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The $800K Dispute That Could Have Been Prevented ft. Kai Jacobs

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:39:53 GMT

An $800,000 dispute over a self-drafted contract sounds completely avoidable. And, for a business litigator, the kind of frustrating case they could do without.

In this episode of Between the Briefs, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Kai Jacobs, Partner at South Florida Business Law Group, to discuss how 33 years of practicing law have shaped his approach to litigation, client counseling, and preventative legal work. Plus, they break down what happens when clients bring AI-drafted agreements into a law firm, why Kai prefers pre-lawsuit mediation over arbitration, and how broken business relationships can make dispute resolution far more complicated than interpreting contract language.

Why Trials Are Won Before the Courtroom ft. Gerardo “Jerry” Alcazar

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:35:09 GMT

Real trial work starts long before anyone stands in front of a jury.

What Law School Should Teach in the AI Era ft. Patrick Baker

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:34:44 GMT

AI can give you an answer in seconds, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right answer.

In this episode of Between the Briefs, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Patrick Baker, law professor at University of Tennessee at Martin and Founder of Baker Law Firm, for a practical conversation on legal education, AI, critical thinking, law school reform and what it really means to think like a lawyer.

Plus, Patrick’s hottest take: AI is built to please you, and lawyers should remember that shouldn't be the priority.

Go Do Your Civic Duty: A Former Judge's Hottest Take ft. Brian Amero

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 19:00:38 GMT

Brian Amero became a naturalized American citizen in 2001. By 2007, he was an elected Superior Court judge in Georgia. Over nearly two decades on the bench, he set out to find better answers than incarceration for problems that jail was never going to solve.

In this episode of Between the Briefs, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Brian, a former Chief Superior Court Judge in Georgia and now Litigation Counsel at Bennett International Group, for a candid conversation about criminal justice reform, mental illness in local jails, access to justice and what a judge can do beyond the ruling. Brian explains why he brought drug courts to Henry County, how he built a parental accountability program that replaced automatic jail time for child support nonpayment with a path to steady work, and how that program eventually reached every judicial district in Georgia.

The conversation then turns to what Brian calls a human rights problem in our own backyards: people with severe and persistent mental illness who are incarcerated far too frequently. Brian walks through how a minor incident can turn into months behind bars while a defendant waits for a competency evaluation and restoration, why public defenders and prosecutors often overlook the civil-side resources that could help, and why he believes the civil and criminal systems need to be woven together. He and the hosts also discuss how to give judges, prosecutors and public defenders a reason to take this work on, why leadership at the top matters, and how a divided public can show up in the jury box.

And then there is Brian's hottest take: too many people are getting out of jury service, and the people trying hardest to avoid it are often the ones the system needs most.

Innovation Is More Than AI ft. John Koss

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:18:03 GMT

AI is not a strategy. Sure, it’s a powerful tool but still, only one piece of the puzzle.

How AI Is Helping Lawyers Find Cases They’d Never Find Manually ft. Maxwell Weiss

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 20:01:01 GMT

Maxwell Weiss has investigated everything from stolen historical artifacts and match fixing to counterfeit medicines, privacy violations and questionable health plans. Now, he is working at the intersection of plaintiff-side litigation and AI-powered case discovery.

In this episode of Between the Briefs, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Maxwell Weiss, a partner at Don Bivens and Litigation Counsel at Darrow AI, to unpack how lawyers can find the facts that actually matter, investigate complex wrongdoing and use technology to uncover cases that traditional methods may never reach. Maxwell explains the 80/20 rule he applies to litigation, why brevity matters in legal writing, what federal judges taught him about courtroom advocacy and why the best lawyers often sound more like they are having a conversation than delivering a performance.

The conversation also gets into Darrow AI and how technology can monitor prices, identify potential privacy violations and analyze complicated health-plan structures at a scale that would be nearly impossible for lawyers to handle manually. Maxwell explains how those findings are turned into something lawyers can actually use: a clear case theory, the relevant law, precedent and an evidentiary roadmap.

And then there's Maxwell’s biggest concern about AI: junior lawyers may become so dependent on it that they skip the foundational work that teaches them judgment in the first place.

The Next Era of Between the Briefs

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:54:46 GMT

75+ episodes. 1,200+ followers. A new look. A bottle of hot sauce. And a legal industry that is changing faster than most people can keep up with.

In this special episode of Between the Briefs by Steno, hosts Joe Stephens and Adrian Cea record live from ILTACON 2026 to reflect on the conversations, guests, hot takes and recurring themes that have shaped the show so far.

Join them as they revisit standout guests including Elaine Barsom, Colin Levy, Eric Friedman, Andrew Finkelstein, Matthew Pringle, Bob Simon, Katie DeBorde, and others, while also introducing the show’s new Hot Takes hot sauce.

Why Small Firms Can Move Faster Than Big Law ft. Nicole Brenecki

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:47:19 GMT

Personal injury law has a lot of big promises, big ads and big firms. Nicole Brenecki is more interested in what actually works.

In this episode of Between the Briefs, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Nicole, Founding Partner at Jodré Brenecki LLP, for a candid conversation on personal injury litigation, boutique firm strategy, client service, New York court delays, fraud scrutiny, AI and why efficiency matters more than size.

Every Paralegal Needs The One-Step-Ahead Mindset ft. Christina Carter

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:41:10 GMT

Paralegals are the people attorneys rely on when deadlines are tight, documents are moving fast and the work needs to get done right. But they’re often treated as background support.

In this episode of Between the Briefs, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Christina Carter, Senior Manager of Firm-Wide Paralegal Management at Venable, for a practical conversation on paralegal leadership, legal operations, team culture, generational dynamics, AI adoption and what law firms often miss about the people who keep the work moving.

The Email That Ruined a $10M Lawsuit ft. Kat Mateo

adrian.cea@steno.com (Adrian Cea) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:36:30 GMT

Litigation does not begin when a lawsuit is filed. By then, the story has often already been written in contracts, emails, missed deadlines and the very human decision to wait because “maybe it’ll blow over.”

In this episode of Between the Briefs, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Kat Mateo, Counsel of Litigation at Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP, for a practical, lively conversation about what clients, founders, business owners and legal teams often misunderstand about litigation.