Louis Goodman - 100th Episode Special

Love Thy Lawyer - 100th Episode Special

Transcript

Louis Goodman 00:09 

This is the Love Thy Lawyer podcast. I'm Louis Goodman, the host of the show. Today, we're going to do something a little different because this is the 100th episode of the Love Thy Lawyer podcast. And I thought we would do something to mark the occasion. First of all, I want to thank you who are listening, the audience, for doing just that, listening. The show would be nowhere if I didn't have some people who listened to it. So thank you so much. And if there is anything, that you have some feedback or some comment for me about the show, about what you'd like to hear, about what you don't like hearing, about your experience with it, call me, email me. Let's talk about it. I want to make the show better and I can only do it if you help me out. So please, if there's any comment or suggestion or question you have, call me, email me. I'd really, really like to hear from you. 

Louis Goodman 01:16 

I want to thank the guests who've been on the show and I want to thank Bryan Matheson, Joel Katz and Tracy Harvey, who've been so helpful in making the show work and putting it together. If you like an episode, share it with a friend. Why? Well, 70% of podcast listeners listen to podcasts because they're referred by a friend. Not just my podcast, all podcasts. So if you have a podcast that you like, specifically including, but not limited to this one, refer a friend. 

Louis Goodman 01:52 

I started because I like podcasts and during the beginning of COVID, I thought I really would have nothing else to do. Well, COVID's still here, so I'm continuing doing it, but my practice has never been busier. So I'm busy with my practice and I'm busy doing the podcast. Why? Well, I really liked doing it. I like talking to people, I like editing the raw material and forming it into a podcast. The process takes about six hours to actually get 20 to 25 minutes of podcast out there. And of course, playing with the equipment and the technology is fun. I use a Shure SM7B microphone with a cloudlifter, usually plugged into a RØDECaster Pro and my Mac laptop.

Louis Goodman 02:47 

Many of my interviews are done by simple telephone hookup, which the RØDECaster is very good at. And then I also use some software and the one I've been using lately is something called Riverside.FM, which gives a really good clean audio track from both sides and then I'm able to put those together and make it into the initial raw audio file that I can then edit. That goes into something that's called Descript, which creates a rough transcript by using some sort of artificial intelligence way beyond my understanding, but it creates a rough transcript. And then I'm able to do an initial rough edit on the transcript. I put that into GarageBand, which comes on the Mac and is an audio editor and then I edit it further in order to clean up the sound and make the interview shorter and easier to listen to. 

Lois Goodman 03:51

The podcast host that I use is a company called Buzzsprout, which I really like. They have a great interface. So if anybody's thinking about putting together a podcast and starting one, I like that platform. There are others out there that are very good as well, but if you are interested in starting a podcast, let me know, call me. I'd be more than happy to talk about it. I do some promotion of the podcast. I do it on Facebook and LinkedIn and I post it on the Alameda County Defender's email. I also have been using a new email program called ActiveCampaign. I'm just starting to learn how it works, but it allows me to send out a bulk email to everyone who's been on the show to keep people up to date. So if you get it, please open it, take a quick look. If you don't want to get it, send me an email and I'll get you off the list. I think if you just hit unsubscribe it will automatically take you off as well. This stuff is just so smart. 

Louis Goodman 04:50 

Take a look at our website, lovethylawyer.com. I have just moved it to Podpage. Now, you don't need to worry about that, but Podpage is just a great way of making a website out of a podcast because it pulls all of the information off the RSS feed that's in Buzzsprout. You don't need to remember this, but if you know something about podcasting, the RSS feed is where it all comes from. And this website, Podpage manages to pull it all in and then put it out there under the Love Thy Lawyer website, and there's photographs, there's transcripts, there's links to each episode on its own page. And if you go to that website, you can send me a voice message right off the website, just by pushing a button, and it'll give you a way to record a voice message for me and then send it to me by email. So give that a try. 

Louis Goodman 05:59 

If you've been a guest on the show, you know, it's kind of fun. Sometimes we go kind of deep, but it's always upbeat and I have really enjoyed the conversations. So if you've been on and you want to recommend someone to be on, call that person and have them give me a call or email me, or go to the website and send me a voice message off the website and I would really like to talk to the people who you think might be good guests. If you listen and you want to be a guest, send me an email or give me a call and we'll see if it's a good fit. Chances are, it would be. 

Louis Goodman 06:37 

I know most of the guests personally and it's great to talk to them. You know, I really like talking to lawyers, lawyers are smart, they're educated. They tend to have a real wide knowledge of things in the world. And so they're fun to talk to, and I've really enjoyed my conversations with the guests. I've also met some people from all over the world who I've talked to on the podcast, and it's really amazing. You know, before the whole COVID thing it was inconceivable to me that I would be able to talk to people from all over the world, all over the country easily, quickly, seamlessly. And yet now, It seems like the most natural thing in the world. 

Louis Goodman 07:26 

I've talked to people in Vietnam, I've talked to people in England, Canada, all over the United States and some of them are really amazing people and I'm really grateful to have been able to meet them and I think that with this podcast I will continue to do so. I never would have thought that I could have just a routine conversation with someone who's halfway around the world over a video link before getting into this. 

Louis Goodman 07:52 

And that brings me to the subject of podcasters and entrepreneurs. And most podcasters are some sort of entrepreneur and it is amazing how upbeat and positive people in this world are. You know, when you go to law school, all of a sudden you start meeting a lot of lawyers. I mean, my dad was a lawyer, but before I went to law school I didn't really know a lot of lawyers. And then once I got into law school, it seemed like everybody I knew was a lawyer. And I suspect that if you're a lawyer, you've had a similar experience.

Louis Goodman 08:29  

Well, when you start a podcast, all of a sudden you start meeting a lot of podcasters and entrepreneurial podcasters. And it is just amazing how upbeat these people are, how excited about doing their podcast, how excited about running their business, starting their business and the ideas that they have for running businesses of all sorts, including law practices. It's just amazing the ideas that they have and how they've learned to work the tools, the high tech tools that are so available to all of us that I really had no idea were really out there. 

Louis Goodman 09:08 

One of the things that I've enjoyed doing, and it's been really an honor to do it, is to be the podcast voice of the Alameda County Bar Association. Here's how that started, at least this is my understanding of it that the board, the Alameda County Bar Association board was meeting and they said, you know, we ought to have a podcast where we talk to our members and somebody piped up and said, "Well, you know, Lou Goodman is already doing something like that. Maybe he'd be willing to do it for us." And of course, when they asked, I said, yes, I was happy to do that. So once a month, I talk on Zoom to a judge or an Alameda County Bar Association member. That meeting is advertised ahead of time to the members of the Alameda County Bar Association. If you are a member and want to get on a call, check out the email that you get, sign up for it, and you'll get a Zoom entry that morning and they're usually done at noon on the second Tuesday of the month. And you can sign into the call and you can kind of see how the podcast is made and you can also ask a question to the guest or do a comment to the guest so you can be part of the call and also part of the podcast. And we've had a number of judges and a number of attorneys who have participated in the Alameda County Bar Association, part of the call.  We've had Judge Scott Jackson, Judge Tara Flanagan, Judge Carol Brosnahan. Coming up we have Judge Delbert Gee and Judge Stuart Hing. It's been fun and I've enjoyed talking to those judges as well as some other individuals who are members of the Bar. You know, again, let me know who you want to hear. Let the Bar Association know who you want to hear. It's really your podcast and your Bar Association, and I'll facilitate the conversation. 

Louis Goodman 11:19 

We've also had a number of politicians. We've had Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, we've had Congressman Eric Swalwell. We've had a number of people who have been running for office, including all of the district attorney candidates and some judicial candidates. So I'm looking forward to talking to some people who are running for office and oftentimes they are local lawyers in addition to being politicians. And I enjoy talking to them as well. By the way, let me just put in a plug here for episode 30, which was me talking with David Lim on the subject of running for judge. It's an interesting conversation and I think if you haven't listened to it, you'll enjoy it. 

Louis Goodman 12:10  

You know, I've had a few observations about lawyers since I've been doing this. It's interesting. Most lawyers, not all, but most of them knew very early on in their lives that they were going to be a lawyer. You know, they say, well, my mother told me when I was eight years old I was going to be a lawyer or I joined the debate team in junior high and that experience made me want to be a lawyer. Or my algebra teacher said, "You know, the way you understand algebra and the way you argue about things makes me think that you'd be better off being a lawyer than being a mathematician." But somehow or other people who are lawyers tend to know it early on. Not always, but very often, it seems. 

Louis Goodman 13:04 

Another thing that I found very interesting is that money doesn't really play into it very much in people making a decision to be a lawyer or going to law school. Almost everyone I've talked to has said that they did it because they were really drawn to the profession, they were drawn to the notion of helping people or promoting certain ideas. And I think that's probably a very good thing because I don't know anybody practicing law, and certainly I can't think of anyone I've talked to on this podcast, practicing law, who has said that money has really been the big compensation for them in practicing. I think most of us have, you know, kind of made enough money to live an okay lifestyle. But even the lawyers who've really made a lot of money, like for example, people who’ve really been successful as plaintiffs' attorneys in the personal injury world. Yes, they've gotten big judgments, but boy, they invested a lot of money before they got it and then they take the money that they've made in those big judgments and they invest it into new cases. And really they're motivated by helping individuals go up against big corporations and big insurance companies. And yes, they've made some money, but I don't think it's the motivating factor. 

Louis Goodman 14:37 

And it's interesting when I ask people, well, what's your advice to someone who's interested in going to law school? And almost invariably people say, well, you have to make sure that you're really interested in doing it. It's not a decision that should be taken lightly because very frankly, and I think this is my experience, I think it's the experience of most of us, practicing law is hard. You know, sometimes we can make it look easy, but it's hard. I think all the professions are hard. I think it's hard if you're a doctor, if you're an architect, if you're an engineer, it's hard. It's hard to go through the schooling, it's hard to learn the profession and there are obstacles that we run up against all the time. We have to deal with clients, we have to deal with opposing counsel. We have to deal with judges, we have to deal with the state Bar. Not only are we practicing law, but we're also in the business of running a business! And that's hard too. So I think that it is good advice to say, hey, if you want to be a lawyer, go for it, but understand what you're getting into. 

Louis Goodman 15:58 

Now, having said that, another observation that I've made in talking to people for this podcast is there are so many ways to practice. Everybody has their own personality and every personality has something that may very well work for them in practicing law. Now, for example, I talked to Arash Homampour in episode 87. He absolutely loves being in court, he loves being ready for battle. He's one of these big time personal injury lawyers who's gotten some huge judgements and he just loves being in court. Contrast that with, for example, Sara Diamond, episode 80. She figured out how to be a lawyer in order to have a career and a job. She tells me that she has no interest whatsoever in confrontation, and she does estate planning. Very different people, very different views, both California lawyers. 

Louis Goodman 17:02 

My view is somewhere in-between. When I first started practicing, I really wanted to be in court, I loved being in court, I loved going to trial. As a deputy district attorney, I really thought I was a very good trial lawyer and then when I got on the defense side I realized that having the judge, the law and the facts on your side sometimes helps. That was my passion, was to be in court and to argue cases in front of juries. Now, I think I'm certainly still willing to do that, but I've recognized that oftentimes negotiating, working something out, trying to get to some sort of a win-win is often better, especially for a client charged with a criminal offense. The point being there's every kind of way to practice law. There's a way of practicing law that fits virtually any personality. That's a takeaway that I've gotten from these interviews.

Louis Goodman 18:07 

Another thing that I've enjoyed is the notion of creating an archive of lawyers. You know, no one's going to live forever. Someday, it may be interesting to look back on some of these interviews and see what people had to say. Bear with me, let's create an archive. I think it's only fair that I answer some of my own questions. I think what I'm going to do is have another podcast and that's what I'm going to answer, some of the questions that I ask other people.

Louis Goodman 18:47 

I want to thank you so much for listening to the Love Thy Lawyer podcast. I hope you've enjoyed this 100th episode, which is something different. And let me know if you'd like to hear from me about the podcast, about what I'm thinking and about having one of these solo discussions. That's it for today's episode of Love Thy Lawyer. Thank you so much for listening.

Louis Goodman 19:29 

Hey, I always try to throw out a little kicker at the end, so let me know what you think of the kicker at the end and send me that email.