Ricardo Bonilla, associate, Fish & Richardson

Experience:

• Fish & Richardson, 2012-present

Education:

• Texas Tech University School of Law, 2012
• University of Texas at Dallas, 2009

What drew you to a career in law?

The opportunity to use my knowledge and experience to help others who find themselves in challenging situations. The law presents unique and difficult problems, and I have always enjoyed tackling and solving problems.

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

I want to be ready for the next phase of my career. Specifically, I want to improve my efforts in cultivating relationships that can lead to business relationships down the road. I have focused almost exclusively so far in my career on working the cases to which I am assigned, but I know I need to build and maintain a network that can bring work into the firm, too.

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

My proudest career moment so far was arguing and winning the second Federal Circuit appeal on a case that I was staffed on from day one and that I was immediately given the opportunity to play a major role in across all aspects of the case. The client attended the argument and was very happy with both my performance and, obviously, the result, and it felt tremendous to achieve such a great result on a case I had seen and helped run from start to finish for a client I had gotten to know well. My biggest hurdle has been knowing my limits and when to say I have no bandwidth—my workaholic attitude has led to some stressful (but fun!) moments in my career.

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

I choose 5 because I actually think that is more “nirvana” than 10. I take 10 to mean I have balanced the two exactly how I want to, but of course, that would mean I would want less work, more life—that is not realistic. I work hard, but I love my work, and it has led to some incredible experiences that often do not feel like work. And working so hard means sacrifices in my personal life, but not so many that I consider it a negative. I feel like I get the best of both worlds, and realistically, that's a 5.

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

Efficiency. I learned early on to focus on the things that matter, those that actually advance positions, and not to spend too much time on things I know to be peripheral. Getting the most out of the time I spend working has helped me take on more opportunities than I would have expected at this point in my career, and the more opportunities I have gotten, the more chances I have had to succeed.

Who is your favorite mentor and why?

David Conrad, a principal at Fish and a very recent prior recipient of this award, represents the best kind of mentor because he is also a fantastic sponsor. He has not only helped teach me how to practice law and helped cultivate my skills, but also he has been directly responsible for giving me opportunities that many attorneys wait years to get, and he gave them to me early on. I cannot thank him and others like him enough for how they have helped and continue to help my career.

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

The director of advocacy at Tech Law always told my moot court teams, “We will never be out-cased.” He meant that no matter who we went up against, we would always know the case law better and—on a related note—be better prepared. I took that to heart, and I practice it to this day. There may be better attorneys, but nobody will be better prepared than I am.

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

The NextGen initiative that many judges have bought into has been very exciting. We are seeing younger attorneys getting incredible opportunities earlier and earlier in their careers, and that is contributing to an increase in the diversity of thought in our profession.

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

Attorneys are also known as “counselors” because we do not just practice law on behalf of our clients—we counsel them on a far wider range of topics. That role brings with it an increased responsibility to our communities and to society, and the legal profession will need to work hard to meet that challenge.