CBA Record January-February 2022

CBANEWS Milestone: CBA’s @TheBar Podcast Achieves 100K Downloads By Ann Glynn, CBA Public Affairs Director

I n just over three years, the CBA’s @TheBar Podcast has reached a mile- stone many podcasts never achieve: 100,000 downloads. Originally created to appeal to young lawyers as an information and entertainment source, the podcast has grown in popularity, garnering a substan- tial audience while hosting notable guests and timely topics. The podcast is hosted by Jonathan Amarilio, a partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister in Chicago, and a rotating group of CBA member co-hosts. The hosts aim to provide “infotainment” that can be enjoyed by anyone through unscripted and informal conversations with guests while encouraging them drop their guard and reveal something new and surprising. “Lawyers are often portrayed as serious and self-important. But the truth is that, while we’re often at the center of the news, we like to sit around a table and share amusing stories and insights, like everyone else,” said Amarilio. “Our podcast helps

capture that side of us.” Many high-profile guests have joined the program in recent months, including Michele Shugart, the prosecuting attorney on the “Dr. Death” Peacock series; retired Judge Bill Kunkle, prosecutor on the John Wayne Gacy case; Dick Schultz, the pros- ecutor on the Trial of the Chicago 7; and Rob Bilott, the attorney who brought the case against DuPont and was depicted by Mark Ruffalo in the movie Dark Waters. Coming up, Amanda Knox, who spent four years in an Italian prison for her roommate’s murder before being acquit- ted in 2015, will join the program. Hosts will also talk with the prosecutor from the “Operation Family Secrets” mob trial. Amarilio added, “The opportunity to speak with and learn from new and inter- esting people every month and having the cachet of the CBA behind you when you do so, opens more doors to great conversa- tions than I could have imagined. Every conversation teaches us at least a dozen

things we didn’t know when the conversa- tion began.” Distributed by the Legal Talk Network (LTN), the nation’s premiere legal pod- cast network, the podcast is available for download from Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google. Check out the podcast here: legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/chicago- bar.

The CBA’s @theBar is planning an upcoming mailbag episode. Send an email to podcast@chicagobar.org and share what you think was themost interesting legal topic, case or headline from2021. In the submission, indicate if youwould like to be credited or remain anonymous. @theBar hosts will discuss audience submissions in a forthcoming episode in early 2022.

CBA Chorus and Symphony Orchestra to Return

The CBA’s Chorus and Symphony Orchestra have scheduled their first rehearsals since the pandemic began forWednesday, January 12, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. Openings in many sections for new members. Email for details and to get involved: SeanHoffman (Chorus) at seanmichaelhoff- man@gmail.com and Emily Fishman (Symphony Orchestra) at cbaso. cochairs@gmail.com.

8 January/February 2022