The Portia Project

Jean Lawler shares her journey from law firm managing partner to mediator and arbitrator, and her experience leading the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel. She is a great example of how to design your legal career and stack skills to find new career directions. Tune in to this insightful conversation between Jean Lawler and podcast host MC Sungaila.

Olympian. Professional ballerina. Presence and public speaking coach. Tech company founder. Rachel Cossar , CEO of Virtual Sapiens , which provides realtime body language coaching for video meetings, connects the dots and shares insights into her multiple career reinventions. She also shares terrific insights into the use of body language in our remote and hybrid work environments. This episode is...

Maria Hernandez is the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of Orange County, California. She shares her journey to the bench from a career as a public defender, and her new role as presiding judge of one of the country's largest trial courts. She describes the challenges her court met during COVID-19, which led to virtual and hybrid court hearings which continue to improve people’s access to the...

Suzette Torres, General Counsel for Lennar Title Group, LLC, talks about how she navigated from law firm partnership to inhouse, and the role she played in connecting inhouse women together through her leadership role and groundbreaking initiative with California Women Lawyers. She provides tips on networking and relationship building too, which she believes to be integral to her career success an...

Washington Supreme Court Justice Barbara Madsen is a trailblazer. The first woman to be popularly elected to the Court in Washington state history, and the third woman to serve on the Court, she is committed to public service and equal justice. While on Seattle's Municipal Court bench, she helped develop a Domestic Violence Coordinating Committee to comprehensively address violence in the family a...

Judge Samantha P. Jessner is the Presiding Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court , the largest trial court in the United States. Judge Jessner discusses the role that mentors, including powerhouse women lawyers like her mother Patricia Phillips and former U.S. Attorney, now Court of Appeal Justice Nora Manella, played in moving her career forward. She also shares what goes into leading the natio...

Legendary family law attorney Stacy D. Phillips talks with host M.C. Sungaila about being intentional in your career choices but also being open to new opportunities, giving back, moving from her own highly successful law firm to the executive committee of BigLaw firm Blank Rome, and what she learned from her lawyer father. 

Renowned Supreme Court and appellate advocate Patricia Millett , now Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit , joins MC Sungaila to share her journey to the bench and how her experience in appellate advocacy impacts her work on the court. She provides valuable insights on brief writing and oral argument, highlighting the perspective of a member of the bench...

Women lawyers can learn from high-achieving women in a range of industries. Today, Jeanniey Walden , former CMO of DailyPay, and now CEO of LiftOff Enterprises and host of the national daytime TV show “LiftOff with Jeanniey Walden," provides some insights into branding. With host MC Sungaila, Jeanniey shares tips on building an authentic brand for yourself, public speaking, and the role of risk-ta...

As the first General Counsel of M Financial Group , Cheryl Tobin oversees all legal, corporate compliance and corporate governance matters for the company. She is also responsible for strengthening M’s government affairs capabilities. Here, in conversation with host MC Sungaila, Cheryl takes us across her interesting career journey—from law school to the insurance industry, and a longstanding in-h...

Massachusetts Appeals Court Justice Amy Lyn Blake shares her journey from law practice to the trial and appellate bench. With host MC Sungaila, Justice Blake has a lively discussion about what it takes to become a judge, the difference between law practice and serving on the bench, and the oral argument and brief writing process. 

Ashley Herd has had a deep and wide legal career, including in-house counsel at leading companies like Yum! Brands (including Taco Bell) around the world to founding her own company Manager Method , which provides efficient training and scalable tools to build healthy workplaces (along the way becoming a breakout TikTok and Linkedin star). Ashley joins host MC Sungaila to share how she uses her ba...

Montana Supreme Court Justice Laurie McKinnon shares her journey from prosecutor in Baltimore, Maryland, to Deputy County Attorney in Glacier and Teton Counties in Montana, and to her election to the bench. In conversation with host MC Sungaila, she provides great advice on being elected to the bench, writing opinions and briefs, and the role of oral argument in appellate decision-making. 

Laurie D. Zelon, former Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, now at Judicate West, shares her journey in the law, including the significant role that mentorship played in her development. She shares how she became a leader in advocating for access to justice and pro bono work long before joining the bench, and the important role that both play in our justice system. This is a treme...

Trailblazing Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bernice B. Donald has had a multifaceted judicial career. She sits down with host MC Sungaila to discuss her time on the federal appellate bench, and, before that, as a federal district judge and bankruptcy judge. She shares her work in the area of implicit bias, mentoring and encouraging women of color to consider the bench, and provides some insi...

Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Lee Walters shares her path to the bench with host MC Sungaila, including founding her own women-owned law firm that was involved with some of the most high profile and pathbreaking civil rights cases of the time. Chief Justice Walters discusses the importance of continuing to make sure that the justice system is accessible to, and a helpful forum for, mem...

Washington Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis shares her trailblazing journey to the highest court of her state. In conversation with host MC Sungaila, she shares her experience serving as a tribal court judge for three different tribes (the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, the Nooksack Indian Tribe, and the Lummi Nation), as well as on the Washington Superior Court bench. Her time as a tribal j...

With host MC Sungaila, Washington Supreme Court Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud discusses campaigning for judicial election, and how her experience as a public defender and appellate lawyer prepared her for a career on the bench. Justice McCloud also shares appellate briefwriting and oral argument tips.

Justice Susan M. Carney of the Alaska Supreme Court sits down with host MC Sungaila to discuss her road to Alaska, and to the bench. A post-law school clerkship with Alaska Supreme Court Justice Justice Jay Rabinowitz brought Justice Carney to Alaska, where she stayed, working as a public defender and for the Alaska Office of Public Advocacy before joining the court for which she clerked. Justice...

Alison R. Nelson served as inhouse counsel at Ford Motor Company and most recently as the company's inaugural Director of DEI Strategies & Inclusion. She discusses with host MC Sungaila the importance of mentors to her career, the innovative diversity work she led at Ford, ways for inhouse counsel to foster diversity among outside counsel, and how a legal career can evolve to encompass new lay...

Justice Melody Stewart is the first Black woman elected to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court. She shares her varied work experience (including academia) and her path to the bench, as well as some advice for the next generation, with host M.C. Sungaila.

Justice Kathleen E. O'Leary is the first female Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Three. Prior to her appointment to the Court of Appeal, she also served as presiding judge of the Orange County Superior Court. Justice O’Leary discusses her path to the bench, her career as a public defender prior to joining the bench, and offers encouragement t...

Justice G. Helen Whitener of the Washington Supreme Court is a trailblazer: the first Black woman to serve on the Washington Supreme Court , the fourth immigrant-born Justice, and the first Black LGBT judge in the State of Washington. But even though she is the first, she doesn’t want to be the last. So she focuses on teaching and mentoring others to pursue a legal career and apply to the bench. W...

Legal design is the application of human-centered design to law, making legal systems and services more accessible, usable, and satisfying. Today, we are joined by fantastic legal design leaders Tessa Manuello, Astrid Kohlmeier, and Sarah Ouis.  Tessa Manuello is the Founder and CEO of Legal Creatives, an online educational platform empowering legal professionals from 50+ countries to think m...

Illinois Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis joins host MC Sungaila to talk about the impact of the pandemic on the judicial system and the use of technology and the need to enhance access to the court system. She also explains how to write effective appellate briefs and present oral argument that is helpful to the justices in deciding cases.