Paul Rinnan '10
July 27, 2020 - As an associate attorney at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., Paul Rinnan can add the title of “story-teller” to his resume as the host of the podcast “Employment Law Legends”
The 2010 graduate of the University of Houston Law and his firm use the podcast as an opportunity for listeners to gain insights into landmark employment law cases that have shaped society.
“In the legal field, it is really easy to get bogged down by abstract legal summaries without sufficient context or information,” Rinnan said. “I wanted to contribute by creating a story-driven program that could explain employment law and ideas in a simple, fun and engaging way. These cases offer fascinating legal battles, important constitutional issues, and are filled with drama, interesting attorneys, judges and parties.”
During his time as a Law Center student, Rinnan said Professor Ronald Turner helped to influence his love of employment law.
“I was fortunate to take constitutional, employment, and labor law from Professor Ronald Turner," Rinnan said. "His classes were always engaging and opened my interest in employment law. They were always full of fun debates with diverse opinions.”
Rinnan decided to use the podcast to make his profession more accessible and interesting to laypeople. He chose the medium because it allows for long-form content.
“So much of our information these days is in short bursts of information,” Rinnan said. “A podcast like Employment Law Legends allows an opportunity to review an entire case over 40-45 minutes. You can really bring the case to life by taking the time necessary to examine the parties, the legal strategies and how the law developed the way it did.”
Rinnan began the podcast with tempered expectations on how it would be received. He has been pleasantly surprised by the show’s listenership, and it was recently named as a "Top 10 Employment Law Podcast You Must Follow in 2020” by review website feedspot.com
“I had initially hoped to get just 100 listeners, but the episodes have each been downloaded thousands of times,” Rinnan said. “It’s still hard to believe.”
Rinnan hopes to continue the podcast’s growth, allowing more people to learn about this complex form of law.
“Employment Law is constantly changing, and you work with a large variety of clients and issues,” Rinnan said. “The decisions you make can sometimes impact entire workforces and you can make positive impacts on people’s lives.”
