A national voice for law students

Albert, a second-year UB Law student, and Nayeli Diaz of Michigan State University College of Law, are hosting the ABA’s Law Student Podcast. The long-running series, with current law students as hosts, has addressed such topics as civil rights litigation, building one’s legal brand and the changing face of legal technology.

Albert and Diaz’s first episode, which dropped at the end of September, is “Relocating After Law School: How to Prepare and Thrive.” The half-hour podcast, which also includes Professor Todd Berger of Syracuse University College of Law, features advice from Kimberly Wolf Price, attorney and chief operating officer at Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC in Syracuse. It’s available on podcast platforms and on the ABA’s website. [Listen to the Episode]

The overall aim, Albert says, is to identify and explore topics that make a difference for listeners who are entering the legal profession. “My goal in this project is to have meaningful conversations and provide a resource for law students and new practitioners,” she says. “Our first question is always, why would a law student care about this?”

Albert, a Western New York native, came to UB Law after majoring in history at Binghamton University. She landed the ABA position last summer after she saw on Instagram that the bar association was looking for new podcast hosts. “I wanted to do something interactive, and even something fun,” she says. So she applied, sending in a video, and took a quick break from her summer position at a local law firm to jump on a Zoom call with other applicants. The ABA people were looking for good chemistry, and they liked what they heard.

Now, as co-host, Albert is responsible for brainstorming ideas and researching the chosen topics. The bar association provided the podcasting equipment, including a broadcast-quality microphone, and handles the technical aspects of editing, production and distribution. It’s a yearlong commitment that could be renewed for a second year but will end when she graduates from law school.

A student-focused podcast is a natural outgrowth from her work with UB Law’s Peer-to-Peer Advocate Program, an initiative of the Office of Student Affairs to build supportive relationships between upper-level students and new students. “From the second that 1Ls walk into the building, it’s another resource for them to use,” Albert says. “They may have anxieties about how to approach cases and subject matter. The program takes more of an emotional role than a curricular or educational role. We just want to make sure 1Ls aren’t more stressed out than they need to be.”

Now she’s able to take that interest in student success to a national stage. Their initial podcast included both co-hosts but moving forward they’ll cover alternate months. Albert is already working on finding an expert and researching her November topic about the American Law Institute’s Restatements of the Law series. The treatises interpret and restate existing common law into a series of guiding principles or rules.

“It’s never a good feeling to approach something and feel like you have no means to get through it,” she says. “The Restatements collect a bunch of different laws and concepts, and I believe it’s a really useful tool in law school. It’s just good information to have.”

The research, Albert says, is the most time-consuming part of her ABA work, particularly with an academically focused topic like November’s episode. Recording the podcast takes a couple of hours. “It really doesn’t feel like work,” she says. “And I love a good podcast.”