Hylights Houston Young Lawyers Association

Alvin Adjei joins Femi and Patrick one more time on the Hylights podcast, now as Immediate Past President, to finish a conversation they started the last time he was on: sharing their thoughts on Spider-Man: No Way Home. This episode is exactly what it sounds like and has little to do with the law--and there are spoilers for the movie if you haven't seen it yet!  We hope you join us and enjoy the ride on this just-for-fun episode, as we soft-pilot our hopes for a HYLA Movie Podcast.  

Anna DeMaggio is a foreign-trained lawyer with a background in international studies and she joins us on Hylights to give her perspective on the ongoing war in Ukraine. Anna is from Ukraine but came to the United States over 10 years ago to do an LLM.  She has lived in Houston for many years, currently working as counsel at Orion Group Holdings, Inc.

Despite being born in Ukraine when it was part of the USSR, growing up there after the end of the Cold War, and going to law school at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, not even Anna expected a war like this to ever take place. Nevertheless, Anna is uniquely positioned to give us insight into the changes the country has undergone since the end of the Cold War, as well as into the war, discussing its historical context and its import on international law and policy.

In addition to now being a voice for the Ukrainian community in Houston, at Orion Group Holdings, Anna works with the project teams, operations, and management on contracting, compliance and claims prevention, management, and defense for the company’s concrete segment, TAS Concrete Construction, LLC.  Anna has also been involved in various community activities, including HYLA’s Professional Development Committee, the Houston Bar Association, Chicago Women’s Alliance, and a number of pro bono efforts pertaining to immigration.

The Hylights Podcast is brought to you by the Houston Young  Lawyers Association! If you have any comments or questions, or if you  would like to be a guest on a future episode, please email us   at hylightspodcast@gmail.com.

Join HYLA: https://www.hyla.org/page-18141

Many litigators would agree with the notion that presenting a case before a jury and judge can feel like an emphatic performance, but few have truly performed in the way that Zachary Caballero has.  Zachary has a personal injury practice where he advocates and fights on behalf of injured Texans and families due to the negligence of others.  In addition to being a lawyer, Zachary is also a nationally recognized, award-winning poet.  Zachary was featured on Huff Post Latino Voices, as one of the Top 10 Spoken Word Poets who Speak to Diverse Latino Issues and in the Texas Bar Journal for his story as a poet and lawyer. Join  Patrick and Femi as they talk to Zachary about his poetic origins in middle school, discovering that he not only was able to tell a story – but that  he had a story – and how this passion came to be his greatest asset in his legal practice.  We also discuss Zachary’s involvement in the legal community, which include having held board  positions on HYLF and HYLA and co-founding the Stories of First Generation Attorneys Podcast.

You can view one of Zachary’s poems, “Reasons to Live,” at https://cabbythepoet.com/2020/04/02/1-30-reasons-to-live/, and can view other works from Zachary at cabbythepoet.com.

Listen to the Stories of First Generation Attorneys Podcast here: https://tinyurl.com/2p96myv7.

The Hylights Podcast is brought to you by the Houston Young  Lawyers Association! If you have any comments or questions, or if you  would like to be a guest on a future episode, please email us   at hylightspodcast@gmail.com.

Join HYLA: https://www.hyla.org/page-18141

Lindsey Swiger is a project development, energy, and infrastructure attorney, working as a senior associate in the projects group at Norton Rose Fulbright. She joins Femi and Patrick on the podcast to talk to us about exactly what a "Projects" attorney is and the scope of this rapidly growing practice in Texas. Lindsey puts it briefly: she builds things--and she loves seeing the things she works on manifest in the real world. With experience in conventional and renewable energy, Lindsey paints a great picture of what it's like to be a senior associate in a projects practice.  This picture is rounded out by her career path--she started at a big law firm, went in house at a large energy company, and then found her way back to a big firm--and her candid discussion of career moves, work-life balance, and self-care.

The Hylights Podcast is brought to you by the Houston Young Lawyers Association! If you have any comments or questions, or if you would like to be a guest on a future episode, please email us at hylightspodcast@gmail.com.

Join HYLA: https://www.hyla.org/page-18141

Imad Khan is an international disputes lawyer who works as an associate at Winston & Strawn--while he's not from Houston, he tells Femi and Patrick how he made his way here and why Houston is one of the top cities to practice international arbitration.  Imad first moved to Houston right out of law school at Washington University.  He worked at a firm here for a couple of years, then went on to practice in Washington D.C. for several years, before returning to Houston.  Throughout all of these steps, international arbitration has been the focus of his practice.  He gives us a great overview of international arbitration (the kinds of cases and industries it involves) and also talks to us about the passions and activities that have helped build on his practice (Imad is heavily involved in a number of international arbitration associations and serves as an adjunct professor at his alma mater).

The Hylights Podcast is brought to you by the Houston Young Lawyers Association! If you have any comments or questions, or if you would like to be a guest on a future episode, please email us  at hylightspodcast@gmail.com.

Join HYLA: https://www.hyla.org/page-18141

Looking forward to HYLA's Pro Bono Guardianship Project, in partnership with Houston Volunteer Lawyers, Femi and Patrick are joined by Stephanie Sommerlatte and Henry Sturm of HVL.  Stephanie and Henry join us to talk about the state of guardianship law in Texas and the importance of guardianship cases--and the need for volunteer attorneys to help out with them.  In the majority of these taken by HVL, clients are parents of children with disabilities, who are turning 18.  A guardianship is needed to ensure that a parent can continue to make necessary decisions on behalf of their child.

HYLA is partnering with HVL for its Pro Bono Guardianship Project in an effort to mobilize its members to take on a case.  The project will kick off on March 24th, but interested attorneys are welcome to volunteer afterwards as well.  Stephanie and Henry will be helping guide attorneys through their cases.  For morn information, please go to HYLA's website (hyla.org) or email Kelly Hanen (kelly.hanen@bakerbotts.com).  You can also contact HVL at their website (https://www.makejusticehappen.org/) or email Stephanie (stephanie.sommerlatte@hvlp.org)

Stephanie has been an attorney at HVL for over 10 years, spending now several of those years as a Supervising Attorney and Supervising Attorney for Medical Legal Partnerships, where she works on many guardianship cases.  Henry is a pro bono fellow for Hunton Andrews Kurth; he is in his second year working with HVL and has work on a variety of different kinds of cases and projects during this time.

The Hylights Podcast is brought to you by the Houston Young Lawyers Association! If you have any comments or questions, or if you would like to be a guest on a future episode, please email us at hylightspodcast@gmail.com.

Join HYLA: https://www.hyla.org/page-18141