What does it really take to win justice for ordinary people when the defendants are deep-pocketed corporations with layers of contractors and complex policies? We sit down with Tony Edwards, a four-decade plaintiff’s lawyer from Oklahoma, to unpack how small-town values, disciplined discovery, and genuine relationships carry cases across the finish line, and change lives along the way.

Tony traces his leadership journey from a large statewide PI firm to building a values-first practice in McAlester and Tulsa. He explains why oilfield and trucking cases demand patient, methodical work: untangling corporate webs, identifying true control, and proving preventable failures with clear, targeted discovery. We talk about the end of “trial by ambush,” the craft of asking the right questions, and the strategic edge that comes from truly knowing clients, their families, their routines, and the losses jurors can understand without translation.

The conversation turns personal as Tony shares a wrongful death case that still shapes his approach, illustrating why jury connection matters more than theatrics. Authentic testimony, not performance, helps jurors see the plaintiff as a neighbor worth helping. Beyond the courtroom, Tony’s firm invests in teachers through an Eastern Oklahoma Teacher of the Year award and student scholarships, a cause rooted in his father’s legacy and his partner’s family. It’s a blueprint for community engagement that’s real, not performative: pick a mission that fits your story and serve it year after year.

Reach Tony here:
https://www.edwardspattersonlaw.com/

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Leadership In Law Podcast with host, Marilyn Jenkins
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Legal leadership is most powerful when it sounds human. We sit down with Rory O'Keeffe, an Irish‑born lawyer who’s worked across criminal law, big projects, arbitration, and global tech, to unpack how in‑house teams move from being seen as blockers to becoming strategic guides. Rory’s journey reveals why curiosity beats certainty, how a blunt “no” kills influence, and why the best legal advice often looks like three clear options with honest tradeoffs.

We dig into real stories: the temptation to backdate a contract and how to stop it without blowing up the relationship, the moment a single acronym derails a meeting, and the quiet damage caused by clauses that always get negotiated down. Rory makes the case for coaching over mentoring, building psychological safety so teams raise issues early, and using practical playbooks to cut contract cycle times by 20% or more. He also shares his approach to cross‑functional trust, asking simple questions, translating privacy and cybersecurity into narratives leaders can actually use, and giving the C‑suite decisions they can own.

AI and legal tech are here, but the smartest teams choose tools with eyes open. We cover the questions every leader should ask before adopting new platforms: where the data lives, how it’s secured, what exit looks like, and whether the tool solves a real workflow problem or just looks good on a dashboard. As Rory puts it, AI won’t take your job, but a lawyer using AI will, so learn to leverage it without risking confidentiality or budget lock‑in.

Reach Rory here:
https://www.rmoklegal.com/

Law Firm Marketing Fix

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Leadership In Law Podcast with host, Marilyn Jenkins
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Compliance isn’t a checkbox anymore; it’s the engine room shaping strategy, pricing risk, and deciding whether a deal should close. We sit down with Darshan Kulkarni, pharmacist, attorney, professor, and veteran advisor to life sciences companies, to examine how enforcement trends, data ownership, and AI are rewriting the rules for pharma, biotech, and health tech leaders.

We start with Darshan’s unconventional path from sixth-generation pharmacist to regulatory lawyer and educator, then dig into the pressure points every leader feels right now. Why the DOJ and OIG expect compliance to be resourced and at the table. How successor liability can blow up an acquisition if issues aren’t self-identified and disclosed. Why “100% compliant” is not a badge of honor but a signal your program isn’t looking hard enough. And where promotional risk really lives today: not in the TV ad that passed MLR review, but in the hallway conversation where a rep guesses at an off-label question.

From there, we turn to diligence and dealmaking. Darshan breaks down the most common red flags in clinical trial sites, especially physician-ownership rules and formation problems that can make a target effectively unownable. We explore how non-competes, data rights, and state privacy laws collide with federal frameworks, and how to price and structure deals when the risks are real but fixable.

AI and digital health raise the stakes even further. We unpack consent gaps, PHI exposure, IP conflicts, and the difference between public LLMs and truly private deployments. Transparent does not mean public domain, and pushing sensitive data into a public model can make control vanish. The throughline is clear: build controls that find problems early, separate legal advocacy from compliance oversight, and make incentives support the behavior you want.

Reach Darshan here:
darshan@kulkarnilawfirm.com
https://www.kulkarnilawfirm.com/

Law Firm Marketing Fix

Fix Your Law Firm’s Marketing in 10 Simple Steps

Download Your Free Checklist - https://fix.lawmarketingzone.com/

Ready to level up your law firm marketing? Book a FREE Discovery Call with Marilyn Here: https://lawmarketingzone.com/bookacall

Leadership In Law Podcast with host, Marilyn Jenkins
Powered by Law Marketing Zone®
https://lawmarketingzone.com
A full-service Digital Marketing Agency helping clients increase Leads, Cases, and Profit by getting their digital marketing right.

Subscribe on your favorite Podcast listening platform!

Like, Share, and Review us!

#leadershipinlawpodcast #leadershipinlaw #lawmarketingzone #marilynjenkins