that. We all know what 2021 was – and it wasn't the antidote to 2020 we'd hoped for (oops, there's the comment). We know what is was, however – it was another smashing year for The Hearing. We introduced two wonderful new hosts – Yasmin Sheikh and Becky Annison – to join Joe Raczynski. Each bringi...

This is an episode that may resonate with many of you. Yasmin speaks to Trevor Sterling about the chance turn of events that led him to pursuing a career in law. And, in spite of Trevor’s unconventional route into the profession, in July 2021 he made history by becoming the first black senior partner at a top 100 UK law firm. Trevor, a personal injury and clinical negligence practitioner, has been...

Yasmin's guest for this episode is something of an inspiration. I. Stephanie Boyce is the 177th president of the Law Society of England and Wales. But she’s the society’s first black office holder, and only the sixth woman to hold the presidency. And, as you will hear, she had to overcome lots of barriers to get there. Yasmin and Stephanie talk about her route to becoming president and her mission...

Bitcoin: bringing FOMO since 2013. What would your scream sound like if you had dismissed Bitcoin as a joke in your law class in 2013 at $100 dollars – when it sits at $60,000 today? Joe's guest this week is Houman Shadab, the Director of the Innovation Center for Law and Technology at New York Law School. He's here to tell us how lawyers can navigate, benefit from and translate today’s new wave o...

In this episode, Yasmin sits down with a former Chief Crown Prosecutor and formidable force for justice, Nazir Afzal OBE. Nazir, a practising Muslim, talks about the racism he endured as a child growing up in Birmingham and how this fuelled his determination to stand up for the most marginalised and victimised members of society. Nazir also chats about his illustrious career at the Crown Prosecuti...

This week, Joe takes a break from legal futurology and tries his hand at being a pub singer. We’re here for it. And so (much to his horror) is Andy Wishart – Chief Product Officer at Agiloft and all round technology guru. Joe and Andy discuss the beginnings of Contract Express, Andy's 21 years in legal tech, and the changes and challenges he's seen along the way. They also chat about the power of...

THE CROSS-EXAMINATION – Back from our summer hiatus, in this episode Becky Annison examines the growing issue of non-consensual image sharing. Or, as it’s more commonly known, revenge porn. Becky talks to Elena Michael, a campaigner and co-founder of #NotYourPorn, and Honza Cervenka, a lawyer at the women’s rights firm McAllister Olivarius. They discuss the prevalence of image-based sexual abuse a...

Breastfeeding is legal. Breastfeeding in public is legal. But did you know that taking intimate photos of a woman breastfeeding in public without her consent is also legal? In this episode Yasmin talks to new mother, designer and now women's and mother's rights campaigner, Julia Cooper. She's another woman warrior using political process to change the way the law treats women. Julia speaks about t...

The achievements of this episode’s guest have been celebrated by the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard Business Review, The Economist, The New York Times, Forbes and Wired. Joe is talking to the founder of P-TECH, and author of Breaking Barriers, Stan Litow. They begin by discussing Stan’s early career – working for the mayor of New York City – which opened his eyes to issues in the education...

THE CROSS-EXAMINATION – In this episode Becky talks to Katie Fudakowski, a safeguarding specialist at Farrer & Co, and Sophie Beesley, a personal injury barrister from Old Square Chambers, to discuss the law around duty of care to sports people who suffer head injuries as a result of their profession. Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson is one of eight rugby players who recently revealed the...

This episode's guest doesn't give up: he didn't give up being himself, he didn't give up his desire for children and he doesn't give up fighting for others, even when that means taking the government to court. Yasmin is speaking to journalist, trans activist and father, Freddy McConnell. Freddy is a dad who gave birth. This story is excellently told in the film Seahorse, which documents his journe...

Question: What do the Iranian national football team, NFTs, Hotel Rwanda and Andy Murray have in common? Answer: Stevie Ghiassi, Co-founder of Legaler and Legaler Aid. And Joe’s guest this week! In this episode, Stevie chats to Joe about his unlikely journey from running a chain of souvenir shops to becoming a legal tech entrepreneur. He also talks about the important work that Legaler Aid is doin...

THE CROSS-EXAMINATION – We, along with the rest of the legal industry, have talked at length about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on our profession. But this time we concern ourselves not with the efficiencies of machine learning and automation, but instead with potential injustice and the need for vigilance in the face of seismic developments. AI is already being used extensively in a...

Yasmin's guest this week hardly needs introduction – we're speaking to feminist icon Laura Bates. Laura is founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, a catalogue of day-to-day instances of sexism and gender inequality. Laura talks us through the events that led to her setting up the project – events that were so everyday, so commonplace, that she almost didn't notice. On her website, Laura describes...

To those listening in the future, the level of excitement about our brief Easter hiatus to see friends and family might seem strange. But, future listener, these are strange times indeed. We don't even have hoverboards yet. Our future podcast friends might also find it strange that we're still discussing whether lawyers actually need artificial intelligence. Joe's guest this week is Andrew Fletche...

Did you know the moon landings were faked? Or that The Beatles never existed? And do you remember when conspiracy theories were much more innocent? In this episode, Becky talks to Will Moy, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Full Fact, about the perils of misinformation in the digital age. Full Fact is a British charity that checks claims made by politicians, public institutions and journalists, an...

Here at The Hearing HQ we've really missed travelling. So being whisked (virtually) to Buenos Aires for this week's episode was a real treat! Meet Joe's guest, Federico Ast, the CEO and founder of Kleros. He's deeply intelligent, thoughtful and one hell of an aggravator in the world of justice. Federico has a philosophy-centred approach to improving judicial systems around the world, and talks to...

Imagine being fired, by voicemail, after telling your boss that you're pregnant. It seems like something from a different era, or at least, akin to a bad dating story. Yet this is exactly what happened to this week's guest, Joeli Brearley, the CEO and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed. Joeli sits down with Yasmin to talk about how her high-risk pregnancy prevented her from taking legal action and h...

THE CROSS-EXAMINATION – The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is giving many of us hope right now. But are vaccines about become the next divisive issue to affect our professional and personal lives? Companies might well see vaccines as the golden ticket to getting staff back to a normal working environment, or indeed back to work full stop. But what happens when employees choose not to receive the vac...

On The Hearing, we've talked to people at the top of their game about their experiences of lockdown. We've gained advice from experts on how businesses can best weather these unprecedented times. And this week Joe chats to Karim Sabbidine, an associate at Thompson Hine, about what COVID-19 means when you're at the legal coalface. Pre-pandemic, life as a New York litigator was a heady mix of high p...

Join Yasmin, fresh from our short Christmas hiatus, as she gets to know Lady Hale – often described as the UK’s answer to the USA’s late, great Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Former President of the Supreme Court and an advocate for diversity in the legal profession, Baroness Hale of Richmond (as she’s formally known) can leave people rather starstruck. And Yasmin is no exception. Lady Hale chats to Yasmin...

You may have watched as Mark Zuckerberg explained the internet to Congress in a way that felt a bit unnecessary. Well, this episode is sort of the opposite of that. Joe Raczynski is joined by legal and mathematical macroeconomics genius Doug Pepe, to take us through blockchain, tokens and cryptocurrency in a way that’s genuinely enlightening. The legal industry is sometimes accused of not keeping...

THE CROSS-EXAMINATION – Although we're being playful with the title, there are some comparisons to be drawn between this episode and Gabriel García Márquez's classic novel Love in a Time of Cholera. We're covering issues of epic proportions, and it does feel like Brexit and Covid have both spanned several lifetimes. Our host Becky Annison isn't one to romanticise, but she does look at the positive...

Star Trek gave us prototype mobile phones. In Back To The Future, Doc Brown and Marty McFly predicted voice recognition technology. And, as this episode discusses, it was Minority Report in 2002 that foresaw predictive policing. This week, Yasmin chats to Christina Blacklaws – a strategic consultant and the 174th president of the Law Society. Christina is also an expert on legal technology and cha...

In this special US election instalment of The Hearing, Sanaz Asgharzadeh talks politics with Joe Raczynski. Sanaz used to be an attorney at a major firm and now heads her own practice, Atlas Law Firm. With the caveat that at the time of recording a victor had not yet been chosen, and with the votes continuing to be counted in several swing states, Joe and Sanaz describe the current mood of the US...