I’d say the thing that guides the way we approach the practice of law more than anything else is that understanding that we are here to serve a client. It’s not about the case and it’s not about how we feel about the case. It’s about a client who has a dispute in the real world, and has objectives and understanding what those objectives are. And they may have more than one objective. It really goes to the heart of being an effective advocate and an effective lawyer.

You know, another thing that’s guided our approaches, and it’s a corollary to really understanding your client because we’re litigators. We’re involved in disputes. To be effective in resolving disputes you really have to place yourself in the position of your client’s adversary. You have to understand what’s motivating them? How are they seeing the facts that are in dispute? Because without that ability to sort of look at a dispute from all angles, you’re going to be handicapped in your ability to realize what might be the best approach to be an effective advocate for your client, and to accomplish the client’s objective. So that sort of is the overriding philosophy I think that I have and that this firm has in approaching dispute resolution in our role as lawyers in that process.

I’ve been fortunate to have a few mentors in the practice of law, but the one that comes to mind and probably the principle mentor in my practice was a gentleman by the name of Larry Barfield, and he also was a mentor of my partner, Adam. We were associates at a firm and Larry was our boss. And the lessons I learned from him were countless. He was one of these people that demanded precision in your writing, in your advocacy, and sometimes it was very uncomfortable to have somebody who scrutinized the work product the way he did.

I mean we would sit in a conference room and he would go line by line sometimes with a brief that we prepared to really make it as sharp and as persuasive as it can be. And the lesson has always stuck by me just how much dedication he had to his craft and how important it was for him to give the clients that were paying us to be their representatives. The best possible representation. That stood by me pretty significantly.

Another thing that jumps out about the mentorship I got from Mr. Barfield is, you know, he told me early on, when you go in a room, a settlement conference, or you go in a deposition, command that room. Command that courtroom. That’s you for you to be an advocate for your client and to really make sure there is a reason you’re there and it’s up to you to fulfill your duties as a lawyer to make sure you get your point across. And so that is also something that resonated with me and has impacted my career practicing law.