Kelby Ballena, Margarita Rosa Arango
75 episodes listed below
Advocacy, explained like a real conversation.
The Advocate Next Door follows conversational, unscripted interviews with advocates across law, government, technology, therapy, and community work. It is curious about careers, but just as interested in the awkward, practical, human details around them.
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The Advocate Next Door is a warm, unscripted interview show about advocacy in practical, personal, and sometimes unexpected forms. It often begins in the room before the formal conversation fully starts. Listeners hear sound checks, headphone questions, pronunciation nerves, quick laughs, and the small adjustments that make an interview feel human. Then the show moves into substance. Recent episodes spend a lot of time in and around the legal world, from trade law and the International Trade Commission to expert witness work, international arbitration, government work, e-discovery, legal technology, AI tools, and public speaking for lawyers. The questions are usually plainspoken. That matters. A guest can explain a specialized field without the show turning into a lecture, because the hosts keep pulling the conversation back toward what the work feels like, how someone got there, and what a curious outsider needs to know first. Career paths get treated as stories with side doors, long hours, informational interviews, billing pressure, mentors, uncertainty, and lucky timing. LegalWeek episodes add a livelier field-recording energy, with humor, vendor conversations, technology demos, and candid reactions to how fast legal tools are changing. The show also makes room for advocacy beyond law. Conversations with a licensed couples and sex therapist and Lucy In Love frame intimacy, desire, insecurity, and relationship expectations as areas where people need language, care, and guidance. The result is less a prestige interview series than a neighborly professional notebook. It notices the resume, but it does not stop there. It wants the backstory, the awkward moment, the practical advice, and the part a guest had to learn by doing. For listeners who enjoy thoughtful career conversations with some behind-the-scenes texture left intact, The Advocate Next Door has an approachable rhythm and a broad definition of service.
Made for: Best for listeners curious about law, government work, professional pivots, legal technology, and people-centered advocacy. It also suits anyone who likes interviews that leave room for humor, hesitation, and lived experience.
What sets it apart: The show keeps the machinery of conversation visible: sound checks, conference banter, name corrections, and practical follow-up questions all stay close to the finished interview. That informal texture makes technical subjects feel accessible without sanding off the people behind them.
The Advocate Next Door podcast captures in-person unscripted interviews of admirable advocates who share how they got started, why they advocate for others, and pass on advice for a future generation! Each episode is a warm look at how advocates make a difference and how they got started. We spotlight passionate advocates from lawyers, public officials, generals, technology developers, court and law firm staff, teachers, thinkers, dreamers—no advocacy is too small!This program is not sponsored or affiliated with any group or organization to maintain a genuine conversation with the advocate, which may also include interviews in Spanish. If yo...
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Specialized advocates explain how their work operates, while the hosts translate unfamiliar legal and economic systems through patient, practical questions.
The Advocate Next Door turns specialized careers into approachable conversations about how professional knowledge serves other people. Margarita Arango and Kelby Bellina ask direct, curious questions, often beginning with how a guest entered the field before moving into what the…
Diamond auctions become surprisingly human when you meet the people designing the rules.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Trade law, side-door career advice, and a brief detour into tea and Gilmore Girls.
Kelby Balena and Margarita Arango shape a trade-law career path that runs from American to Steptoe, and the mentor's blunt warning about law-firm hiring keeps the story hard-earned rather than polished.
A practical look at expert work, mine sites, and faster document review.
This episode presents expert work as a practical bridge between legal cases, mine sites, investor-state disputes, and document review. Kaui Balena and Margarita Arango keep the focus on Jamie Hager-Bomer's experience, including when a site visit makes sense and when access is…
A warm, practical look at a niche legal career that stays surprisingly human.
A Commerce lawyer's path from international arbitration into government gives the conversation its spine, and it makes a niche legal world feel clear and human.
Auction theory, diamond sales, and a clear look at how market design works.
This episode brings an auction-theory specialist to the center of the conversation, and the Botswana diamond auction example gives the discussion welcome specificity.
A loose but revealing look at the show's early brainstorming, the awkward ChatGPT experiment, and the burnout shadowing legal careers.
The episode looks back at the show's early stretch, using leftover material to show the hosts still figuring out what the podcast wanted to be.
Pop culture trivia, argued fast and with affection.
Pop culture, personal stakes, and room for a tangent.
A Brazilian journalist spends years reinvestigating unsolved child disappearances in Paraná.
Cris Bartz and Juva Lauer alternate debate and interview episodes on Brazilian social issues.
On The Advocate Next Door, Kelly Belena asks Supreet Sohi about Sikh identity, advocacy, and her work as a master aesthetician.
The episode opens in the studio.
Jamie Hager-Bomer sits down with Kaui Balena and Margarita Arango.
Kelby Bellina and Margarita Arango welcome Isha Kambosh from the U.S.
This episode features an interview with licensed couples and sex therapist Madison Tincha, exploring the psychology of desire and connection in relationships.
This episode explores the journey from heartbreak to forming healthy heart connections, touching on societal expectations and personal insecurities.
Rhetorich AI prepares lawyers for court conversations by analyzing their objectives, context, documents, and jurisdiction.
The episode opens with a sound check and a quick introduction before Kelly Valena and Margarita Arango turn to Larry Osobel.
This episode features an interview with Lena Raxter, a scientist turned award-winning international law scholar, discussing her background and work at the ITA conference.
This episode features an interview with digital forensics expert Sean Voti, exploring his career journey from Deloitte to TransPerfect Legal and his work in analyzing hard drives and electronic data for legal cases.
This episode features Aaron Kragowski, a pioneer in e-brief technology for courts, discussing his work in developing interactive filings for major litigations and his role in training and educating the legal community through Strut Legal.
The Advocate Next Door returns with a special episode built from deleted clips from its first season.
Christina Poehlitz discusses her work in lobbying and strategic policy advice at Arnold and Porter, explaining how she helps clients navigate political dynamics in Washington and globally.