Today, my guest is Guy Spier, a Zurich-based investor and author of a book entitled The Education of a Value Investor. Guy manages the Aquamarine Fund, an investment partnership inspired by, and styled after Warren Buffett’s 1950s investment partnerships. In June 2007, Guy paid US$650,100 with Mohnish Pabrai for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett. He recently sat down and talked with me about what it was like to write his first book.
Today, my guest is Jia Jiang, a TED speaker and Founder of Rejection Therapy, a website that provides inspiration, knowledge and products for people to overcome their fear of rejection. Several years after Jiang began his career in the corporate world, he stepped into the unknown world of entrepreneurship and discovered everyone’s biggest fear: rejection. To conquer the fear of rejection, Jiang embarked on a personal quest and started a blog, 100 Days of Rejection Therapy where his journey revealed a world […]
Today, my guest is Steven Rodgers, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Intel Corporation, whose hobby is coffee roasting. Steve got into this hobby when his college roommate started roasting his own beans and he realized what a difference it made. I never realized that making coffee involves everything from selecting the bean, how the bean is roasted (over 200 variables), how it’s brewed and even what kind of water is used! Had a blast talking for 30 minutes with […]
Today, my guest is Frank Wu, Chancellor and Dean of UC Hastings Law School, who has a passion for “Honda Hawks,” a very specific type of motorcycle that was only made by Honda from 1988-1992. Although he recognizes the danger of motorcycle riding, he does not actually consider himself a risk taker by nature, but he does admit that riding a motorcycle is no more of a risk-taking venture than trying to be a dean of a national law school. […]
Today, my guest is Bryan Garner, Founder & President of LawProse, Inc. and Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University School of Law, who has personally interviewed 9 Supreme Court Justices on writing and oral advocacy: Justices Elena Kagan, John Roberts, John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito. In addition, Professor Garner is the co-author of 2 books with the late Justice Scalia: Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges and Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal […]
Today, my guest is Professor Richard Susskind OBE, an author, speaker, and independent adviser to major professional firms and to national governments. He has written and edited numerous books, including Expert Systems in Law (OUP, 1987), The Future of Law (OUP, 1996), Transforming the Law (OUP, 2000), The Susskind Interviews: Legal Experts in Changing Times (Sweet & Maxwell, 2005), The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services (OUP, 2008), Tomorrow’s Lawyers (2013), and has written around 150 columns for The […]
Today, my guest is Stanford Law School Professor Mark Lemley (who is also a Partner at Durie Tangri and Founder of Lex Machina (aquired by Lexis Nexis)) who talks about playing video games. As a full-time professor, law firm partner and a founder of a startup, one would think Mark wouldn’t have time for something like video games. But his hobby is a throwback to his childhood days of playing Dungeons & Dragons and an activity that allows him to completely forget about work — something we […]
Today my guest is Stanford Law School Professor Paul Goldstein, a globally recognized expert on intellectual property law and author of an influential four-volume Goldstein on Copyright (Aspen Publishers) treatise on U.S. copyright law, as well as leading casebooks on intellectual property and international intellectual property. In addition, he is the author of several novels including Secret Justice (2016); the bestsellers Errors and Omissions (2006), A Patent Lie (2008), Havana Requiem (2012), which received the 2013 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction; and […]
Today, my guest is Lawrence Levy, a Harvard Law School graduate and former partner at Wilson Sonsini, who is the author of To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History. In 1994, Lawrence received a personal call out of the blue from Steve Jobs to see if he had any interest in joining Pixar, which led to a 12 year working relationship with Steve Jobs, first serving as Pixar’s Chief Financial Officer, a member of […]
Today, my guest is Nathan Sawaya who is a Lego Brick Artist. What started as a side hobby after working as a lawyer has now blossomed into a full time profession with millions of bricks. Even though Nathan has played with lego bricks as a child – like many of us – what he finds most fascinating is to transform simple plain square lego pieces into curved life size humans and other objects. Nathan’s most recent book is entitled The Art of the […]
Today, my guest is Greg “Fossilman” Raymer*, a professional poker player and former patent attorney. Nicknamed “Fossilman” for his unusual glasses, Greg was originally a scientist who played blackjack in graduate school as a way to make some extra income. That soon turned into poker and he went on to win the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2004 (see his winning hand below). Now he splits his time with his 2 great loves: teaching poker and playing poker from his […]
Today, my guest is Yul Kwon*, Head of Privacy Program at Facebook. Yul is most well known for being the winner of the CBS TV show Survivor but he has a number of incredible achievements: degrees from Stanford, Yale Law School, legislative assistant to Senator Lieberman, Second Circuit Law Clerk, McKinsey, Google, FCC, FBI, CNN — and all before the age of 40. What’s even more incredible is that Yul self-classifies himself as an introvert — perhaps even a bit of […]
Today, my guest is Nancy Hogshead-Makar, an Olympic swimmer who won 3 Gold medals and one Silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics. After retiring from competitive swimming, she obtained a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and later became a tenured professor at Florida Coastal School of Law, where she taught torts and sports law courses until 2013. After spending over 30 years with the Women’s Sports Foundation (starting as an intern in 1984), she is now the Founder and […]
Today, my guest is Catalina Girald, who is the Founder, CEO, and Creative Director of Naja. Although she started her career as an M&A attorney at Skadden Arps after earning her JD from Boston College, she quit her job after getting accepted into Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. After graduating with her MBA, Catalina started Naja with the goal of empowering women through lingerie — from the wearer to the garment worker. She is also the founder of Underwear for Hope, a […]
Today, my guest is Rodney Gilmore, a college football analyst for ESPN and practicing lawyer at the law firm of Doty Barlow Britt & Thieman LLP. He is a graduate of Stanford University, where he played football for three years under legendary Coach Bill Walsh, and received his JD from the University of California, Berkeley. While at Stanford, he was involved in The Play (see video below), a legendary last-second kickoff return by the University of California (“Cal”) Golden Bears to defeat Stanford in […]
Today my guest is Strauss Zelnick*, Founder of Zelnick Media Capital and Chairman & CEO of Take-Two Interactive, which owns and has published many notable games, including its most famous series Grand Theft Auto, Civilization, and the NBA 2K game series. Although Mr. Zelnick has a JD from Harvard Law School, he never practiced as a lawyer and instead went straight into the media and entertainment business, holding executive positions at BMG Entertainment, Crystal Dynamics and 20th Century Fox. A lifelong […]
Today, my guest is Salle Yoo, General Counsel at Uber, where she manages a team of over 200 lawyers to ensure the global presence and long term growth of Uber. Prior to joining Uber in 2012, Salle was a partner at the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine where she represented energy, telecommunications and technology firms. Salle serves on the Museum Council for the Asian Art Museum and was named one of San Francisco Business Times‘ Most Influential Women in […]
Today, my guest is Sandy Kurtzig, who has been the founder, co-founder and investor in many successful software companies. She founded her first company, the ASK Group and grew the company into one of the ten largest software companies in the world and was the first woman CEO to take a technology company public. She is the author of the best-selling autobiography, CEO: Building a $400 Million Company from the Ground Up and her latest company, Kenandy, is transforming the world of enterprise software […]
Today, my guest is Chef Ming Tsai, a world-renowned chef, owner of the famous Blue Ginger restaurant and host of the television show Simply Ming. Despite his incredible success and international celebrity, what Ming finds most rewarding — after his family — is cooking for Family Reach, a national charity dedicated to providing direct financial support to families fighting cancer, where my daughter Maya has volunteered (see picture below). As part of his role, Ming recently hosted a Cooking Live event on […]
Today, my guest is Professor Stephen L. Carter, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale, where he has taught for almost thirty years. A graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School, where he was a Notes Editor of the Yale Law Journal, he then served as a law clerk for Judge Spottswood W. Robinson III on the DC Circuit, and then to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the US Supreme Court. Professor Carter was one of my favorite authors even […]
Today, my guest is Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, the widow of the late Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, for which she wrote the epilogue. At the age of thirty-six, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and he wrote a deeply profound book on death and his illness as he went from doctor to patient and a new father to a baby girl, all the while confronting his own mortality. I sat […]
Today, my guest is William Green*, author of The Great Minds of Investing where he interviews 33 of the greatest investors, including Irving Kahn, Marty Whitman, Charles Brandes, Thomas Gayner, Bruce Greenwald, Paul Tudor Jones, Bill Miller, Arnold Van Den Berg, Thomas Russo, Francisco García Paramés, Pat Dorsey, Wallace Weitz, Isabel Levy, Warren Buffett, Mohnish Pabrai, John Spears, David Winters, Howard Marks, Donald Yacktman, Georg von Wyss, François-Marie Wojcik, Vincent Strauss, Bill Nygren, Mario Gabelli, Klaus Kaldemorgen, Thomas Braun, Jean-Marie Eveillard, Joel Greenblatt, Bill Ackman, Mason Hawkins, Frank Lingohr, Francis Chou and Charlie Munger. William Green wrote 22 of the profiles and edited 11 of them. After interviewing many of these extraordinary investors in […]
Today, my guest is Len Elmore, an All-American basketball player from 1971 to 1974 at the University of Maryland, who was a first round draft pick in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Over his ten-year career, he played for the Indiana Pacers, Kansas City Kings (presently Sacramento Kings), Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks. After retiring from professional basketball, Elmore received a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1987 and began his law career […]
Today, my guest is Professor Joseph A. Grundfest, the W. A. Franke Professor of Law and Business at Stanford Law School and Senior Faculty, Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1990, Professor Grundfest was a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and served on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors as counsel and senior economist for legal and regulatory matters. Professor Grundfest is also a co-founder and director […]
Today, my guest is Anja Manuel*, author of “This Brave New World” and Co-Founder and Partner along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, of Rice Hadley Gates LLC, which assists companies to expand their businesses and meet regulatory challenges in international markets. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Stanford University, she also served as Special Assistant to Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns at the U.S. Dept. of […]
Today, my guest is Rodney Perkins, M.D., an internationally known otologic surgeon and serial entrepreneur who has successfully launched numerous medical device and healthcare technology companies including ReSound Corp, Laserscope (acquired by American Medical Systems), Collagen Corp (acquired by Inamed), Sound ID, Novacept (acquired by Cytyc), SurgRx (acquired by Ethicon), DFin (acquired by Merit Medical), Pulmonx, Cohesion (acquired by Angiotech) and his most recent companies, Ear Lens and ProCept. Dr. Perkins founded the California Ear Institute and is a Clinical Professor of Surgery […]
Today, my guest is Jack Brigham*, who was Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and General Counsel at Hewlett Packard from 1975-2000. A graduate of the University of Utah law school, Jack began in the accounting department at HP and after becoming General Counsel in 1975, he worked closely with Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (who are pictured to the left of Jack in photo below). In the early 1980s, Jack was responsible for overseeing Corporate Offices Personnel, Government Affairs, […]
Today, my guest is Dr. Thomas J. Fogarty, an internationally recognized cardiovascular surgeon, inventor, entrepreneur and vintner. He has dedicated his entire career to improving patient care and has acquired 165 medical patents for his revolutionary work, including the “industry standard” Fogarty balloon catheter and is widely considered one of pioneers of minimally-invasive surgery. Dr. Fogarty has been recognized by countless organizations for his contributions to medical science, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, an honor granted by the […]
Today, my guest is Henry Bushkin, who was Johnny Carson’s lawyer, business manager, advisor, confidante and author of the book Johnny Carson. I sat down with Henry in his apartment on the Upper East Side to talk about what it was like to work for the “King of Late Night” for 18 years and to write a book about it 25 years later. It took him over 3 years just to “get the voice right” in the book but despite having […]
Today, my guest is Kelly Perdew, entrepreneur, investor, advisor, author and winner of The Apprentice 2. A graduate of West Point and former Army Ranger, Kelly decided to start a company after law school and eventually won Season 2 of the television reality show “The Apprentice.” Even though he now works almost exclusively with startups as an investor and entrepreneur, he says not a day goes by where he doesn’t get a chance to use his law degree. Kelly Perdew and […]
Today, my guest is Dr. Philippa “Pippa” Malmgren, a politics and policy advisor, who is the author of Signals: the breakdown of the social contract and the rise of geopolitics. Raised by a father who served in four presidential administrations (Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford), Pippa learned early in her career that the only way to influence public policy is to be able to explain things in plain, everyday language. Partially inspired by Peter Lynch‘s famous book on choosing stocks One up […]
Today, with the help of my 12 year old daughter Emma, we interview Drew Shoals*, the drummer for the Grammy Award winning band, Train. Drew had previously played with the lead singer of Train, Pat Monahan, prior to going to law school. Despite having a successful legal career at Shearman & Sterling, when he got the call to join the band, he couldn’t say no! *with special thanks to Michael Dorf Listen to an interview I did with @HsuUntied where I talk […]
Today, my guest is Dr. Richard Susskind, an author, speaker and thought leader in the legal profession. He has written 4 books about the practice of law, including The Future of Law, Transforming the Law, The End of Lawyers? and most recently Tomorrow’s Lawyers. He is as good a speaker as he is a profound thinker and it was a privilege to have him join me for this interview from his home in Radlett, England. Here is a recorded interview about […]
Today, my guest is David Lat, a Yale Law School alum, former Ninth Circuit clerk, Wachtell Associate and Founder and Managing Editor of “Above the Law,” a widely read and award-winning website covering the legal profession. When I spoke with David late last year, he had just published his first novel, Supreme Ambitions, which allowed him to combine his creative writing skills with his circuit court clerking experience. Although he hasn’t committed to writing a second book, the first one […]
Today, my guest is Bill Henderson, Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. In 2009, Professor introduced a a new first-year course in 2009 called The Legal Profession and since then, his scholarship has focused on empirical analysis of the legal profession and legal education. His published work includes articles in the North Carolina Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, Texas Law Review, Michigan Law Review, and Stanford Law Review. He is also a frequent commentator, author, […]
Today, my guest is Roberg J. Lang, an origami master who is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading masters of the art, with over 500 designs catalogued and diagrammed. A distinguished Caltech alumi, he started his career as a laser physicist before pursuing a lifelong hobby of origami as a full time profession. A TED speaker, he is noted for designs of great detail and realism, and has folded some of the most complex origami designs ever created. The barrel cactus pictured here […]
Today, my guest is Michelle Dennedy, Chief Privacy Officer at McAfee (division of Intel Security), who was invited to represent McAfee Online Safety for Kids and The Identity Project as a runway fashion model for The Moms Struts for a Cause at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion week in New York City. Michelle shares a surreal experience of being a fashion model for a day with hair extensions, 5-inch heels and the NY Knicks but at the end of it all, it was to support […]
Today, my guest is Nicholas Carlisle*, a former lawyer and Founder and CEO of No Bully, a non-profit focused on stopping childhood bullying and cyberbullying. A graduate from Oxford University and former chairman of the non-profit section with Amnesty International, Nicholas left the practice of law to get a Ph.D. in psychology where he started studying the effects of school bullying. Nicholas gave a TEDx talk (see video below) on bullying in 2015 and is now a speaker and commentator on school bullying […]
Today, my guest is Tae Hea Nahm, former partner at Wilson Sonsini and Venture Law Group, and one of the founding Managing Directors at Storm Ventures. Going from a law firm partner to a venture capitalist is not an easy transition and Tae Hea’s success is largely attributable to his deep understanding of technology and careful decision-making. He was recently interviewed by the New York Times and he shares his wisdom working with entrepreneurs on his blog Working with Tae Hea Nahm. […]
Today, my guest is Doug Leeds*, President & CEO of Ask.com. After starting his career as a lawyer, Doug became an entrepreneur and then worked at a number of Internet search engine companies, including Overture and then Yahoo! (after acquiring Overture) before joining Ask Jeeves. Doug credits Jim Lanzone (also a former lawyer) for hiring Doug in a business role which ultimately led to Doug’s current position as President & CEO. *with special thanks to David Hornik
Today, my guest is Dr. Harrison Dillon, founder of Solazyme. Harrison always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur so even while he was at Duke Law School, he took biology classes to learn everything he could about algae genetics and got credit for it in the law school. Harrison and I were colleagues at Townsend LLP (now Kilpatrick Townsend) so it was a privilege to know him before he become a successful entrepreneur! Since the interview, Harrison has co-founded and is currently Chairman […]
Today, my guest is Marie Oh Huber*, Senior VP, General Counsel and Secretary at eBay, where she heads the global legal and government relations function. Prior to joining eBay, Marie served as Sr. VP, General Counsel and Secretary at Agilent and prior to that, she held senior legal positions at Hewlett Packard. Marie is a strong champion for diversity and inclusion and has received a Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund’s 2015 Women of Achievement Award, a 2014 National Diversity Council’s Top 50 […]
Today, my guest is Randy Schoenberg, an attorney who specializes in legal cases related to the recovery of looted or stolen artworks. Randy is widely known for representing Maria Altmann in her lawsuit to recover paintings from the government of Austria. Their story was made into a critically acclaimed movie Woman in Gold, in which Randy was depicted by Ryan Reynolds and Maria Altmann was portrayed by Oscar Winning Actress Helen Mirren. A long and arduous case that took nearly […]
Today, my guest is Mike Dillon, General Counsel of Adobe Systems, who bicycled across the country from Florida to California. When he started the trip, he was nothing more than a weekend cyclist and honestly didn’t even know if he would even complete the ride. He eventually not only finished it, but he blogged about it every day and was inspired to write a book about it called Changing Cadence, the proceeds of which go to support the Aldar Academy. […]
Today, my guest is Ayelette Robinson*, a former corporate lawyer turned actress. A Meisner-trained actor who has appeared in a variety of films as well as on TV, Ayelette is also an experienced competitive Latin ballroom dancer, having won the National Championship title in International Latin in 2011 and having placed 5th in the World finals that year. Ayelette originally took acting lessons as a way to improve her ballroom dancing but once she started, she became hooked on acting. Her theatrical reel is posted […]
Today, my guest is Harold McGee, a food scientist who writes about the chemistry and history of food, science and cooking. A distinguished Caltech alum, he earned his Ph.D. from Yale University before becoming a food science writer. After writing his first book On Food and Cooking in 1984, it was extensively revised in 2004. Today, he writes a regular column for the New York Times which examines, and often debunks, conventional kitchen wisdom; and also teaches at The French Culinary Institute in New York […]
Today, my guest is Liz Stone, Founder of Stone Legal Search, who is also a standup comedienne. Liz actually started doing “stand-up” after a couple of friends noticed her performing a wedding speech and after doing many “open mics,” she now performs at clubs like the San Francisco Punchline and Cobbs Comedy Club. Although she enjoys what she currently does, she admits there is nothing more exhilarating — or terrifying — than trying to make an audience laugh. You can see her […]
Today, my guest is Mike Callahan, SVP and General Counsel of LinkedIn where he oversees the legal, regulatory, intellectual property, government relations, compliance, ethics and corporate governance matters. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Mike was Chief Legal Officer of Auction.com and prior to that, served as EVP, General Counsel and Secretary of Yahoo! Inc. from 1999 to 2012. At Yahoo!, Mr. Callahan was a key advisor to the executive team and Board of Directors through numerous acquisitions, investments and divestitures, including the strategic […]
Today, my guest is Brett Pletcher, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Gilead Sciences. After making partner at the prestigious law firm of Gunderson Dettmer, Brett decided that he wanted to do something different and joined Gilead — a company he had never heard of at the time — when it was still a relatively small public company. I have known Brett since 1998 so it was nice to be able to catch up with him in his office in Foster […]
Today, my guest is Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel at Cisco, where he oversees Cisco’s global legal activities and policies. Chandler joined Cisco in 1996 when Cisco acquired StrataCom, Inc. where he had been general counsel. In 2010, The National Law Journal named him one of the 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Decade, and in 2013, American Lawyer named him among the Top 50 Big Law Innovators of the Last 50 Years. Chandler received a J.D. degree […]
Today, my guest is Ro Khanna*, Congressional Candidate for the US House of Representatives in Silicon Valley. With a law degree from Yale, Ro began his career as a successful Silicon Valley technology attorney but has found his passion in politics and policy, having written Entrepreneurial Nation and served in the Obama Administration. Ro took time from his very busy campaign schedule to talk candidly about his career and his current run for Congress. *with special thanks to Chad Walsh I had […]
Today, my guest is Matt Fawcett, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer at NetApp. Under his leadership, NetApp’s legal team has been recognized for many achievements, including the Best Legal Department of 2014 (Best Legal Departments 2014, Corporate Counsel), one of the most innovative departments (The 2013 IC-10: Inside the Legal Profession’s Top Innovators, Inside Counsel Magazine, 2013), and as a top GC (America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel, The National Law Journal, 2014). He frequently writes about effective […]
Today, my guest is Keith Wetmore, former Chairman of Morrison and Foerster, who grew up working in his family-owned funeral home business. I have known Keith for many years and in this candid conversation, we talked about death, the television show Six Feet Under and how everything he learned about being a service provider in the legal profession, he learned from working in the funeral home business. A link to the podcast of my conversation with the very gracious Richard Hsu. @HsuUntied […]
Today, my guest is James E. Mitchell, General Partner of Mitchell Partners, a value fund located in Costa Mesa, California which is focused on thinly traded stocks listed on the Pink Sheets. Despite graduating from Stanford Law School and becoming the General Counsel of Century 21 Real Estate Corporation, a company which he helped incorporate, Jim’s passion has always been in picking stocks. He bought his first stock at the age of 12 after selling newspaper subscriptions door-to-door and bought Berkshire Hathaway […]
Today, my guest is Don Liu*, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary for Target Corp, where he oversees all legal, corporate governance and governmental affairs. Prior to joining Target, Don was EVP, General Counsel and Secretary at Xerox Corporation; and he has also held legal leadership roles at Toll Brothers, IKON Office Solutions and Aetna U.S. Healthcare. A strong advocate and speaker on promoting diversity — specifically Asian Americans — in the legal profession, Don is a member of […]
Today, my guest is Claude Stern, a Partner at Quinn Emanuel, who has a passion for Harley Davidson motorcycles. Claude recently came back from the iconic Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (technically called the Black Hills rally), which takes place in Sturgis, South Dakota during the first week of August. Although an intellectual property lawyer from Silicon Valley seems like the last person to attend such a rally, Claude says he enjoys the change of pace and feels completely at home at […]
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