🎙Episode #012: Phil Weiser (Colorado Attorney General)
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With that, I am particularly excited to share today’s episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast featuring Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Ten weeks ago, before I had even published my first episode, someone on social media recommended that I feature AG Weiser. I laughed to myself. Really? A state attorney general? The attorney general who recently argued the important faithless electors case at the Supreme Court? Why would he want to talk to me?
But that night I got a direct message from AG Weiser asking how he could help? I was excited (and nervous). After a few successful episodes I reached back out, Phil agreed to an interview without hesitation, and the rest is history!
If you are not yet familiar with AG Weiser, you really should be. After graduation from NYU Law he clerked for Judge Ebel on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Colorado and then on the United States Supreme Court for Justice White and Justice Ginsburg.
After completing these three clerkships he then worked at the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division for two years before returning to Colorado and entering academia at the University of Colorado Law School where he worked for ten years teaching and directing the Silicon Flatirons Center. After that, he returned to DC to work as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust at the Department of Justice under President Obama and then as a Senior Advisor at the National Economic Council before returning to the University of Colorado where he taught for ten more years including five five as dean. In May 2017 he successfully ran for Attorney General of the State of Colorado.
In our conversation we discuss his path from law clerk to government attorney to academic and then ultimately state attorney general and the skills along the way that led him to success at each step: a desire to serve, a commitment to empathy, a focus on the task at hand, and a helpful dose of willingness to take risks and see where serendipity took him. There are many highlights but some of my favorites include his discussion of his decision to run for AG, what being an academic taught him about public service (and vice-versa), and what it was like to argue before his former boss RBG in her last argument on the bench.
I hope you enjoy the interview and as always please let me know if you have any comments or recommendations.
Stay healthy and see you next week,
Jonah