For the past two-plus weeks, anyone with a decent internet connection has had the ability to tune into jury selection in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged in the death of George Floyd. Local media outlets in the Twin Cities have been streaming a feed from the courtroom, as has CourtTV. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported last week that 360,000 people, including up to 4,000 at any given time, had logged onto its trial feed alone.

That extraordinary access is at least in part thanks to the work of Leita Walker and her colleagues at Ballard Spahr. Walker, who is based in the firm's Minneapolis office, has a journalism background on top of her law degree from the University of Kansas. She served a stint on the night cops beat at the Lawrence Journal-World in the town where she attended college and law school.