The Legal Impact

While almost half of beginning law students say they want to work in public service, by graduation those percentages fall dramatically. Still, the trend is changing: these days more newly-minted lawyers are choosing careers in government and the nonprofit sector, as the ever-shifting political landscape draws an increased number of individuals to consider public service lawyering.

With Artificial Intelligence increasingly used in legal practice, our guest today says it’s time for everyone - from first year law students to the most senior law firm partners - to be trained on AI. We’re talking on “The Legal Impact” with Robert Lucic. He’s an attorney at Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green, a major firm with offices around New England. Bob is also President-Elect of the New Hampshire Bar, and chairs the Bar’s Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence. At the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, Bob serves on its Rudman Center’s Board of Advisors.

Bryan Rome, a second-year student at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, was given the chance to teach New Hampshire’s legal community a thing or two about the state’s unique constitution. In this latest episode of The Legal Impact, Rome explains how his research project with the Rudman Center Summer Fellowship Program allowed him to reveal long-forgotten aspects of this vital founding document.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court gave a temporary “green light” to a Trump Administration policy concerning transgender Americans and their passports. The State Department will now only issue passports that match the applicant's sex as shown on their birth certificates.

Trade, tariffs, and the courts: On this month’s episode of The Legal Impact, we examine the arguments behind a US Supreme Court case over extensive tariffs put in place by the Trump Administration in early 2025. Lower courts have ruled that the White House overstepped its authority under the law it used to justify the tariffs. But even if the Administration loses before the High Court, it has other legal tools at its disposal that it can use to impose tariffs, which may be less vulnerable to lawsuits.

Our guest on The Legal Impact is UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law alumna Sabrina Segal. She’s Director of The Risk Collaborative, an initiative that fosters partnership, knowledge-sharing and advocacy among non-profits, non-governmental organizations, and funders. From the tiny charity in your community to global NGOs like Save the Children, Segal helps them craft a system for assessing, planning, and managing risk -- all on a shoestring budget.

In an era of instant information, where Artificial Intelligence will not just answer your question but write the essay for you - what is the role of the law library? Or even…books? We find out, on the latest episode of “The Legal Impact.” Our guests are two longtime law librarians at UNH-Franklin Pierce School of Law: Susan Drisko Zago, Professor and Law Library Director, and Kathy Fletcher, reference and public service librarian. Listen in, as they reflect on the massive shifts they’ve seen in legal research and library practice, and how all these changes may affect the next generation of lawyers.

On this episode of The Legal Impact, Professor Stanley Kowalski recalls President John F. Kennedy's South American initiative called the "Alliance for Progress," unveiled sixty years ago. Kowalski says it's time to revive this effort, but updated for our times: promoting a stable, prosperous Latin America through technology transfer and intellectual property.

This month on The Legal Impact, we remember former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who died in May. We'll hear about Souter's impressive legal career in NH, long before he went to Washington...also, why his appointment to the High Court didn't turn out to be the "slam-dunk" for conservatives...that was predicted.

The Daniel Webster Scholar Honors program: UNH-Franklin Pierce School of Law's unique approach toward training lawyers who are ready to practice on day one after graduation. Over the 20 years since its launch, the DWS program has drawn national attention and praise. In this episode of The Legal Impact, we talk with Courtney Brooks, the Associate Dean for Faculty, a professor of law, and Director of the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors program.

Mediation: Its huge role in our legal system. Our guest is Melinda Gehris of Prism Conflict Solutions. She's also an adjunct professor at UNH-Franklin Pierce School of Law, where she teaches dispute resolution.

On this episode of "The Legal Impact," we talk with UNH-Franklin Pierce Law Professor Seth Oranburg about how colleges and universities are reacting to the Trump Administration's threat to withdraw federal funding from schools that engage in speech that runs counter to its agenda on diversity, gender, inclusivity and anti-semitism. We explore the legal principles and political realities at stake.

Alumni are in the spotlight, on the latest episode of The Legal Impact! Our guest is Patrick Muffo, an intellectual property attorney at the Polsinelli Law Firm in Chicago. He graduated in 2007 from what was then called Franklin Pierce Law School. His experience deeply shaped his life, so much so that last year, he started a podcast called “Frankly Speaking,” where he checks in with fellow alums, to learn what directions their lives have taken since leaving “the cozy embrace of Concord, N.H. Enjoy Patrick's Podcast, "Frankly Speaking." Get an email when the latest episode releases and never miss our monthly episodes by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and Pandora!

In the new year, congress will look again at laws around sports betting, which has exploded since a twenty-eighteen U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing states to legalize wagering on sports. Today, on The Legal Impact, one of the country’s leading experts on this topic, Michael McCann. He's founding director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at UNH-Franklin Pierce School of Law and is a visiting professor at Harvard. Get an email when the latest episode releases and never miss our monthly episodes by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and Pandora!

In the four years between the last two presidential campaigns, hundreds of new election laws have been passed in states around the country, including New Hampshire. With a major election just behind us, The Legal Impact looks at the ever-shifting legal landscape around voting, with Professor Kelsey Klementowicz. She’s an attorney, and an academic visiting professor at UNH-Franklin Pierce School of Law, with a specialty in civil rights and election policy. She has advised many groups nationwide about these issues.

On the latest episode of The Legal Impact, UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law Professor Lucy Hodder explains why care is so expensive in this country. Listen to this fascinating overview by one of our state’s leading experts. Produced by The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication and hosted by The Rudman Center's Laura Knoy. Get an email when the latest episode releases and never miss our monthly episodes by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and Pandora!

On the latest episode of The Legal Impact, we explore First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly in light of anti-war demonstrations last spring on college campuses around the country. Our guest is Seth Oranburg, professor at UNH-Franklin Pierce School of Law. He describes common misconceptions around what these rights really mean, and gives examples of universities he believes got it right–and wrong. Produced by The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication and hosted by The Rudman Center's Laura Knoy. Get an email when the latest episode releases and never miss our monthly episodes by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and Pandora!

A special two-part series on The Legal Impact! There were so many key decisions decided by the high court this year, we decided to present them in two episodes. Part Two covers a half-dozen other important decisions, ranging from government regulation, environmental protection, local homelessness policies, and those perennial Supreme Court issues: guns and abortion. In Part One, we discussed the so-called "Trump Docket." Produced by The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication and hosted by The Rudman Center's Laura Knoy. Get an email when the latest episode releases and never miss our monthly episodes by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and Pandora!

A special two-part series on The Legal Impact! There were so many key decisions decided by the high court this year, we decided to present them in two episodes. Part One covers the so-called “Trump Docket” - those rulings concerning the former President, including the immunity case. Part Two will focus on other key high court decisions. Produced by The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication and hosted by The Rudman Center's Laura Knoy. Get an email when the latest episode releases and never miss our monthly episodes by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and Pandora!