I know attorney Robert Geller as a fellow member of the American Consumer Bankruptcy College. As you’ll hear, Robert is personable, thoughtful, engaging and intelligent. His main office is located in Tampa, Florida and he practices in the areas of consumer bankruptcy, personal injury, family law and immigration. South Floridians are fortunate to have such an accomplished attorney available to represent them. I enjoyed getting to know Robert’s story on this episode of the podcast and I hope you like it too!
Attorney Andrew Jennings is currently an assistant law professor at Brooklyn Law School. Prior to that, he served as a teaching fellow and lecturer in law at Stanford University School of Law. Andrew’s “side job” is serving as the creator and moderator of the Business Scholarship Podcast, which is how he came to my attention. A number of lawyers that I know have mentioned that this is one of their favorite podcasts. These podcasts contain intellectual and cutting edge legal and business issues. Please listen to his podcasts when you get a chance. I think you’ll enjoy getting to know Andrew’s history on this episode of Next Lawyer Up.
This episode of the Next Lawyer Up podcast features retired bankruptcy judge, the Honorable Keith Lundin. For those of us who practice in the bankruptcy world, Judge Lundin is a universally known name. Judge (Ret) Lundin sat on the bench for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville for 34 years. Before that, he served as the chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee. What I found interesting, and did not realize, is that Henry (Hank) Hildebrand became the chapter 13 trustee one day before Judge Lundin took the bench. Judge Lundin and Hank are also renowned for putting on their CLE bankruptcy “road show” several times each year, which is a “must-attend” continuing legal education for bankruptcy practitioners. Judge Lundin has authored and co-authored several books and keeps his hands involved in bankruptcy on a daily basis as reflected by his website, LundinonChapter13.com. Judge Lundin also serves as the Managing Editor of the Norton Bankruptcy Law Adviser (Thomson Reuters). I enjoyed talking to Judge Lundin and getting to know his career path on this episode of the podcast.
Student loan debt in our country is at an alarming and disturbing level. Of the approximately 1.6 trillion dollars of student loan debt, approximately 6% of the total is 90 days past due or in default with the average student loan debt at approximately $37,000 per borrower. For many consumers in our country, this feels like an albatross that will never go away in their lifetime. On top of that, if someone is behind on student loan debt, there is the overwhelming worry if the debt is in some various stage of collections. Fortunately, there is a great resource for people in trouble or concerned with their student loans. This episode of the Next Lawyer Up podcast features attorney Joshua Cohen. Josh is The Student Loan Lawyer. If you have trouble, concerns or questions regarding your student loans, go to Josh’s website and see how he can help and assist you. You’ll find Josh engaging on this podcast and you’ll hear his wealth of knowledge regarding everything student loan related. I enjoyed catching up with Josh on this podcast and I think you’ll enjoy hearing about his life and his exclusive work in the area of student loans.
This episode of the Next Lawyer Up podcast features Bart Stichman. There has been a lot of discussion in our country over the last couple of decades about how we, as a nation, need to do more for our veterans. To that end, I can’t imagine that there are many individuals who have done more for veterans, whether they know it or not, than attorney Bart Stichman. Even with high-flying degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, New York University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center, Bart has kept a singular focus on doing public interest law for his life’s work. Beyond that, he has focused his entire forty plus year legal career devoted to helping veterans get their benefits from the VA. Bart is the co-founder and current executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP). Bart’s litigation efforts through NVLSP have resulted in payment of more than six billion dollars in disability and healthcare benefits to hundreds of thousands of disabled veterans and their families. Additionally, Bart helped organize and currently serves as a trainer for the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, which has recruited and trained more than 2,000 volunteer attorneys over the last 25 years to represent those who have appealed to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims without a representative. Bart is also a co-author of The Veterans Benefits Manual, a 2200 hundred page treatise published by Lexis. This masterwork is a must-have for any attorney practicing in the area of veteran’s law. I enjoyed getting to know Bart on this podcast and I think you will too.
Penny Hays Cauley is the founder and principal of the Hays Cauley, P.C. law firm located in Florence, South Carolina. Penny first formed her law firm years ago in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and subsequently moved to South Carolina when her husband took over as pastor of a church in South Carolina. That, as you’ll hear, unfortunately required Penny to take another bar exam several years removed from law school! Penny is originally from Florida but a fortuitous scholarship brought her to Alabama. Piano performance and business degrees then started her on a career to become a consumer trial lawyer. Penny is an exceptional lawyer and one of the top consumer advocates in the country. I don’t make that statement lightly. I have worked with her on many consumer cases over the years, fifteen or so as she reminds me, and I have seen first hand her compassion, knowledge and desire to help her clients with a legal dexterity that few lawyers possess. It was good to catch up with Penny on this podcast and I think you’ll enjoy hearing her story.
For this 100th episode of the Next Lawyer Up podcast, I was fortunate to have attorney Ben Meiselas from Los Angeles join me. What I discovered on this podcast is that Ben has done a lot of notable work in our country in a very short period of time, as he is only in his mid-thirties! Ben is a law partner with famed attorney Mark Geragos of the Geragos and Geragos law firm where he heads up the firm’s civil law practice. Among his notable clients and cases, Ben has represented quarterback Colin Kaepernick and also serves as lead counsel in the Fyre Festival class action case. As if his legal work wasn’t enough to keep him busy, you may have heard of Ben’s “part time job” as founder of the Meidas Touch PAC, which he formed with his brothers at the start of the pandemic. Ben, as you’ll hear, is energetic, humble and gracious and he was also awarded the 2019 Variety Impact Lawyer of the Year award. I think you’ll enjoy hearing his story on this 100th episode of the Next Lawyer Up podcast.
Coby Boswell is one of the founding partners of the NxStep Family Law firm located in Huntsville, Alabama. With a bachelors and masters degree in economics, Coby and his firm diversified awhile back and now run a criminal defense practice as well. Coby comes from a long line of lawyers covering at least 100 years of practicing law in Alabama. I learned on this podcast that Coby started his career out of college as a real estate agent and then diverted to law school when the great recession occurred in our country. Coby is very active performing pro bono legal work in our community and is an avid participant with the Madison County Volunteer Lawyers Program where he also serves as a board member of the organization. It was good to get to know him better on this podcast.
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.