I spent almost a decade working as a Special Victims Unit prosecutor before pivoting to civil sexual abuse litigation. As any former prosecutor can attest, the civil side is a completely different beast. Learning the ropes of civil litigation left me feeling like a fish out of water. I could ad-lib an opening statement and felt at home in a courtroom, but those things seemed useless in the civil world, where trials occurred less frequently and most motions were argued on paper instead of at the trial table. Moreover, while my prosecutorial experience litigating sex crimes and child sexual and physical abuse matters proved helpful when working on civil sexual abuse cases, I deemed it useless when it came to other types of matters.