Category: The Weekend Listen

Favorite Legal Podcasts for Non-Lawyers and Lawyers

- Alexis 2 Comments

A pair of wireless headphones for podcast listening

The U.S. legal system is complicated.  Even if you were born and raised in the United States, you likely didn’t get a thorough overview of our legal principles in your schooling unless you went to law school.  With legal topics frequently in the news, you may be left wondering about aspects of American law.  Why do courts decide cases the way they do?  Why don’t legal rulings always comport with what seems like common sense?

As long-time readers know, I like to listen to podcasts, particularly educational ones.  In this post, I thought I’d round up some of my favorite law-related podcasts that can help you gain a better understanding of the legal concepts that shape current events and daily life in the United States.  Readers, what are your favorite legal podcasts?  Please tell us in the comments.

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Rethinking Regret

- Alexis 1 Comment
Black and white profile photo of the author sitting on a porch in Kauai
Photo by E.

This week, Hidden Brain, one of my favorite podcasts-slash-public-radio-programs, explored the topic of regret with a researcher and head of an academic “regret lab.”  The program discussed the various positive and negative consequences of regret.

I think I’ve reached a point in my life when I’m able to put most of my regrets to rest.  Yes, there are opportunities I missed, chances I wish I’d taken, different paths I could have chosen, and times I acted selfishly or treated others poorly.  The last category is, of course, the hardest to get over, because it’s regret combined with guilt.  But we can’t undo what we’ve done in the past, and at some point we have to forgive ourselves and commit to behaving better in the future, now that we know better.

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The Weekend Listen – Series Finale

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A pair of wireless headphones for podcast listening

Happy Friday!  I want to give my sincere thanks to everyone who completed the reader survey.  Your feedback has been very valuable to me.  (If you haven’t taken it yet, the survey is still open.)

One of the things I learned is that most of you don’t listen to podcasts and don’t plan to start listening to them any time soon.  With that information in mind, I’ve decided to discontinue the Weekend Listen series.  A few of you commented that you do appreciate the recommendations and enjoy hearing about new programs.  If you’re in that camp, don’t despair — you can follow me on Twitter, and I’ll share some of my favorite episodes there.  Additionally, because the things I listen to inform my thoughts, I’ll probably continue to reference podcasts in my posts, using interesting interviews and discussions as launch pads for longer, more substantive posts.

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The Weekend Listen

- Alexis Leave a comment

A pair of wireless headphones for podcast listening

I listen to a lot of podcasts while driving, working out, and doing chores around the house. In this weekly feature, I’ll tell you about one episode I particularly enjoyed that week.

My selection for this week is the Savvy Psychologist’s episode, Is Complaining Good or Bad for You?  In this episode, psychologist Ellen Hendriksen debunks several myths about complaining and offers some tips for curbing your complaining habit.

Have a great weekend!

Are you listening to a podcast I haven’t mentioned yet? Let us know about it in the comments!

The Weekend Listen

- Alexis Leave a comment

A pair of wireless headphones for podcast listening

I listen to a lot of podcasts while driving, working out, and doing chores around the house. In this weekly feature, I’ll tell you about one episode I particularly enjoyed that week.

I try not to post about legal topics too often because I know most of my readers aren’t lawyers.  I think this subject will be interesting even to people who aren’t immersed in the law on a daily basis, though.  This week’s podcast recommendation is the ABA Journal’s Modern Law Library episode What Can Neuroscience Tell Us About Crime?  This episode is an interview of Kevin Davis about his new book, The Brain Defense: Murder in Manhattan and the Dawn of Neuroscience in America’s Courtrooms.  He discusses how jurors perceive and understand science and the potential benefits and drawbacks of using brain scans in court.

Are you listening to a podcast I haven’t mentioned yet?  Let us know about it in the comments!