Have you jumped into the podcast craze? Podcasts have been around for at least a decade, but their popularity exploded with the release of the Serial podcast in 2014. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the twists and turns of this true crime investigative narrative, told in episodic form over 12 weeks.
There are literally thousands of podcasts now, covering every imaginable genre and topic — entertainment, comedy, storytelling, hobbies, investigative journalism, books, education, health, lifestyle, and business promotion. Some are series; others are are separate episodes with hosts and revolving guests. Podcasts have surpassed blogs (present company notwithstanding) as the media trend of the moment.
For those who may be unfamiliar with podcasts, here’s a brief primer. Podcasts are audio recordings that can be listened to either as a streaming file or downloaded to a computer or mobile device. Podcasts can be listened to at any time, which has a lot of appeal in our world of on demand media content. In 2015, nearly 70% of podcasts were downloaded to mobile devices. If you are a multi-tasker, podcasts can be played while you are in the car, doing housework, during your lunch hour, in a waiting room, or anywhere you can wear a pair of headphones.

Of course, our industry is not to be left out of the podcast trend. Since 2009, Vicki Voisin, a former NALA President and commonly known as the Paralegal Mentor, has hosted a monthly podcast called The Paralegal Voice. In August, Vicki announced her retirement from the podcast and passed the mantle to Carl Morrison, PP-SC, AACP. Carl is a certified paralegal, published author, paralegal educator, and a former member of TAPA. He has been a guest on previous episodes of The Paralegal Voice and is now the new host.
The Paralegal Voice is part of the Legal Talk Network, which broadcasts 25 different podcasts related to the law. Our own President, Tracy Mosz, was the guest on the June 2017 episode of The Paralegal Voice, called “The Life of a Litigation Paralegal.” Lisa Stone, TAPA’s Communications Officer, was the guest on the most recent episode, discussing her post on this blog about Paralegals in Pop Culture.
The Paralegal Voice can be found here. The archives of every episode since 2009 are available on the website and you may find many of these interesting or relevant to our industry.
Tracy Mosz’s episode, “The Life of a Litigation Paralegal,” can be found here.
Lisa Stone’s episode, “Paralegals in Pop Culture,” can be found here.
Stay tuned for future blog posts about podcasts that you may find interesting!