Host of Modern Law Library and Talk Justice, An LSC Podcast
Lee Rawles is a longtime legal journalist and podcast host. She grew up the child of two lawyers with her nose constantly in a book, so founding the Modern Law Library Podcast was truly her destiny.
Lee spent nearly 15 years with the American Bar Association’s flagship magazine, the ABA Journal, and served on the nominating committee for the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction from 2015 to 2019. She received Peter Lisagor Awards from the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for Best Literary Coverage in 2021, and Best Podcast in 2016. She has also worked in newspapers and for Legacy.com.
Lee holds an M.S. in New Media from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a B.S. in journalism from the University of Illinois. She is currently pursuing an M.B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the hope of one day collecting a diploma from every school in the Big Ten Conference.
Talk Justice highlights a new, innovative website for Oklahomans facing domestic violence. The recently launched site, GetSafeOK.org, was developed to improve access to legal help for survivors and help them safely navigate...
When Tracy Thomas first joined the faculty of the University of Akron School of Law, the dean assumed she must know all about their local heroine, Judge Florence Allen. “She was literally...
Julie Suk is worried about American democracy. “Over time, the control of our constitutional future has really been in the domain of the judiciary and the executive branch, with the judiciary increasingly...
“In most other countries, there are laws, criminal laws that prohibit the expression of racial hatred or incitement to racial hatred,” says Samantha Barbas, author of Hate Speech: The Legal and Cultural History...
Vanessa Ugatti is the True Worth Expert, a UK-based international keynote speaker, transformational trainer and coach, and author of How to Get Paid Your True Worth Ethically, Without Selling Your Soul. Through...
In Silicon Valley, a “unicorn” is a private startup with a net worth of $1 billion. As the term suggests, these were once incredibly rare creatures. Most startups would go public within...
For this year’s summer reading recommendations, host Lee Rawles shares three recommended reads, three books on her to-be-read pile, and three TV shows she’s enjoyed. The recommended reads are all fiction this...
In January 1800, Elma Sands’s dead body was found in a New York City well. The case has captivated people ever since, not least because in the resulting trial, defendant Levi Weeks...
Environmental law in the United States can be a double-edged sword. “I think that when people think about environmental law, very frequently what they mean is environmental protection, and what that misses...
This episode of Talk Justice explores an Ohio county’s efforts to bring service providers together to ensure that families in crisis receive the help they need. The “No Wrong Door” model is already...
This episode of Talk Justice spotlights “justice buses” in Florida, Louisiana and Oklahoma that bring legal help to communities in need, especially in the wake of natural disasters. The guests describe these...
When Shaun Ossei-Owusu looked around at his classmates at UC Berkeley School of Law, there were many upper middle class children of lawyers who were coming straight from their undergraduate degrees. There...
The Third Amendment to the Constitution forbids the quartering of troops in Americans’ houses. It’s a reminder of how uneasy the people of the country have been about the domestic deployment of...
Talk Justice explores the legal battle of a Colorado-born woman with no birth certificate, the roadblocks people without identification and other vital documents experience and how attorneys at civil legal services organizations...
Coming across the right book at the right time can make all the difference, says Sherry Thomas, author of the popular Lady Sherlock series. In her case, picking up a historical romance from...
It’s time for the first official meeting of the Modern Law Library Book Club, and Lee has invited on her friend (and go-to Nixon expert) Victor Li to talk about his experience...
Your smartwatch tracks your heart rate and counts your calories. Your Ring camera lets you know when a package has been delivered. The GPS in your car smoothly directs you to a...
For more than a decade, the Modern Law Library has been chatting with authors about their books. But there haven’t been many opportunities to talk directly with our listeners, and we want...
Robert H. Jackson was not an easy man to know, but “I found being in Robert Jackson’s company on the whole a great pleasure,” says G. Edward White, author of the new...
The leader of the Colorado Access to Justice Commission discusses their “Listening Tour” initiative on the latest episode of Talk Justice. Elisa Overall shares about the wide-reaching 22-stop tour and its findings,...
A foundational principle of Anglo-American law is that “a man’s house is his castle.” It establishes rights ranging from privacy to justifiable homicide. But what about when your castle is another person’s...
In the 1973 film Walking Tall, Sheriff Buford Pusser is a heroic law enforcement officer in small-town Tennessee whose fight against the Dixie Mafia leads to an ambush and shooting that left...
The idea that prisoners should be treated humanely was discussed by Enlightenment Era aristocrats, “but the idea that they are people who are peers is new,” says Yale Law professor Judith Resnik....
Looking for something to occupy yourself over the holidays, or to kick off your 2026? Lee Rawles is joined by her fellow Legal Talk Network hosts Stephanie Everett of the Lawyerist podcast...
Innovative programs that leverage unlicensed practice of law reform to create new pathways to justice for domestic violence (DV) survivors are featured in this episode of Talk Justice. Community Justice Advocates of...
December 8th marks the 45th anniversary of John Lennon’s death in 1980. In this special rebroadcast of Modern Law Library, we’re looking back at how his immigration helped expose corruption within the...
A recent report from LSC’s Rural Justice Task Force, “Justice Where We Live: Promising Practices from Rural Communities,” dives into a multitude of programs and approaches that address the biggest challenges to...
If you’re dreading your family’s lack of communication this Thanksgiving, here’s a conversation about another group that’s saying less and less with real consequences. In this rebroadcast, University of Texas law professor...
It’s election week in the U.S., and while many eyes are on the polls, we’re revisiting a conversation that reminds us why voting matters in the first place. In this rebroadcast, Yale...
As Halloween swiftly approaches, we’ve conjured up a classic from the Modern Law Library crypt. What do zombies and pirates have to do with the law? Grab your candy and find out...
As the Supreme Court returns to the bench, we’re raising a glass to a favorite from our archives. In this episode, Nancy Maveety shares stories from Glass and Gavel, where cocktails meet...
As Native American Day approaches on September 25, we’re revisiting a story that still resonates today. Author David Grann takes us inside the Osage murders—a chilling chapter in U.S. history where oil...
Small business owners and a lawyer discuss how free legal services can create opportunities for entrepreneurs on Talk Justice. Joshua Danrich, the 16-year-old entrepreneur behind the brand Mr. Fresh, had the idea at...
As summer winds down and school beckons, we’re looking back in our archives and assigning some back-to-school reading—grown-up style. In this episode, Professor Kathryne M. Young shares advice from her book How...
As summer winds down and school beckons, we’re looking back in our archives and assigning some back-to-school reading—grown-up style. In this episode, Judge Robert Bacharach shares insights from his book on the...
With a new legal thriller on the horizon, we’re revisiting James Patterson’s 2024 interview about #1 Lawyer. The bestselling author shares how he builds courtroom suspense and what makes a legal story...
This month, we’re revisiting some standout conversations from our archives. In this episode, three seasoned trial court judges reflect on the cases that have stayed with them throughout their years on the...
Legal experts discuss the critical role civil legal services play in addressing the legal needs of older Americans on Talk Justice. Last year, LSC-funded legal organizations assisted more than 312,000 Americans age...
Laura Cowan has leveraged her background in finance–and her experience starting a boutique law firm during the early days of the pandemic–into a program to help people launch their own virtual estate-planning...
A doctor and lawyer discuss the success of medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) on Talk Justice. They describe how MLPs support communities, improve patient outcomes and help to alleviate the burden on the health...
Since it was seized from the Knights Templar in the 14th century, the Inner Temple in London has housed acolytes of a different sort: men (and eventually women) who serve as advocates...
In Chambers v. Florida and the Criminal Justice Revolution, historian and former ABA Journal reporter Richard Brust lifts the veil on a case that laid the groundwork for some much more famous civil...
The Rainmaker Genome Project surveyed 3,000 partner-level professionals in 41 firms. And it turns out that what makes a lawyer an effective rainmaker is not necessarily what makes a salesperson an effective...
Guests from a Kansas pro bono partnership discuss how private businesses and in-house attorneys can support legal aid initiatives in their communities on Talk Justice. In 2017, Koch was interested in making...
For nearly 30 years, Richard Susskind has written books asking lawyers to envision the future of the law and the legal profession in ways that stretch the imagination. Susskind has been one...
Execution by lethal injection is seen by many Americans as a less barbaric alternative than older methods like hanging, firing squads and electrocution. It is easy to assume that the process must...
Jorge Goldstein entered the fields of science and law at a time of immense change for them both. In the 1970s, huge strides were being made in biogenetics and microbiology, and in...
Guests from a Wisconsin program creating web platforms that help users solve legal problems discuss their Legal Tune Up tools on Talk Justice. LIFT, or Legal Interventions for Transforming Wisconsin, was formed by...
Peak performance in high-stress environments. It’s the goal for the basketball players taking the court during March Madness, but just as much for players on a different kind of court. Lawyers can...
What if we are asking the wrong questions when selecting American judges? Mark Tushnet thinks our current criteria might be off. “We should look for judges who are likely to display good...
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