#099: Jenni Katzman - Government & Policy Lawyer

How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin

In today's episode I speak with Jenni Katzman who is a government & policy lawyer with experience in all three branches of government, several political campaigns, and non-profit advocacy organizations. Currently, she is the General Counsel and Chief of Domestic Policy for Senator Ron Wyden (D-Or). Before working on Capitol Hill, Jenni worked as a Director of Policy Development and Programming at the American Constitution Society and before that in the Executive Branch at the White House, DOJ, and the Department of Education, and as a Voter Protection Counsel for the Obama for America Campaign. Prior to her career in policy, she worked in private practice at two different law firms and served as a law clerk to a federal judge. She is a graduate of Duke and Cornell Law.

In our conversation we discuss her path to the law, her experience clerking after several years in private practice, the transition from litigation to policy work, the roles that lawyers play on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch, what its like to be a lawyer in a fast-paced presidential campaign, the power of not just saying no but also trying to come up with creative solutions to get to yes, why diversity is so important on Capitol Hill and throughout the government, what distinguishes policy work from other areas of legal practice, and the importance of speaking up as a junior lawyer.

This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.

Want to Support the Podcast in 2 minutes or less?

• Leave a Review (this helps the algorithm connect me to new listeners)
• Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify
• Purchase How I Lawyer Merchandise
• Share on LinkedIn or Twitter