The PERSUIT Podcast

With nearly 100 thousand TikTok followers and over 5 million likes, Alex Su is one of several young professionals leading the charge for change in legal through social media. The Head of Community Development at Ironclad and columnist for Above The Law also caused a stir when his article, Profitable Misery , went viral this summer. In this episode, Alex shares his thoughts on technology, the hourl...

Asya Alexandrovich developed a deep appreciation for the American legal system after immigrating to the U.S. as a young teenager. Her Ukrainian upbringing instilled resilience and determination that helped push her through the ranks of the in-house legal field. Today, as Chief Legal Officer for American Family Insurance in Madison, Wisconsin, she leads the charge in guiding her team to find soluti...

The ambiguous nature of legal work can leave clients skeptical when it comes to alternative fee arrangements. But by overcoming their fear of overpaying for legal aid, clients can actually get the value they deserve. David Falstein , VP of Customer Success and Strategy at PERSUIT , shares why he believes alternative fee arrangements will be the ultimate successor to the billable hour. Join us as w...

The billable hour is infamous for its toll on mental health in the legal field. Rather than promote innovation and inclusion, billable hours create undue stress by influencing unrealistic quotas and meaningless labor. By abolishing old behaviors, firms can attract talented and diverse associates who are eager to make a difference through out-come driven results. Nathan Collier , Director of Conten...

For this episode, we hop in the Innovative Legal Leadership time machine to revisit our conversation with Leslie Davis, CEO of the National Association of Minority & Women-Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF). Minority and women-led law firms fighting for equal opportunities is a continuing struggle. Raising awareness and presenting clear strategies to eliminate the discrimination are essential to creati...

Legal ops goes a lot deeper than managing templates and a list of law firms. A big focus of the function is on tracking data and determining what bits are useful for process improvement. In this episode, we chat with LaTrece Johnson , Head of Legal Operations at Palo Alto Networks , about the what, the why, and the how of setting up a legal ops function. We discuss: - The primary goals for setting...

It’s easy to overthink the little things. Sometimes, the corporate legal ladder can look like Mt. Everest, but something as simple as a positive attitude can help you reach the summit. You just have to be willing to escape your comfort zone and go for it. Jeff Langlands , General Counsel of Corporate, Digital, and Networks at BT Group Plc and Director of EE Limited , spoke with us about setting hi...

Many legal counsels find their early spark while mastering the art of the corporate deal. Those formative years can be critical in learning to acknowledge priorities and narrow the scope of your clients’ needs. Philip Kirkpatrick , Regional General Counsel - North America at Rabobank , tells us how his early days as a deal fanatic translated into his stance on authentic leadership as a GC. Join us...

We’ve had the privilege of talking to several standout legal professionals who defied family expectations to take a path less traveled. Be it love for language or logic that launches these careers, pivotal moments often influence these pillars of the legal community to help bridge the gaps in their field. Chaman Sidhu , Chief Legal Officer at Xero , joined us to how her experience in high-growth e...

Preparing a legal team for a fresh IPO launch is exciting, but it also comes with its share of challenges. Communication is key, and authentic leadership is needed so that different perspectives can freely join the conversation.  Christina Lai , Vice Presid ent, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Robinhood , tells us how her experience prepared her to lead her team into the future....

General counsel shouldn’t be seen as an obstacle to the success of the company; and yet, they are often seen as the unnecessary evil when reminding the team about compliance. In this episode, we speak with Jonathan Polk , General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Melio , to learn about his mission to find balance in legal while generating consensus around the things that help a company grow....

You could say Nicole Kelsey , Chief Legal Officer and Secretary at Amyris , is addicted to learning. Since Nicole was young, her Algerian mother branded a love for languages and different cultures on her daughter’s heart. Now, she’s bringing her fiery passion for continuing education to the legal profession.     Nicole shares her provocative story of grit and growth in pursuing a GC role and empow...

Client facing interactions can become more effective by including your legal team in the sales enablement process. Establishing relationships between product managers and legal professionals creates an ecosystem where project approvals and closing business deals happen quickly and efficiently. In this episode, we speak with Irene Liu , Chief Legal Officer of Hopin , about how her team enables busi...

By stepping out of our comfort zone, we encounter diverse outcomes and have the potential to discover aspects of ourselves we had never considered before. That can look like striking up a conversation with someone new, attempting a recipe that seems above your skill level, volunteering to take on a project at work you’ve never done before, or even changing career paths. In this episode, we speak w...

They say there’s an outlier in every family, someone who makes different choices and treads a new path—like a business student in a family of doctors. Whichever career path we choose, we all grapple with similar questions; fighting the myth of work-life balance, identifying what it takes to lead, figuring out what success means to us, etc. In this episode, we speak with Jim Moffat , President, at...

CFOs and General Counsels can’t just rely on a strong relationship to predict spending, you have to have a system in place that takes the guesswork out of managing your organizations legal spend. In this episode, we’re joined by Ron Gill, Former CFO of NetSuite and current Operating Partner and Board Member at Lead Edge Capital. We speak to Ron about becoming a globally recognized CFO, relationshi...

The repercussions from the beginning of COVID-19 will continue to be felt for years to come. While there have been and will continue to be many negatives from the pandemic, for some professions, it pushed their work into the forefront and emphasized how important their roles are in everyday business and legal functions.  In this episode, we’re shifting gears away from speaking with General Counsel...

We all want meaningful work and to know at the end of the day, our work mattered. Impacting the next generation by engaging with them and passing the baton to them, while simultaneously figuring out how to evolve to the next step in our careers. In this episode, we speak with Marc Barbeau , Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Air Canada, about lessons he’s learned in 30 plus years...

For most organizations, the legal function is long overdue for transformation—and legal ops is best placed to drive that transformation. In this episode, we speak with Andrew Brereton , Vice President of Legal Operations at ServiceNow , about the what, the why, and the how of driving value and transformation for the legal organization from legal ops. We discuss: Why legal ops is vital to driving v...

Ivan Fong holds pu blic service in high regard. The son of immigrants (his parents fled China during the communist revolution), Ivan experienced the advantages and opportunities of living in the United States firsthand. Public service is his way of giving back to the country that gave his family so much. His time at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and as a clerk to...

When Katina Thornock was a young associate, she was fortunate to have the mentorship of strong female shareholders. When nerves would creep in before a civil deposition, one, in particular, would say, “Don’t let those old guys walk all over you. You know the material and you know the craft. Now, go do it.” Empowerment—that’s what strong mentorship and honest feedback cultivates. It’s the sacred ch...

Lindsey Haswell was determined to be either a broadcast journalist or a lawyer. Because it’s at the epicenter of policy and economics, she chose law. She started out as a litigator at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher before making the leap to a small (at the time) startup called Uber. She viewed it as an investment in her future, an opportunity to learn how to build and run a business and how legal fur...

Creating a legal department your CEO would brag about doesn't happen by accident. It takes intention and care to hire the best lawyers and create an environment that stimulates growth. Rankin Gasaway , the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at 7-Eleven , has created an environment where lawyers are encouraged to be courageous and trust their intuition.   We discuss: The anxi...

Richard Crabb was listed in the Legal 500 as an expert in Sports Law in 2011 and as an expert in Charity Law in 2012. But he didn’t always have a desire to work in the Legal industry. Richard’s route into law came from a career in marketing where he had to have a comprehensive understanding of the way the law operated in order to be great at his Brand Manager role in the retail industry. His early...

German-born Christoph Feddersen would not be where he is today, the Vice President & General Counsel at Collins Aerospace in Charlotte, North Carolina, were it not for the tremendous opportunities he was given to stretch himself.  Early opportunities came at international law firms Cleary Gottlieb and Morgan Lewis, and they continued to pop up in later roles as executive assistant to the chair...