As I learned on this podcast, attorney Jay Jump has migrated from New Jersey to Arizona and now, finally, to the state of Washington. A graduate of the University of Arizona and Gonzaga University School of Law, Jay has been a long time consumer bankruptcy lawyer. Smartly, however, Jay saw and seized a business opportunity when the bankruptcy law underwent a seismic change in 2005. Jay and his wife, Kathryn, started Certificate of Service to help bankruptcy lawyers deal with the tedious and often overwhelming task of notice. The Certificate of Service operation helps lawyers nationwide deal with service to include class action lawyers where service and notice is paramount to a case. Jay is very well-known throughout the country among consumer bankruptcy attorneys and class action lawyers and he speaks regularly at various legal conferences. He is one of those people that always seems to be in good spirits and he also is very willing to share his thoughts and insight on various aspects of the law and legal practice. I enjoyed catching up with Jay on this podcast.
Jason Lazarus clearly has an entrepreneurial spirit and that is evident from his career. As you’ll hear on the podcast, this goes back to when he was 10 years old and his parents moved him from his home in Marlboro, New Jersey to Orlando, Florida to start their own business. Following suit, Jason is the founder and CEO of Synergy Settlement Services and he is also the managing partner and founder of Special Needs Law Firm which focuses on special needs settlement planning and lien litigation. If that is not enough to keep him busy, Jason recently wrote and published a book called “The Art of Settlement” that is now available. A product of the Florida school system, Jason received his undergraduate degree from the University of Central Florida, his JD law degree from Florida State University College of Law and he also took some time out to get a LLM Master of Laws degree in elder law from Stetson University College of Law. Jason has had an interesting career path that he has carved out and it was good to get to know him on this podcast.
It is not an overstatement to say that, if there is any issue of significant consequence to a debtor in a consumer bankruptcy case anywhere in the country, chances are very good that attorney Tara Twomey is involved in it. Tara is currently the executive director of the National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center, which is an organization that preserves the rights of consumer bankruptcy debtors. She was previously the amicus director for the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. Tara is also Of Counsel to the National Consumer Law Center. Many bankruptcy attorneys throughout our nation eagerly seek out Tara’s assistance and counsel for cases of consequence, whether in local bankruptcy courts or through the appellate process including various Circuit Courts of Appeal throughout our country. Consumers nationwide, whether they know it or not, owe a big debt of gratitude to Tara for her work over the years. It was good to get to know Tara’s story on this podcast.
Attorney Rick Hall is a product of the Muscle Shoals/Florence Alabama area. Rick excelled in school, first at Muscle Shoals High School before attending and graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of North Alabama. From there, Rick attended law school at Vanderbilt University Law School where he graduated in the top 10% of his class. Following a decade or so of practice in big law firms, Rick returned home to the Shoals where he started a litigation practice with two friends who also started their legal careers in big law firms. Rick, Mike Tanner and Douglas Hargett make up the firm of Hall/Tanner/Hargett/PC and the firm’s focus is on civil litigation of all different types. On this podcast, I discuss with Rick his career path and, to me, the surprising fact that he did not embark on a musical career, given the fact that his father, Rick Hall, was an American record producer, songwriter, and musician who became known as the owner of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Credited with being the “father of Muscle Shoals Music,” Rick was influential in recording many famous musicians, including Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Duane Allman, Etta James, Wilson Pickett, the Osmond family, Paul Anka and Tom Jones, just to name a few. Attorney Rick Hall has an interesting back story growing up in this environment and charting his own divergent, successful and highly respected career path as an attorney. It was good to get to know him on this podcast.
Alexa Stabler came to my attention while reading the Sigma Chi Magazine awhile back. If you are or were a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity, then you know that being the International Sweetheart of Sigma Chi is a very big honor. In fact, the role of a Sigma Chi Sweetheart was first memorialized in a song going back to 1911! Alexa served in that role after graduating with honors from the University of Alabama. Alexa then served her two-year term from 2009 to 2011 while in law school at the University of Alabama where she also graduated with honors. The University of Alabama was a natural choice for Alexa, given that her father, Kenny “Snake” Stabler, played quarterback for the Crimson Tide under legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant before becoming a Super Bowl champion and NFL Hall of Fame quarterback for the Oakland Raiders. Alexa currently practices law in the areas of trademarks and business law with the intellectual property law firm of Adams IP in Mobile, Alabama. Alexa has also founded and manages Stabler Sports agency and she is a NFL registered agent. This is makes sense for Alexa since she grew up and lived in and around football for her entire life. It was good to get to know her on this podcast and I think you will enjoy hearing her story.
Seth Price is the co-founder and managing partner of the Washington, D.C. law firm, Price Benowitz LLP. This firm has grown over the years to approximately forty lawyers and, in addition to their D.C. location, they also have offices in Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina. While Price Benowitz LLP started by working on personal injury cases, their team of lawyers is also able to help with criminal charges, estate planning, whistleblower cases, immigration concerns, white-collar defense, and all family affairs. A product of New York City, Seth attended the University of Pennsylvania for his undergraduate education and he then received his law degree from the George Washington University School of Law. In his “free time,” Seth founded and runs BluShark Digital LLC, a digital marketing firm that helps businesses in the legal and medical industries build up their online presence through website design, content creation, digital ads, and link building. Highly respected in the legal community, Seth has been named as a Washington, D.C. SuperLawyer for the past several years and he is also AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Seth, as you’ll hear, has a lot of energy and passion for the work that he does and he needs it for the busy life that he leads!
Attorney Barton Warren is an exceptional trial lawyer and he is highly respected for his legal skills throughout the state of Alabama. Along with his long-time law partner, Derek Simpson, they make up the very formidable plaintiff’s personal injury law firm of Warren and Simpson, P.C. Barton also does a lot work with the Huntsville-Madison County Bar Association, the Alabama State Bar and the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association. Barton has been selected as an “Alabama Super Lawyer” for several years, along with having an AV Rating from Martindale Hubbell. He was also inducted into the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Attorneys in 2011. Barton is skilled at his craft but, as you’ll hear, this product of the Shoals remains humble and good natured. If only he had kept up with the guitar and put in the same effort there as he does with the practice of law, who knows, he might have been a member of the Drive By Truckers! It was good to catch up with Barton on this podcast.
Attorney Rafi Stern has packed in a lot of work and experience in the relatively short time since his law school graduation. A product of New York City, Rafi has found his passion in the form of non-profit legal work. He is currently a legal fellow with the Lawyers Alliance for New York. Ivy league educated with his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his law degree from Cornell Law School, Rafi worked for the large law firm of Paul Weiss and then as a law clerk for the Honorable Margaret Cangilos-Ruiz in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York before moving on to do his non-profit work. I found Rafi to be very engaging with an up-tempo personality and I think you will enjoy hearing his story on this episode.
Tom Malicki is a long-time senior partner at Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP in Omaha, Nebraska. He practices in the areas of corporate law, business law, energy law and estate planning. This podcast, however, is really a trip down memory lane for me as I first met Tom when he pitched against me as a 6th grader. We both attended Wheeling High School and, where a lot of our friends played one or two sports, Tom played three; baseball, basketball and football. Tom played all three of these sports very well, in addition to being an excellent student. When I look back at that time, I don’t know how he was able to do it all. A mutual friend (shout out to Paul “Hypo” Digoia!) told me that Tom was selected to the Wheeling High School Athletics Hall of Fame a couple of years back. Hypo and a bunch of guys from that era went and gave Tom a proper reception. In any event, the last memory I have of Tom is our senior year football season and the ups and downs that came during the year, high school football being what it is. After graduation from Wheeling, Tom left for Omaha, Nebraska and played baseball for Creighton University while getting an accounting degree. He then stuck around at Creighton and got a joint JD/MBA degree from Creighton and stayed in Omaha after that. As I think about Tom from our youth, he was the type of guy that excelled at whatever he did, yet always in a humble manner, and it was great to catch up with him after all of these years.
J.W. (Terry) Freiberg is a social psychologist with a PhD from UCLA who, after serving as a professor at Boston University for a decade or so, decided to take a sabbatical of sorts to attend Harvard Law School. He then worked as an attorney for several years in Boston and he is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar. Terry is a prolific author who studies chronic loneliness through the lens of a social psychologist. If you get a chance, pick up his most recent book, “Surrounded by Others and Yet so Alone: A Lawyer’s Case Stories of Love, Loneliness and Litigation.” It is a fascinating and easy to read book on this pervasive topic that, unfortunately, affects a large portion of our population. You can also see Terry’s other books and publications at this website, www.thelonelinessbooks.com I think you will enjoy hearing his story.