Patricia Palacios, with Steptoe & Johnson.

Employer: Steptoe & Johnson
Title and Practice Area: Partner, Complex Commercial Disputes

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in your first year of practice? The importance of being business-minded. The practice of law is different from law school and requires attorneys to analyze issues from a client perspective. Sometimes that means foregoing the legal answer to a question and taking a position that accounts for the impact on the client's business.

Describe your biggest win or accomplishment in practice. Leading a team of attorneys, lobbyists and experts in litigation, inspector generals' investigations and Congressional hearings to obtain necessary regulatory approvals for our client's resource development project.

Who do you consider to be your greatest lawyer mentor? Tom Barba, a complex litigation and regulatory partner at Steptoe, has been an invaluable resource and mentor to me. Tom takes a bold approach to the law, often finding novel approaches to complex problems, and successfully navigating clients through difficult challenges with ease.

Please share a key to your success. Growing up as a non-native English speaker and being the first in my family to attend college taught me to be tenacious, entrepreneurial and to overcome obstacles. These traits have helped me to be prepared, creative, strategic and hard working in my legal career.