Doug Emhoff talks today's fraught legal landscapes

is a pleasure and honor to welcome to former Second Gentlemen Doug M. Hoth. Thank you so much for being here. I know that you recently returned to your alma mater at USC Goal School Law as a distinguished visiting professor and you have expressed excitement about teaching a new generation of lawyers. So what principles do you feel are most important to instill in them during what you referred to as a difficult moment for the legal community? Well first of all thanks for having me and we are always have been at the vanguard of protecting our rights, our constitution, our rule of law and all the things that are frankly under attack right now. It's on all of you to use the skills that we've learned here at USC and then in practice and use those to lift people up to protect people and it's really incumbent on us lawyers to be out there in front. So that's my message. Beyond your work with students you've also been a public advocate for issues like combating hate and permanent access to legal aid and this is clearly what we're going through right now. So how do you plan to continue these efforts and your new role? So it's something I've always done and cared about before I was Second Gentlemen to access to justice which is a very fancy word to call on lawyers to do pro bono or free legal work for those in need who who can't afford it or don't know where to find it. And this is something I started day one out of law school and when I had the microphone as Second Gentlemen as being a lawyer coming right out of practice I really advocated and will continue to call out to our profession to help others. You see it with this administration. I mean hate is one of their weapons to divide us and make us feel small and make us feel alone and pit Americans against Americans and it's just it's just wrong. It's anti-American. Do you see that there is currently a support right now support system to build a lot more immigration lawyers out there right now while we're in this like hardcore world of division at this moment? Yes I've I was very heartened to see our LA legal community step up including my own firm to assist those in need who have been illegally and improperly targeted and disappeared and some of whom are citizens who are here legally and to just be there to our city for our community. And this is just again this is just wrong to target groups who in many cases are incredibly productive members of of our community so yes the legal community steps up not only in terms of pro bono but we do need more people who will take on immigration as a as a career. So shifting gears a little your role as Second Gentlemen was unprecedented you were the first one. How did you define your responsibilities and navigate the public spotlight while also supporting your wife and her role as vice president? It was hard. No one had ever had this role and so we really had to invent it on the fly and being a very careful lawyer I was like well show me show me the documents a lot of it was raising my hand as good what can I do to be most helpful I was a hard charging hard working lawyer for 30 years up to that point and so I'm like put me to work so I traveled the country on the vaccination front and then it was what okay what else can I do they realize I could give a speech or two so they started sending me all over the world to do events and represent our country and then also support her being the first woman vice president in the way that she was unfairly I would say now it is character-chored in the media and the amount of things that she had to go through I had to be there for her as her husband and be supportive while also doing it all in the public glare you mentioned that it was difficult as I'm sure it was what was the most challenging part of that journey was it the transition who did you turn to for support when you felt isolated well you know we had each other since Kamala had been through this for so many years she was very practical about it I of course was more emotional and and I would get angry and she would really try to talk me down if they were attacking her then they started attacking me then I was like what what are they attacking me for I'm just your spouse but that's what it is but I really followed her advice which is how is this going to help the administration if you overreact so it was really eyes on the prize and then you realize my kids still love me she still loves me my friends love me it's still that's what matters yeah and that's what really matters how do you feel about her using her voice and what was the process like when she initially decided to write the book I'm really glad she did and I think she's now on her book tour which is wild I was there last night in San Francisco I think she was at a point where she's just sick and tired as anyone should be of having others tell your story she wanted to tell her own story and her own voice her own way her truth all right so as an expert in entertainment law how do you feel the role of the media has changed in the campaign process over the years and how do you believe that the media helped or hurt come like her as this campaign so growing up you know there was a kind of an agreed upon truth and I think that's all out the window right now it doesn't matter who you're watching now it's just like a cacophony of voices trying to be more outrageous than the next which leads people to either check out and not watch it or find sources that are frankly not you know disinformation and misinformation but typically the media's job would be to call these lies out and now you know they're either silent or turning a blind eye and here we are so I would say step up help but you've got the microphone you got the power to do something about it so you've spoken about the need for hope and action and a vision for a future where we all belong what is your hope for the current state of the US and how do you believe that vision can be realized just like calm Harris I'm still hopeful it was the closest selection of the 21st century most people do not want what is happening right now that's why I'm hopeful it's going to take a lot of work things make it worse before they get better but okay that we now know what's in front of us so it's in coming on all of us get out there and you know do the work in the very last moments of vice president Harris has concession speech your wife turned to supporters in American people and she left them with us saying only when it's dark enough can you see the stars being right there with her in that moment what did that saying actually mean over to you very painful moment that night before in that day we never talked about it until she started writing her book once you know we were both grieving for our country in a very very deep way I'm just starting to reflect now and I think I come back to what she meant was this thing about why she's still hopeful when we when we fight we win but sometimes the fight's going to take a while I think one of the reasons she also wrote the book and is on this book tour is to remind people of how they felt during those hundred seven days that feeling of hope and optimism you don't have to not feel that way because of one guy in one election because that feeling is still there and how do we just bring that back out and I think that's what she meant thank you so much thank you for joining us we appreciate it thank you