What was your route to the top? I started my legal career when I was a sophomore at NYU as a corporate paralegal for a small firm. After graduating from Fordham Law, I returned and continued advising microcap companies with SEC compliance matters and alternative IPOs. Subsequently this firm combined with LA-based Richardson & Patel (“RP”) where I expanded and strengthened my practice within the public finance arena, specifically with respect to traditional IPOs and exchange listings. Here I was fortunate enough that as an associate, firm management was receptive to my thoughts and ideas concerning various firm management matters. I was promoted to partner in 2014. In July 2015, RP merged with MSK. Seeing a need for representation from MSK's NY office, I quickly joined numerous committees at MSK. In 2016, I was honored to be asked to serve as the managing partner of MSK's NY office which is a capacity I continue to serve in today.

What keeps you up at night? (i.e. What are your biggest business-related concerns?) Any issue in a transaction could result in significant consequences for the client. The capital markets space is extremely fast-paced, with transactions starting and closing within days (sometimes hours). My core clients are primarily microcap companies that are either in the process of going public for the first time or only recently became public. Many times we evaluate unique transaction structures to address the needs of this particular client base. As counsel, our clients expect and rely on us to anticipate, identify and find solutions to issues very quickly, the outcomes of which can be critical to the success of the company and its business plans.

What is the best leadership advice you provided, or received, and why do you think it was effective? Understand the details of the positions of the members of your team and what it takes to accomplish their tasks. By starting off my legal career as a paralegal, I find myself to be extremely appreciative and understanding of some of the leg work it takes to support attorneys. Many people may feel as if they don't necessarily need to know what the rest of the team is doing because it's not their job. As a manager, if you don't take the time to try and understand what it is that your team has to do to accomplish the goals you are all working on together, it can be very difficult to effectively lead and advise in order to ensure that everyone is working efficiently to meet the specific objective.

Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you started out in the legal profession? As a young lawyer, you're often focused on and consumed by the legal issues in front of you every day, so it can be difficult to make the time to network and get to know people which is critical to building your practice. Young attorneys should be very deliberate about their networking activities early in their careers so that they can capitalize on opportunities that an expanded network can provide later in their careers when the expectations to develop your own practice increase.