Tools of the Trade

Tools of the Trade is now viewable! In the first video episode, watch (and listen) as Jon talks with Ryan VanGrack, vice president of legal and global head of litigation at the cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase. Before joining Coinbase, Ryan worked in both the public and private sectors. He has served as general counsel at Citadel Securities, in addition to serving as senior advisor at the US Secu...

Former Mayer Brown partner Andy Stewart joins Sally Davies for the next installment of Tools of the Trade's series on retirees. Andy, who retired in July 2025, reflects on his long legal career, which spanned more than 40 years. He began his journey with our legacy firm, Rowe & Maw, as an articled clerk in 1984 before becoming a Corporate & Securities partner in 1994. He also pioneered the London...

Recognizing Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Jon welcomes Ana Bruder and Stephen Lilley, partners in Mayer Brown's Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practice, to the firm's Tools of the Trade podcast. The guests discuss why clients call Mayer Brown first after a cyber incident and the legal risks of breaches (2:05). Ana and Stephen outline regulatory reporting obligations and evolving regulator responses...

As world powers increasingly turn their attention to space, lawyers will be called upon to address an array of issues. London partner Rachael O'Grady reminds us that extraterrestrial legal matters will, in many respects, parallel what we're already doing on earth. Rachael is a co-leader of Mayer Brown's Space & Satellite practice—which launched in 2022—alongside partner Paul Whitfield-Jones. Racha...

Russell Nance joined Mayer Brown's New York office as a tax partner in 2006. In recent years, many colleagues and clients have come to know him also as the co-owner of a whiskey distillery nestled in the mountains of Virginia. Opening a farm-to-bottle distillery was no easy feat and quickly turned into a master class in the hospitality industry (02:21). After a lot of "learning as they went," Russ...

A life-changing incident as a teenager didn't stop Patrick Tomic from playing sports (04:48). In fact, it only propelled his passion and ultimately led him to pursue a career in recruitment after taking a shine to recruiting student athletes at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (16:20). Outside of working for Mayer Brown's Chicago Human Resources team, Patrick is active in wheelchair bas...

In the lead-up to the United States presidential and congressional elections in November, the security of our election infrastructure is top of mind. During Adam Hickey's 15-year tenure at the US Department of Justice, he handled high-profile national security matters, which included the significant responsibility of managing the US responses to foreign interference with US elections. Now a partne...

There are several ways to obtain financing using a company's receivables, one of which is known in the trade as "accounts receivables financing." As part of the "How It Works" series, Janelene Chen—Mayer Brown's only Singapore-qualified partner in Global Trade Finance—describes the logistics and benefits of using such a structure (02:44). Later, Janelene explains how Singapore came to be the prima...

23-Minute Listen:  Keenan Horne is not your average jurist. Outside his international arbitration work in Mayer Brown's Paris office, he is an Olympic athlete. Keenan competed on the South African field hockey team at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games and is a part of the 16-player squad competing in​ the 2024 Paris Olympics. Learn all about Keenan's path to the world's foremost sporting competi...

Private credit is a growing market—and one that may be a little mysterious to listeners. Mayer Brown partners Matt O'Meara, who leads the Firm's Private Credit practice, and Andy Kolacki help distinguish private credit from public-market bank debt (02:00). The guests talk about the "limitless" nature of the private credit market, which has grown to around $1.7 trillion in outstanding loans (05:16)...

In a departure from our regular format, Mayer Brown partner Mike Scodro breaks down an important US Supreme Court doctrine known as "Chevron deference." A decision overruling the precedent set by Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council would have a broad impact on all Americans, as it would affect which federal agencies hold regulatory power under federal statutes. Before diving deeper into C...

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the topic of sanctions has received unprecedented media coverage. The topic generated a fresh round of coverage on February 23, 2024, when US President Biden announced hundreds of new sanctions on Russia in response to the death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. Mayer Brown partner Jason Hungerford has been advising on US, UK and EU financia...

21-Minute Listen: John Sullivan, former US deputy secretary of state and former US ambassador to the Russian Federation, has had a close-up view of US national security matters for decades. His career in public service has included prominent diplomatic and legal portfolios under five US presidents, as well as experience in private law practice at Mayer Brown (02:05). Keep an eye out for his memoir...

22-Minute Listen: After stepping down from the Mayer Brown partnership in 2022, former Chicago office managing partner Rebecca Eisner is enjoying retirement on an island near Charleston, South Carolina, where she is an active community member and certified sail captain. It was not an easy decision to transition out of her career, and it took years of forethought and planning (03:26). In the latest...

16-Minute Listen: In this special episode of Tools of the Trade, partner Nina Flax sits down with the inaugural participant in the Firm's Technology General Counsel in Residence program, which launched in early 2023 (02:22). Technology veteran Beth Stevens of Sword Health joins Nina for a candid conversation about her experience in this first-of-its-kind program (which Nina designed) (05:06), as w...

11-Minute Listen: The "How it Works" series of Tools of the Trade returns with an insightful follow-up discussion around AI. In part 1​, we heard from partner Niketa Patel about the mechanics of generative AI and how to keep up with the evolving area when interacting with clients. In part 2, our global chief innovation officer, Amol Bargaje, does a deeper dive into how AI can be used in the practi...

12-Minute Listen: This episode of Tools of the Trade unpacks a topic on everyone's minds—AI—with the help of a thought leader in the space. New York partner Niketa Patel begins by defining the broad "artificial intelligence" term (01:54), including the difference between predictive and generative AI (03:46). Later, she identifies risks (08:28) and how to keep up with the rapidly evolving area (06:...

20-Minute Listen: Last year, DC associate Gretel Echarte took over as host of "Tools of the Trade" to put Sally Davies in the hot seat. This time around, our director of client teams and market strategy takes a spin at hosting! Tune in to the latest episode as David Byrne welcomes guest Nat Slavin, the founder of Wicker Park Group, with whom the Firm has partnered on a global client listening exer...

12-Minute Listen: LNG, or liquefied natural gas, is produced all over the world, but the war in Ukraine has made it even more relevant. On the next installment of Tools of the Trade's "How it Works" series, Singapore partner Nick Kouvaritakis uncovers the inner workings of LNG (01:28). Nick describes its benefits to the environment (01:48) and to transportation (02:00)—and how it came to be a crit...

16-Minute Listen: Much can be learned from Mayer Brown's talented alumni, and former Washington DC counsel Lisa Pino is no exception. Lisa joins Tools of the Trade as the second alumni guest, delivering valuable tips from the front lines of public- and private-sector work. Lisa focused on immigration law in our Employment & Benefits practice from 2017–2019. Before that she served as a presidential...

What is "the Cloud," really—and where does all our data actually reside? As part of the "How it Works" series of Tools of the Trade, Washington DC partner Emily Naughton gives an insider's look into the windowless warehouses humming with servers and explains how they run (01:31). After years of representing data center owners and operators (07:16), Emily is well-versed in functional aspects such a...

15-Minute Listen: Nearshoring is the idea of relocating production facilities closer to where the products are used. This is a big historical opportunity for Mexico, as outlined by two of our Mexico City lawyers on the next installment of the Tools of the Trade "How it Works" series (02:36). Partner Ariel Ramos and counsel Jorge Escalante speak with co-host Jon Van Gorp about manufacturing sectors...

19-Minute Listen: "We've all got way more things to do than time to do it." Harry Kraemer's words ring true now more than ever as we navigate a post-pandemic way of life and work. Harry joins Jon Van Gorp in another appearance by a special guest author in "Tools of the Trade" to discuss his time management book, Your 168. Drawing on his experience as a former CEO and chairman of Baxter Internation...

In the newest episode of Tools of the Trade, Jon and Sally take on a topic of increasing importance: environmental, social and governance principles, commonly referred to as ESG. Their primary guest, David Carpenter, is one of three co-leaders (with Mark Uhrynuk and James Whitaker) of the firm's new ESG product group. Before diving into the substantive discussion, David provides a glimpse of his a...

Can the same techniques that foster a healthy marriage help build successful teams at work? The answer is a resounding yes, according to Nate and Kaley Klemp, who co-authored their 2021 book, The 80/80 Marriage. In a special episode of "Tools of the Trade," Jon Van Gorp sits down with the Klemps, who outline practical ways to grow in each domain. Since the 1950s, society has shifted the paradigm o...