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Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Yale Law School, 1992
Why did you decide to enter the legal profession?
My original plan was to attend medical school, but after observing surgery, I quickly realized that might not be the right path for me. Around that same time, I had several friends preparing for the LSAT. I thought that, if they could do well on the LSAT, maybe I could too. As things turned out, I did pretty well and ended up getting into Yale.
Who is someone who has inspired you in your career?
Longtime Yale Law School professor and former dean Harold Koh has been a lasting source of inspiration. He demonstrated that his career in law, academia and government can be intellectually rigorous and profoundly meaningful. He served as legal adviser to the U.S. State Department and led a law clinic during the Haitian refugee crisis in the early 1990s, where students worked on behalf of asylum seekers. His influence has stayed with me throughout my career, particularly in my pro bono immigration work over the past decade through the National Immigrant Justice Center.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Some of the best advice I’ve received from professional and personal mentors is simple: Life is short, so be intentional about how you live it.
What makes a good lawyer/judge?
To be a good lawyer or judge requires a combination of a lot of things, like attention to detail, intellectual rigor, and empathy. It’s important to be mindful of what the law can do and its impact on others.
What is something you wish people knew about lawyers?
I wish more people understood that most lawyers genuinely care about helping others. Despite the stereotypes, many of us entered the profession to try to help guide people through complex, often difficult situations. We are problem-solvers and advocates who are committed to making a difference.
Tell us about a “lesson learned” moment you’ve had in your career.
Representation matters. As we sat in the waiting room for an asylum merits hearing for two of my clients, a young man asked my interpreter, Rebeca, if we knew how a hearing worked. He was by himself, did not speak English, and only had a few pieces of paper with him. After we talked briefly to him, Rebeca asked me how he could possibly navigate a hearing on his own. We had worked with our clients for years helping them prepare for this day. Representation, on its own, rather than the merits of one’s situation, can sometimes be outcome-determinative. And each of us, as attorneys, is privileged to have the skills to help those without representation.
Tell us something surprising about you.
I’m the parent of not one but two sets of twins—born just 25 months apart. They’re now 25 and 23 years old and raising four kids that close in age was one of my life’s most significant challenges and joys. The first couple years were, at times, a chaotic blur; fortunately, we have pictures.
If you hadn’t pursued a legal career, what would you be doing?
I likely would have followed through with medicine—ideally in a field that didn’t require much fine motor coordination since that was what scared me about surgery, perhaps as an internist or radiologist.
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