About Carly Nairn

Carly Nairn Articles written 16

Carly Nairn is a journalist based in San Francisco. Her work has been published with National Geographic, Yes! Magazine, and Mongabay, among others. 

Articles written by Carly Nairn

The Last Days with Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights attorney Michael Cody talks about his small part in big history

In 1968, W.J. Michael Cody was a young attorney in Memphis when a few days in April changed his life. Brought onto the legal team to assist Martin Luther King Jr. in obtaining the right to march in Memphis, Cody had an opportunity to get close with one of the leading civil rights activists in U.S. history. He is now one of the few people on earth who spoke to Dr. King the last day he was alive. Super Lawyers got in touch with Cody—who is now in his late 80s, teaches at Rhodes College and …

The Voice of New Orleans

André Mouledoux’s journey from DJ to J.D.

André Mouledoux has always been a natural raconteur. For the last several decades he’s been telling stories as a general casualty, transportation and maritime litigator at Mouledoux, Bland, Legrand & Brackett. But before his voice was heard in the courtroom, you could hear it all over the Louisiana airwaves. Mouledoux took announcing courses as a communications major at Loyola University New Orleans, which, at the time, owned Channel 4, WWL-TV, and WWL Radio—“it was the only station …

What the Inflation Reduction Act Means for the Environment, the Law, and the Future

Environmental law attorney and policy expert Jennifer Hernandez assesses one of 2022’s most significant pieces of legislation

According to the legislation’s sponsors, The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was a big step for U.S. climate change policy. It brings almost $370 billion to clean energy and climate investment, and is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 40% by 2030. It heralds a turn toward electric transportation and funnels money into sustainable energy projects through tax incentives, grants and other funding. It takes an environmental policy expert to dissect it further, so we …

Stepping Out

Amanda Alexander’s path to law started with confronting bullies on a school bus

Years ago on an elementary school bus in Kokomo, Mississippi, several older children were taunting a student with disabilities, so Amanda Alexander confronted the bullies—physically placing herself between them and their target. “I was small and petite then,” she says, “but I would often advocate for this child.” After telling her mother about the experience, and crying over how frustrated she felt, she considered the people her mother listed off who might help resolve the issue: the …

A Gun in the Courtroom and the Attorney Who Sounded the Alarm

Talking with Lauren Varnado about the much-publicized ordeal

In March, Lauren Varnado was defending the Pittsburgh-based EQT Corporation in a New Martinsville, West Virginia, courtroom when presiding Circuit Court Judge David W. Hummel Jr. pulled out a Colt .45 pistol from a shoulder holster underneath his robe and set it on his bench. The Michelman & Robinson managing partner then filed a report with the FBI and decided to go public about the experience. The situation received ample press attention as an investigation ensued by the Judicial …

Bonkers Thus Far: The Impact of Minnesota’s New THC Law

A Q&A with Jason Tarasek, a cannabis lawyer who helped launch the bill, reflects on its unlikely passage and what it means for the future

Super Lawyers: First off, can you just give me a brief synopsis of the new Minnesota law that went into effect July 1, and how it came to pass? Jason Tarasek: Yeah. I was actively lobbying for this bill. We started talking about it late in 2021. It initially started out as a bill that was aimed to fix kind of a loophole in the law that when the legislature legalized hemp and hemp derivatives through statute in 2018, they didn’t take hemp-derived THC and trace amounts off our state’s …

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