Demystifying the law on the air
Kenneth Landau ’80 knows a thing or two about the law—and he likes to share that knowledge.
So every Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m., WHPC-FM, the radio station of Nassau Community College in Garden City, N.Y., airs Landau’s show, Law You Should Know. In a tight half-hour, he interviews a guest, typically someone who has written a book or with a particular expertise in an area of law and brings listeners up to speed on whatever subject they’re discussing.
And he’s done it for 35 years and counting—the same tenure, by comparison, as Wall Street Week.
Why put so much information out into the airwaves without so much as a billable hour?
“The idea is to educate people about a variety of the issues and what some of their options may be,” says Landau, who is semi-retired from the civil litigation work he did with his longtime firm, Shayne, Dachs, Sauer & Dachs, LLP. “They may not need a lawyer at all. There might be alternatives like small claims court, or the Better Business Bureau, or some consumer agency, or they might just want to chalk it up to experience. If you’re doing home improvement, maybe it pays to have a lawyer review the contract. But we also talk about how to manage the lawyer—you don’t want to give them a blank check.”
It’s that kind of hard-knocks advice that has won the show its following, both on Long Island and worldwide. The station formats each episode as a podcast available for download at www.nccradio.org.
It all started in 1989. Landau was part of a professional networking group, and they invited him to come to the radio station for a one-off broadcast, to talk about the law. “I thought it was kind of fun and interesting,” he says. “So I proposed a show, I gave the station 30 or 40 topics for the first season, and they accepted my proposal.”
That was a long time ago. Back then, the station would give him a tape or CD of the show, which he’d share with that week’s guest as a thank-you. Now, in the digital age, he still does around 40 shows every year.
The topics are as wide-ranging as the law itself—and beyond. Some recent shows include “Electric Vehicles and the Law,” “Fighting Bill Collection,” “Protecting Your Ideas and NDAs” and “All About Sales Tax.” And Landau doesn’t confine himself to law-specific topics. Other experts have discussed “Digital Career Consulting,” “More Success With Less Stress,” “Speaking With Impact” and more.
Those topics, he says, are important to discuss, because his audience is not just laypeople, it’s lawyers as well.
“Lawyers are kind of specialized,” he observes. “They can refer people to other lawyers, so they need to know what’s out there. The law is evolving, and there are always new developments, consumer matters, insurance law, employment matters. I’m educating lawyers and teaching them, encouraging them to do the right thing, to be ethical, to offer low-cost consultations to get people in the door. Leave the client better off. Often, the consumer has a bad image of lawyers, and this is helping lawyers to do a better job and maybe teaching them a little about customer service. I’m trying to give them real tips they can implement.
“I thought I would run out of topics after a year or two or even after five years,” he says, “but there are always evolving areas of the law. There are new laws, and we revisit old issues. Buying and selling a house has gotten more complicated over the years. I update things and get different shows out of that.”
And if any of his fellow UB Law alumni would like to be a guest on Law You Should Know, he would welcome an email to lawyerkjl@aol.com.
“I feel I’m producing a product that is helping,” he says. “Part of our mandate as lawyers is to do pro bono work, so I’m trying to help other lawyers share information. I want to help lawyers market themselves and educate people, and sometimes it becomes a valuable tool for them. And for the public, sometimes a little knowledge can go a long way.”