J.R. Morgan, counsel, Sherman & Sterling

Experience:

• Sherman & Sterling, 2018-present
• Andrews Kurth Kenyon, 2017-2018
• Morgan, 2013-2017
• Schulte Roth & Zabel, 2008-2012
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2007

Education:

• UCLA School of Law, 2009
• Evergreen State College, B.S., B.A. 2001/'02

What drew you to a career in law?

I started a couple of businesses in college that lead me to an interest in business law, so I enrolled in a few pre-law courses. That introduced me to Professor Jose Gomez, a lawyer who worked closely with Caser Chavez. He inspired in me a respect for the social importance of the law as well as excitement about the potential breadth and value of a legal education. I doubt I would have found the law without a few passionate and inspiring professors like Professor Gomez.

Have you set a specific goal that you want to achieve in the next year?

Other than getting to the gym? So far this year my focus has been integrating fully with my new firm, so I have been focused more internally, visiting our Silicon Valley, New York, London and Hong Kong offices. For the next year, I want to focus more locally and externally, introducing more Texans to our firm which has recently entered the market here.

What has been your proudest career moment and your biggest hurdle?

The biggest hurdle was in the first year of starting my law firm, when I had expenses but no income (and not a ton of savings) and it was hard to drown out the naysayers. My proudest moment was that same year when I landed my first large client, ensuring the firm would succeed. I could not have achieved that without the help of a half dozen or so lawyers running small law firms that gave me some much needed advice and support; don't under-estimate the value of your local bar.

Where do you fit on a 1-10 work-life balance scale with 10 being nirvana? Please explain.

I would say an 8.5? I get to do interesting and sophisticated work (launching venture capital funds), around a great group of lawyers, in my favorite city. I don't think I am alone in our profession in wishing I had a bit more personal time, but I really can't complain too much since: (i) my work life balance is mostly due to my own choices and priorities, and (ii) I just got back from a pro bono trip to Tanzania, fully supported by my firm, where we worked with Lawyers Without Borders to give support to the Tanzanian criminal justice system. So maybe I should revise that to a 9.9?

What is the top quality that you've used to succeed in the profession?

Diligence.

Who is your favorite mentor and why?

My mother. She worked hard her entire life, always gives more than she takes and never shy at calling “bull” anywhere she sees it. She also homeschooled me most of my life, for which I am very grateful.

What's the best advice anyone has ever given you?

“Know what you know and what you do not know.” I think it is easy, especially for more junior attorneys, to either underestimate or overestimate the extent of their knowledge about particular areas of the law, and neither is positive for their career. Law is a knowledge based business and it is important that you both have a strong knowledge base in a definably area and project confidence (both to other lawyers and to clients) about that subject matter knowledge without overstepping and losing your credibility. If you don't know what you are an expert in, you can bet others don't either, and that makes it harder to build a practice.

What trends are you observing in the profession that you're excited about?

I think the application of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to legal problems and legal practice has the potential to be a tool to better leverage attorney value that will make the profession more efficient and ensure its continued relevance, as well as improving overall satisfaction and experience for both clients and attorneys.

What is the greatest challenge you see for the legal profession?

The continued consolidation of large law firms across geographic markets, combined with the increasing efficiencies brought to the field by the integration of new technologies may continue to reduce the demand for overall headcount of “big law” attorneys (and possibly, firms). Large law firms in particular will likely need to reconfigure their recruitment, training and retention assumptions for an even more selective and long-term approach. Law schools may be forced to reconfigure their cost structure and curriculum. That is a lot of change that could need to happen fairly quickly.