SideBar: Optimism In Action - Conversations with Lawyers & Leaders Inspiring Positive Change
Season three of SideBar features lawyers, nonprofit leaders, activists, and community members who represent extraordinary work that is improving the humanitarian, public policy, and charitable needs of our local, national, and global communities. We release new episodes on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of every month.
Episodes
For over 40 years, Louis Clark has led the Government Accountability Project (GAP), an organization dedicated to protecting whistleblowers and ensuring government accountability. During the Trump administration, GAP is overwhelmed with the number of government employees seeking support in disclosing illegal, unethical, and fraudulent conduct. It is also addressing a new form of retaliation against whistleblowers, physical harm, and...
Vanessa Priya Daniel’s first book, Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning, centers the work of women of color in social justice movements. Daniel discusses her personal journey from community organizer to the founder and Executive Director of Groundswell, a philanthropy organization committed to intersectional organizing. She shares the three superpowers of successful WOC leaders that we can all adopt:...
We The Action has a simple premise – lawyers have the power to do good. The organization started in 2017 to help connect lawyer with pro bono causes, from immigration and domestic violence representation to non-profit governance and tax issues, from voting rights to copyright. Anna Chu, the Executive Director, describes how nimble organization started the Federal Workers Defense Network to provide pro bono support for the thousand...
Erica Pinheiro serves as the Executive Director of Al Otro Lado providing holistic legal and humanitarian support to refugees, deportees, and other migrants in the US and Tijuana through a multidisciplinary, client-centered, harm reduction-based practice. The organization provides direct, free, legal services on both sides of the US-Mexico border and beyond through zealous individual representation, medical-legal partnerships, and...
Thirty years ago, Cassandra Dahnke and Tomas Spath founded the Institute for Civility with the goal to promote civility—in government, workplaces, schools—and to catalyze change. They describe their journey, how they define civility, what they have learned about reducing polarization, and why they have hope for the future. https://www.instituteforcivility.org/.
Meals on Wheels does more than just provide home delivery of healthy food for Seniors. President Christine Winge reminds us that maintaining human connection is a critical and essential part of physical and mental health as we grow older and risk becoming more isolated.
After a long career in the corporate world, Beth Wilbur decided she would serve children as the Executive Director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Monterey County. She discusses the incredible work that CASA volunteers do to support children in the foster care system and how they change lives through their efforts. She describes her motivation as a moral call to protect children.
Lisa Sperow is the Executive Director of the Cal Poly Low Income Taxpayer Clinic. The clinic provides free representation to low-income taxpayers in disputes with the IRS. Many of the clinic’s clients have nowhere else to seek help when they receive frightening notices from the IRS. It is even more alarming for taxpayers who do not speak English and who are completely unfamiliar with the process and documents necessary to respond t...
Cathy Sakimura has spent her entire professional life empowering young people, first as a youth organizer, then as the Deputy Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and now as Executive Director of Legal Services for Children (LSC) in San Francisco. In this episode, Cathy describes why she has dedicated her life to serving children and families, how she manages the challenges, and what each of us can make a difference ...
Brad Adams and Climate Rights International believe that progress on climate change cannot succeed without protecting human rights – and the fight for human rights cannot succeed without protecting our planet against climate change. Brad and CRI work in partnership with local and international groups, activists, and affected communities to demand justice and accountability from powerful interests.
Providing pro bono service to small businesses in Dallas, Texas not only persevered through the pandemic - it expanded. The innovative program developed by attorney Fawaz Bham coordinated more than 40 law firms and community organizations through a transition from in-person to remote clinics to sustain a program that has served over 25,000 clients. Bham's efforts were recognized by the 2024 American Bar Association's Pro Bono Publi...
John Echohawk has served as Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) since 1977. Under John's inspired and continuing leadership, NARF has successfully asserted and defended the most important rights of Indians and tribes in hundreds of major cases, and has achieved significant results in such critical areas as tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, natural resource protection, voting rights, and Indian education.
Nisha Anand, the Chief Executive Officer of Dream.org, joins SideBar to discuss how she builds bridges across political divides to find real solutions. Nisha employs the “radical act of finding common ground” with unlikely allies while still staying true to her progressive values. She provides a hopeful message that collaboration can achieve change and overcome polarization and political divides.
Seasons one and two of SideBar featured discussions with authors, lawyers, and academics discussing challenges to our individual constitutional and civil rights. Each of our episodes ended with our featured guests providing recommendations on how each of us can contribute to solutions for the common good. Season three of SideBar is going to flip the narrative. We are featuring lawyers, nonprofit leaders, activists, and community me...
SideBar guest Chris Hearsey has spent over ten years working in international space collaborations, space exploration technologies, and other aerospace applications. His work has contributed to advancements in space law, policy, and technology. Chris is known for his visionary approach and commitment to pushing the boundaries of space capabilities, developing sustainable space technologies, and fostering an economic ecosystem condu...
Was 2024 a "historic" presidential election? Constitutional historians Lawrence Goldstone and Madiba K. Dennie join Jackie Gardina and Mitch Winick to discuss the context, concerns, and questions following the recent re-election of Donald Trump. One of the questions that many of us are asking is whether the recent presidential election was a rejection of Democrats or a broader rejection of Democracy?
Since colonial days, the legal profession has been proud of its role in the founding of the republic, the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, and the defense of democracy and the rule of law. However, the profession faces an existential crisis on which the American democratic experiment hinges, says law professor Ray Brescia, author of Lawyer Nation: The Past, Present, and Future of the American Legal Profession. If attorney unethic...
Stephen Bright made it his life's work to unleash social change by representing unpopular clients--namely those on death row. Remarkably, he succeeded, winning all four cases he argued before the Supreme Court. Robert Tsai chronicles Stephen Bright's decades long fight to ensure equality under the law that is still being challenged at the Supreme Court today.
David Noll and Jon Michaels, authors of Vigilante Nation, discuss the reemergence of state-supported vigilantism. Noll and Michaels explain the vigilante methods, from anti-abortion bounties to book bans to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. They also provide a path forward, outlining what needs to be done to stop these efforts.
Like all discretionary authority, the pardon power is only as virtuous as the person who controls it. Kimberly Wehle, author of the new book, Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works - and Why demonstrates that it can be a righteous tool to remedy wrongful convictions, but it also can be used to obstruct investigations, benefit political allies, and reward the President’s friends and family. As the author of What You Need to Know ...
Popular Podcasts
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.