Every day I come to work, we are representing businesses, consumers, entities around the country. That process plays an important role in our society. I do a lot of antitrust work. It may sound dry, but we’re dealing with competition gone wrong. But our whole system works on competition. Congresses pass laws to make sure the competition is fair because ultimately, then, consumers pay fair prices for goods. But when competitors get together and they agree not to compete, that system breaks down. So, we play just a critical role in our economy in those antitrust cases.

I work for nonprofit organizations in the District of Columbia that represented people with emotional or people with developmental disabilities. And it was a cause I believed in. and it was definitely a cause. The work we were doing every day was designed to change these people’s lives and to give them opportunities to succeed as they were intended to. So, having that sort of experience and having that passion really prepared me well for going and representing clients in a courtroom and taking on their cases and believing in them and taking them to trial.

Look, you have to be true to yourself before you can convince anyone to believe you or to accept your client’s story. You have to know your own voice. You have to know who you are as a person. Because ultimately, that jury, that judge, they’re connecting with you as an individual. So, you can’t go in with any airs. You can’t go in trying to put on a hat that you don’t ordinarily wear.

The second point that I would make is that your client’s case has to be your own. You have got to believe in that client’s case. And look, everyone has a story to tell. Whether you’re on the defense side, whether you’re on the plaintiff’s side, if your client doesn’t believe in your case, you’re not going to win. You just aren’t.

I was incredibly fortunate in my career before founding this firm with my other partners to have worked very closely with two real legends in the trial bar. Gentlemen that I respect practically more than anyone else I can think of. That’s Steve Susman and Lee Godfrey, both at Susman Godfrey, the first firm that I joined after a clerkship.