Harris County Law Library on The Geek in Review Podcast

Harris County Law Library Deputy Director, Joe Lawson, recently appeared on The Geek in Review podcast to talk with hosts Greg Lambert and Marlene Gebauer about the kinds of services and resources the library provides on a daily basis to the residents of Harris County, most of whom are self-represented litigants.

As discussed in the podcast, “Lawson believes that there is a duty of the law library to help train lawyers, not to just be more efficient in their personal practices, but to help them have more capacity to help assist pro se litigants. Lawson’s calculation is that a 3% increase in capacity, through advancements in technology usage, could help eliminate a majority of the pro se issues in the county.”

Tune in to hear Joe share his thoughts on how the Harris County Law Library and our Hand-On Legal Tech programs in particular can help train lawyers to assist the burgeoning number of pro se litigants who are filing suit in this, the third largest county in the United States. .

Legal Podcast Round-Up

According to this infographic from Concordia University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, a podcast explosion is upon us. Podcasts are a cultural phenomenon that started gaining serious momentum in 2014 with the first season of Serial, a multi-part work of investigative journalism that achieved cult status among audiophiles and true crime fans alike.

The number and variety of podcasts now available is staggering, and the listening options for podcast fans is only continuing to grow. Legal podcasts are among some of the most popular, in part because they often touch on political topics, as well a criminal and social justice issues, which, in all areas of infotainment, including television docuseries and published investigative journalism, are very well-liked by not only the legal community, but the public in general.

A few of the currently most popular law-related podcasts are listed here:

• RBG: Beyond Notorious - SCOTUS, Ruth Bader Ginsburg

• What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law - Constitutional Law, POTUS

• We the People - Constitutional Law, Federal Government

• More Perfect - Constitutional Law, SCOTUS

• Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick (Slate) - Constitutional Law, SCOTUS, Federal Government

• The Life of the Law - Investigative Reporting

• Legal Wars - Famous Courtroom Battles

• Criminal Injustice - Criminal Justice

• Constitutional (Washington Post)

• Sworn - Criminal Justice

• Caught - Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice

Featured Podcast: Constitutional from the Washington Post

Occasionally, the Harris County Law Library will recommend a podcast that may be of interest to readers of this blog. Previous suggestions include More Perfect, Reveal, and the podcasts of the Legal Talk Network. On Monday, July 24, the Washington Post will launch a new podcast called Constitutional. The press release describes it as follows:  

The Washington Post is launching “Constitutional,” a new podcast about the history of the U.S. Constitution and the great debates that have shaped it over time. “Constitutional” will explore the document’s origin story, the passage of its amendments, and the people who fought to frame and reframe it— revolutionaries, abolitionists, suffragists, teetotalers, protesters, justices, and presidents.

Each week the podcast will delve into the big fights over citizenship, race, justice, love, liberty, taxes, and freedom of expression. Sign up for news on the podcast release here.

If you decide to tune in and you find that you like the Constitutional podcast, check out its predecessor, also from the Washington Post, the Presidential podcast. Both are hosted by Lillian Cunningham. Happy listening!