Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law
After over three decades in the legal-trenches, Mike Bassett has learned to appreciate two things: good conversation & good coffee.
Legal Grounds is an ongoing series of interviews with the people who are shaping our world - legal or otherwise. Witty, irreverent, & always thoughtful, these brief discussions fall somewhere between “Night Court” & Hopper’s “Nighthawks At The Diner”.
With that in mind, we promise your coffee will still be warm when the podcast is done.
(Legal Grounds was written, recorded, and produced by Dust Devil Press)
Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law
Legal Grounds | Emily Stedman on Navigating the Billable-Hour, Developing the Next Generation, and Self-Worth Outside of the Law
For as ever present as it is, the Billable-Hour is still one of those topics on the Defense side of the Bar that is deemed somewhat taboo.
Some of this, I believe, comes from a natural - though not at all helpful - competitive mentality. After all, the number of hours we bill is frequently worn as a ‘Badge of Honor’, and so why would we want to “share our secrets”?
But as my conversation today hopefully highlights, there is often a deeper set of reasons many Attorneys, myself included, come to loathe the billable-hour; the most treacherous of which is tying our INNER worth to our OUTER performance.
This week I’m joined by Emily Logan Stedman, commercial-litigation Partner at Husch Blackwell.
Most recently she is the creator and host of The Grace Period Podcast which aims to have honest conversations about striking a better balance, developing coping strategies, and destigmatizing mental health for stakeholders across the Legal Profession.
Emily writes frequently and openly about her struggles and strategies when it comes to all-consuming billable-hour.
Our conversation this week aims to leave listeners with new tools to tackle the worst part of being a Defense attorney, while also reminding them that they’re not alone.
Enjoy the show.