01:16:36 · John Coogan, Alex Spiro, Jordi Hays
[01:16:36] S1: Mhmm. [01:16:37] S2: I I think that the old adage of the Goldman Sachs days was you know, you shouldn't be picking your own stocks. Well, you shouldn't be picking your own legal arguments and and picking your own medical procedures. And since the time of Socrates, we have learned that we are not great advocates for ourselves. That we ought to rely on somebody that has some emotional independence from us that can use judgment, that can make the arguments the way they ought to be made because we're... We can be myopic and they're not professionals. So Mhmm. It... I have said to many many clients, probably clients that have appeared on on your show, if they want to represent themselves I'll just sit here and watch. They can they can make the opening argument. That's... That usually shuts them up pretty quickly. [01:17:21] S1: No one's taking you up on that yet. [01:17:22] S0: But you you like... It seems like you like working with the difficult ones. It's not just because they're happen to be the most powerful people [01:17:29] S2: in Don't tell anybody that you're encouraging bad bad behavior. I I don't like it other than to say that some of the most amazing minds are those that are also the most complicated. [01:17:42] S1: Sure.
01:17:42 · John Coogan, Alex Spiro
[01:17:42] S1: Sure. [01:17:43] S2: And I like being around things that I think are super interesting and I'm curious. I like watching the world move forward and a lot of these folks, difficult as they may be, doing things that are exceptional and unique. And sometimes the cases themselves are just important enough that I think they are worthy of a strong and important defense. [01:18:13] S1: Yeah. How how are you meeting new people? Is it all referrals through previous clients? Are there ever... Is there ever a moment where you can see from your perspective that there's going to be a ton of litigation in AI copyright and so you're actually going out of your way to meet folks in that industry beforehand or is it all just comes in when there's a problem? [01:18:37] S2: I'm I'm closed. Okay. I am not looking for I'm not mingling and I'm not looking for nascent industries or industries that I think there's gonna be litigation explosion in. Sure. There are enough companies and people that I'm responsible for shepherding that that I'm not gonna chase people and I don't think... I don't just believe in that as a system. Whether you're a young person looking to market or you're at at you know, been in the career a long time, I just do not believe in that. The top hedge funds don't chase people. The top doctors don't chase people. I certainly don't chase people and yeah. I mean the way that referrals come in is it's word-of-mouth. [01:19:20] S1: Mhmm.
01:19:20 · John Coogan, Alex Spiro, Jordi Hays
[01:19:20] S1: Mhmm. [01:19:20] S2: Where they see you, you know, being a trial lawyer is a public thing. There's people that watched the Alec Baldwin trial or the Eric Adams or the Robert Kraft or the taboocephalousia or I can keep going. And they see you and they think he... You know, hopefully they think they can... That I conduct myself honorably and aggressively and smart. And then they say, okay, I want that guy. [01:19:39] S1: Yeah. How do you... How do the best founders think about lawsuits as a as a tool of business, as an important piece of the puzzle, you as a potential team member as opposed to like headache, something that needs to be just dealt with on the off occasion. It's something that's more in their business repertoire that they are good in this capacity. [01:20:05] S2: Some of them are more adverse to that chaos and the scariness of the war, and some of them can't get enough of it. Mhmm. And what you try to do is modulate the ones that want to sue everybody that walks the earth, and the ones that are afraid that if somebody sends a letter, we've got to shut down the company. [01:20:26] S0: Yeah.
01:20:26 · Jordi Hays, Alex Spiro
[01:20:26] S0: Yeah. [01:20:26] S2: And, you know, I'm using extreme examples, but you get the point that that some people run too risky and some people run not risky enough, and there's a there's a balance. But I mean, you can't be afraid of a fight or everyone's going know you're afraid of a fight. And if you're doing something cutting edge, either competitors that the world is a jealous place Mhmm. Regulators that don't understand what you're doing, short sellers Yeah. Who knows. Right? Know, more money, more problems. So it can... All sorts of things can start happening, and you cannot be afraid. You can't blink. You can't panic, and you got to fight through whatever storms come. [01:21:05] S0: Yeah. Talk about, you know, the sort of transition from what seems like at one point in your career, like pure purely practicing law to now being on the business side, being on boards. Mhmm. Is that something where, you know, it's 5050 now and ten years from now, it could be, you know, ninety ninety ten? Like, what's most interesting about actually being in the arena, at least on the other side of the table?
01:21:05 · Jordi Hays, Alex Spiro
[01:21:05] S0: Yeah. Talk about, you know, the sort of transition from what seems like at one point in your career, like pure purely practicing law to now being on the business side, being on boards. Mhmm. Is that something where, you know, it's 5050 now and ten years from now, it could be, you know, ninety ninety ten? Like, what's most interesting about actually being in the arena, at least on the other side of the table? [01:21:36] S2: The decision to go to hospital made at 21 on a whim. I could have easily ended up, you know, an intern at a bank or something. But but once I started doing it, I realized that the that the importance of it, the thrill of it, the combination of of forces in the arena, I don't think there's gonna be anything like it, and I've yet to find a business way to replace it. That being said, I've been doing it for a very long time, longer than I expected to. It's time for new chapters, and those are starting to begin, and we'll see. I mean, if I look at my legal career in the second or third inning, it would... It was where it was. My business career is not as long as my legal career is. And so it's it's forming on its own timeline and trajectory and it'll it'll take up more of my time as time goes on. And maybe if I'm on your show in ten years nobody even remembers I was a lawyer.
01:21:36 · Alex Spiro, Jordi Hays
[01:21:36] S2: The decision to go to hospital made at 21 on a whim. I could have easily ended up, you know, an intern at a bank or something. But but once I started doing it, I realized that the that the importance of it, the thrill of it, the combination of of forces in the arena, I don't think there's gonna be anything like it, and I've yet to find a business way to replace it. That being said, I've been doing it for a very long time, longer than I expected to. It's time for new chapters, and those are starting to begin, and we'll see. I mean, if I look at my legal career in the second or third inning, it would... It was where it was. My business career is not as long as my legal career is. And so it's it's forming on its own timeline and trajectory and it'll it'll take up more of my time as time goes on. And maybe if I'm on your show in ten years nobody even remembers I was a lawyer. [01:22:31] S0: Do you wish that business was more zero sum? Like I've forgiven given your history like it seems like you enjoy the fact that it's you you get to win and the other person gets to lose and one of the problems in business is that you can win and your competitor, your your your your rival can also be winning. Yeah. Even if it's on a smaller scale.