Employer: MoloLamken
Title and Practice Area: Partner, White-Collar Defense and Investigations

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in your first year of practice? Find excellent mentors, make yourself indispensable to them and soak up everything they have to teach. The learning curve as a new lawyer is steep. It's critical to find mentors who will give you opportunities to shine and teach you everything they know in the process.

Describe your biggest win or accomplishment in practice. My biggest wins come when I can tell a client that they won't be charged with a crime. In one high profile public-corruption case, the U.S. Attorney's Office decided to indict. We ultimately convinced the deputy attorney general to overrule the U.S. attorney's decision and order the investigation closed.

Who do you consider to be your greatest lawyer mentor? Judge Joel Flaum [of the Seventh Circuit]. No one better exemplifies a sense of humility before the law, an appreciation for the importance of this work, and the recognition that at the heart of every case are real people whose lives will be impacted by the outcome.

Please share a key to your success. I stay curious, think outside the box, and approach problems from many angles. Great advocacy requires seeing things other people miss and anticipating things others don't expect. A constant search for the best argument or evidence gives my clients the best chance of success.