David Rauch (https://arsfinancial.com/leadership-david-rauch/) returns to a familiar setting and joins Brian Roberts (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) for a discussion about David’s career and his involvement with the Thunderbirds, hosts of the PGA’s WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. David reflects on his journey from a blue-collar background to successful litigator to President & General Counsel of Annexus (https://annexus.com) and shares his experience as a life member of the Thunderbirds where he served as the WM Phoenix Open Tournament Chairman in 2010. After graduating from San Diego State University with a degree in Finance, David briefly worked in the Finance Division with Robinson’s Department Stores in Los Angeles. While there, he took a $100 bet from a friend over who would get the better score on the LSAT. David not only won the bet but parlayed his good score into an acceptance to attend the UCLA School of Law. After graduating from UCLA, David moved to his wife’s hometown of Phoenix, Arizona and began his legal career in the litigation group at Snell & Wilmer LLP where he practiced for nearly 20 years. David talks about the benefits of launching his career at a prominent law firm and the exceptional foundation it laid for his successful career. He describes how he “earned the right” to get lucky through his work ethic, reputation and network. He recognized that Annexus was a great, fast-growing business, and its founding principals were great partners for him to work with, as he transitioned from life in a big law firm to an in-house role. David started at Annexus as its general counsel and chief operating officer and now he serves as the company’s president where the business continues to grow and develop market-leading fixed indexed annuities and indexed universal life insurance products that help Americans grow and protect their retirement savings. David has also spent over 20 years as a member of the Thunderbirds, a charitable organization that has served as the host of the PGA’s WM Phoenix Open since 1934. David discusses the history of the Thunderbirds organization and the WM Phoenix Open and talks about how it has grown into one of the largest spectator events in the world. The WM Phoenix Open no longer releases official attendance statistics, however, it’s estimated that they regularly host more than 700,000 spectators throughout the week and more than 200,000 spectators on Saturday’s round of the tournament. A highlight every year is the Annexus Celebrity Pro-Am played on the Wednesday of tournament week where notable celebrities like Larry Fitzgerald, Emmitt Smith, Alex Rodriguez and Carli Lloyd tee it up with famous PGA Tour players in a relaxed and fun event with local sponsors. As the title sponsor, David regularly plays in the event and talks about some of his favorite moments, including last year where his daughter served as his caddie and his playing partners were Michael Phelps and Rickie Fowler. David and Brian highlight the incredible charitable and economic impact the WM Phoenix Open has every year on the Valley, with the Thunderbirds having raised a record $14.5 million for Arizona charities in 2023 and having an overall annual economic impact of nearly $1 billion. Last, they discuss the amazing musical acts that perform at the Birds Nest every year following each round of the tournament with David and Brian noting a couple of their favorite concerts over the years as Kid Rock and Snoop Dogg, respectively. They also talk about the Concert in the Coliseum, in its third year in 2024, where the Saturday before the tournament begins, the Thunderbirds turn the famous Par 3 Hole 16 into a sold-out concert venue. Post Malone is headlining this year’s Concert in the Coliseum, while Dierks Bentley, Hardy, and Duran Duran will be performing at the Coors Light Birds Nest. Please visit the links below for more information on David, Brian, Annexus, the WM Phoenix Open, and the host of The Attorney Lounge, Array. Links: David Rauch: https://arsfinancial.com/leadership-david-rauch/ Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/ Annexus: https://www.annexus.com WM Phoenix Open : https://www.wmphoenixopen.com Array: https://www.trustarray.com

Brian Roberts (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) talks to Kannon Shanmugam (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kannon/). Kannon is widely recognized as one of the nation's top appellate lawyers, having argued 36 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and over 100 appeals in courts across the country, including all thirteen federal courts of appeals.Kannon and Brian both grew up at the same time in Lawrence, Kansas, both attending Lawrence High School and sharing a love for the Royals, Chiefs, and University of Kansas athletics. At the beginning of the show, Brian and Kannon take a trip down memory lane sharing their favorite stories of Kansas athletics, including personal anecdotes from KU's amazing run in 1988 when they won the NCAA national championship with Danny Manning, affectionately referred to as Danny and the Miracles. They also both share memories of fellow Lawrence High grad Sri Srinivasan, who now serves as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals and is regularly mentioned as a potential candidate to serve as a Justice on the United States Supreme Court. Kannon shares what it was like attending Harvard as an undergrad, graduating summa cum laude, and then attending the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, before ultimately graduating from Harvard University Law School, magna cum laude. After law school, Kannon served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and he describes what it was like meeting him for the first time, being invited to clerk, and the feeling of working in the Supreme Court and getting to know the other justices. Kannon also shares some poignant thoughts on Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.Kannon talks about his practice as an appellate lawyer, where he currently serves as Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Practice at Paul Weiss. He shares a first hand account of what it's like to argue a case before the Supreme Court, including a funny anecdote from his first oral argument (which he won) while serving as Assistant to the Solicitor General of the U.S. Department of Justice. Kannon also offers some tips for anyone considering becoming an appellate lawyer. Links:Kannon Shanmugam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kannon/Paul Weiss: https://www.paulweiss.comBrian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/Array: https://www.trustarray.com

Brian Roberts (https://twitter.com/beeberts) talks to Kristine Campbell, the General Counsel at U-Haul. Kristine joined U-Haul in 2011 and was appointed General Counsel in 2023. Prior to joining U-Haul, Kristine was a member of the class action legal team at Greenberg Traurig LLP. She received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School and her undergraduate degree from Connecticut College. Kristine talks about growing up in Phoenix, going away to college and working on the east coast before deciding to return home after 9-11 to be closer to family and friends. She talks about what it was like practicing law at a large firm and how much she enjoyed her time at Greenberg Traurig and then, ultimately, why she transitioned in-house and what that transition was like when she joined U-Haul. Kristine shares how she manages a large team of in-house lawyers along with a large network of outside counsel and the personality traits she looks for in the attorneys she works with, both in-house and outside. Brian and Kristine compare notes and share stories about what it’s like to serve as the general counsel of large, publicly traded companies, what they believe makes for a good general counsel, and advice for young attorneys who aspire to that position.Links:Kristine Campbell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristine-campbell-7ba5144/Brian Roberts: https://linktr.ee/attorneyloungeU-Haul: https://www.uhaul.com/Array: www.trustarray.com

Brian Roberts (https://twitter.com/beeberts) talks to John Jackson (https://www.instagram.com/attorneysomm), an accomplished litigator at Jackson Walker in Dallas, Texas, who is also well recognized for his fun and informative wine videos on YouTube under the name@attorneysomm. John obtained his level four diploma (DipWSET with merit) from the WSET and, in addition to his job as a litigator, devotes a substantial amount of time to the world of wine on his various social media platforms. John shares how he became interested in law, attended the University of Illinois College of Law, worked as a judicial law clerk and then joined a small law firm that merged with Jackson Walker where John practices today. John recounts some interesting cases he has worked on, including representing skateboarder Tony Hawk and comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla. John then recounts stories from his career as a competitive eater where he started out hustling coworkers and eventually ended up competing in the world corn dog eating contest at the Texas State Fair, then finished third at a tamale eating contest, then competing at a burger eating competition, before eventually retiring around the time he took up an interest in wine. John explains how he became interested in wine and ended up completing wine education courses to obtain his level four diploma (DipWSET with merit). He then talks about his decision to start posting online, adopting the name AttorneySomm, and ultimately growing into a well-known brand for fun and educational videos on wine. John gives some insight into how he manages his brand and produces his videos as well as some of the benefits of his expertise, including the ability to take some amazing trips to beautiful wineries all over the world. He reveals that his favorite wine is the 1990 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, he shares some holiday wine recommendations, including some sparkling wines from Piper-Heidsieck, Lanson, Cremant and some wines from the southern Rhone region like Chateauneuf-Du-Pape and Gigondas.Links:John Jackson: https://linktr.ee/AttorneySommBrian Roberts: https://linktr.ee/attorneyloungeJackson Walker: https://www.jw.com/Array: www.trustarray.com

Aloke Chakravarty (https://www.swlaw.com/people/aloke_chakravarty) joins Brian Roberts (https://twitter.com/beeberts) for a compelling discussion about his life and career, including a detailed account of his involvement in the investigation, trial and conviction of the surviving brother responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing. Al shares his personal journey from starting out as a pre-med major at Johns Hopkins University to transitioning to law and attending Emory University School of Law. After beginning his career at a prestigious law firm in Delaware, he made the bold decision to get more trial experience by taking a position in the District Attorney’s office in Boston. Al shares that he recalls losing his first dozen cases and questioning his trial strategies, even going so far as to adopt a Boston accent in an attempt to become more persuasive with juries. Al eventually hit his stride and shares several details of his incredible career as a trial attorney working on many high-profile cases, including a behind the scenes look into the successful investigation, trial and conviction of the Boston Marathon bomber. After serving many years as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice in the District of Massachusetts, Al transitioned into private practice where he currently is a Partner at Snell & Wilmer and co-Chair of the firm’s investigations, government enforcement and white-collar protection practice group. Al’s practice also focuses on matters involving cybersecurity, data protection, data privacy and cryptocurrency.Links:Aloke Chakravarty: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aloke-chakravarty-618753139/Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-roberts-7108497/Snell & Wilmer: https://www.swlaw.comThe Attorney Lounge YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAttorneyLounge-fd1lo/featuredThe Attorney Lounge Twitter: https://twitter.com/AttorneyLoungeArray: www.trustarray.comArray’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/trustarray

Brian Roberts (https://twitter.com/beeberts) interviews Jamie Boggs (https://twitter.com/JamieBoggsJD) about her life and career and how she rose through the ranks to become the Vice President of Athletics at Grand Canyon University. During her first year of law school, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in sports over law and, after graduating from law school at the age of 22, began her career at a sports agency in Washington, DC. She then began her collegiate athletics career by taking a position at Duke University where she worked directly with Coach K and shares some advice she received from him. Jamie then decided to take ten months off from her career to focus on raising her children before getting a call from Georgia State University asking if she would join their athletic department and assist with their transition from FCS to BCS. After a successful transition there, she moved to Phoenix to take the position of Deputy Athletic Director at Grand Canyon University and assist with their transition from NCAA Division II to Division I. Brian previously served as the former General Counsel and Chair of GCU’s NCAA Transition Committee and he and Jamie recount their experience working together at GCU. Jamie discusses her appreciation for working at GCU and directly with President Brian Mueller and Senior Advisor Jerry Colangelo. The show closes with a discussion of NCAA athletics generally, including conference realignment and NIL, and Jamie provides advice to anyone interested in having a career in athletics.Links:GCU: www.gcu.eduGCU Athletics: www.gculopes.comThe Attorney Lounge YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAttorneyLounge-fd1lo/featuredThe Attorney Lounge Twitter: https://twitter.com/AttorneyLoungeArray: www.trustarray.comArray’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/trustarray