Episode 166 - Next Lawyer Up with Ron Sykstus featuring Charles Brinkley

Attorney Rho Thomas has an impressive pedigree which led her into practicing “big law” with a large law firm in Georgia after she received her law degree.  After an introspective search by her and her husband, a practicing doctor, following the birth of their first child, the pair dove into learning about money and transformed their personal finances, paying off a significant amount of student loan debt. Later, Rho completely morphed and changed her career into helping lawyers deal with their finances and get out of debt just like she and her husband were able to do.  In fact, here is Rho’s free guide on 5 mistakes people make when getting out of debt.  She also has a podcast and here is her LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamrhothomas  I enjoyed getting to know Rho’s journey on this episode of the podcast and to learn about the important work that she does for which she clearly has a passion.  I hope you enjoy it!  

Darren Wurz is a certified financial planner with a master’s degree in financial planning. He specializes in financial planning for lawyers and law firm owners.  Darren is the author of the book, “The Lawyer Millionaire: The Complete Guide for Attorneys on Maximizing Wealth, Minimizing Taxes and Retiring with Confidence published by the American Bar Association.  Darren also hosts The Lawyer Millionaire podcast.  These are obviously catchy titles and draw the attention of a lot of attorneys, me included!  Darren spoke to me and my colleagues with the American Consumer Bankruptcy College at our semi-annual meeting last year. I enjoyed meeting Darren and I won a copy of his book in a raffle. It is a great book and I highly recommend it. I enjoyed getting to know Darren on this episode of the podcast and I think an awful lot of lawyers and, really,  anyone interested in accumulating financial assets in a sound and logical way would get a good bit out of the information that Darren provides. 

If not for my wife Patty’s love of all things Tik Tok, I would not have run across attorney Adrienne Hines.  Adrienne is a long-standing attorney in Ohio who practiced initially in the area of worker’s compensation and now works pretty exclusively in the area of consumer bankruptcy.  More than that, Adrienne has morphed her law practice into providing important and detailed information on bankruptcy through her social media platforms on Tik Tok and Instagram.  Fans of Tik Tok will recognize her by her user name and website called TheLadyLikeLawyer.com  As you’ll hear, Adrienne is smart, funny, warm and engaging.  It is no wonder that she has so many followers!  As you’ll see and hear, she lives her practice with the mantra of “Debt Relief with Dignity.”  Her law practice approach mirrors our Bond and Botes’ law practice insofar as how we try to help our own bankruptcy clients in Alabama and Mississippi.  The difference, however, is that Adrienne speaks to a vast nationwide audience of Tik Tok users and, as I mentioned, she provides tremendously valuable information to them.  I enjoyed getting to know her story on this episode of the podcast.   

  Robin Wolfe is a long-standing and highly regarded criminal defense attorney located in Huntsville, Alabama.  Robin has had a singular focus of practice in the area of criminal law since early in her career.  Robin handles every type of criminal case imaginable to include capital murder and death penalty cases.  She is fortunate to have a highly skilled investigator working with her, Jackie, who also happens to be her husband!  In addition, their son Jack works as a law clerk for them when not in his graduate studies program.  Robin is highly respected in Alabama for the legal work that she does.  She also mentioned to me, after we finished the podcast, that she is open, willing and eager to help out young lawyers who decide to practice criminal defense law.  This would be a great opportunity for young lawyers to learn the correct way to handle a criminal defense case from Robin who is a master of her craft.     

Kenya Rothstein is an environmental attorney barred in California and Washington, D.C. I recently learned about Kenya from an article in the January/February 2025 edition of the Washington Lawyer magazine which gets distributed to all DC bar members.  Kenya has her own podcast called “Thank You For Saying NO” which is available at all podcast platforms.  She has been doing this podcast for several years, and it focuses on finding a way to be thankful and appreciative when you are told no.  As you’ll hear, Kenya has an up-tempo and infectious spirit, so it is no wonder that her podcast does well!  I really enjoyed getting to know her story on this episode of the podcast.   

Attorney Charles Brinkley comes from the long line of highly respected “Brinkley” attorneys in North Alabama, to include  Allen Brinkley, John Brinkley and Becca Brinkley.  Charles has had a varied practice of law over the years to include personal injury, criminal defense and family law.  For the past decade or so, Charles has focused primarily on real estate commercial and residential transactions along with estate planning. Charles is located in a historic building on Randolph Street built in 1836.   Jonathan Lusk is a good friend of his located in the same building who practices exclusively in the area of family law.  I enjoyed getting to know Charles’ story on this episode of the podcast.   

Attorney George Flowers is an exceptional DUI and criminal defense attorney located in Huntsville, Alabama. He practices throughout the state of Alabama. George previously served as a DUI prosecutor in Montgomery, Alabama until he moved to Huntsville and worked for several years in partnership with attorney Phil Price before starting his own law firm.  George is considered a master of his craft in the world of DUI defense.  I enjoyed getting to know him on this episode of the podcast.   

Attorney George Smith is a highly respected and well-known attorney throughout the State of Alabama.  As most attorneys in the state know George, I have known him by reputation, and this is really the first time for me to speak in depth with him. George is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law and he also received an LLM in tax law from the New York University School of Law. Following that, he clerked in Washington DC for a judge on the U.S. Tax Court for two years before returning back to Huntsville to start his law practice.  George has practiced with large Alabama law firms throughout his career.  He has been at Bradley since 2012.  As you'll hear, even with his impressive background, George is easy to talk to and I can well imagine that his clients appreciate the skill and practicality he brings as he represents them.  Since George has practiced in “big law” for his entire legal career, we also discussed a number of his friends and colleagues that are also very prominent lawyers in Alabama to include Pat Graves, Frank Caprio, Bartley Loftin, David Holt, Kevin Gray, Chris Hinson and Joe Ritch. I enjoyed getting to know George on this episode of the podcast and I think you will like his humble and up-tempo spirit!  

I have appeared before Judge Carol Ricciardello many times over the years for security clearance revocation hearings. She served for the last twenty years as an Administrative Judge with the Department of Defense (DOD)  Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) where she heard and decided over 1,700 security clearance cases during her tenure. This was really the second job in her career, as she first served for over 20 years on active-duty with the United States Navy, rising to ultimately serve as the Chief Judge of the Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary covering and supervising all Navy and Marine Corps Trial Judges around the world. Carol retired from the U.S. Navy as a highly decorated 0-6 Captain.  I have always liked her spirit, and I found her to be very smart, thoughtful, and straight forward.  I have been waiting for her retirement in order to do this podcast with her to learn her story.  I hope you enjoy it!   PS. You may also like a podcast I did with one of Carol’s colleagues, retired DOD DOHA Judge Michael Leonard here.          

Judge Patty Demos is a highly respected jurist here in Madison County, Alabama.  She has served on the bench for about a decade, after a long career as a prosecutor with the Madison County District Attorney’s Office.  Her main focus during her prosecution time was in the area of child abuse where she ultimately directed the Family Violence and Sexual Assault unit for the DA’s office.   She and her husband, Joe, have 4 boys who all wrestled in their youth and in high school.  In fact, that is how I first met her since my three boys all wrestled for a rival high school.  I enjoyed getting to catch up with Judge Demos on this episode of the podcast and I hope you enjoy getting to know her story here!