Barrister Banter – Business Law Section

Barrister Banter: Ambyr O’Donnell

The purpose of the series is to bridge the gap between junior and senior business lawyers in Oregon, fostering understanding and camaraderie. For this quarter’s installment, we interviewed Ambyr O’Donnell, M&A and IPO advisor and the winner of the 2025 James B. Castles Leadership Award. Read on to learn how what’s important to Ambyr—tech, ethics, and ringing the bell on Wall Street—has informed her successful career.

Tell me about your path to being a lawyer. What inspired you to pursue this career?
I started my undergraduate degree as a computer science major and quickly realized I didn’t love living in a computer lab. An advisor pointed out that law fit my interests in policy, history, and international relations. I took the LSAT, applied to law schools, and never looked back. My interest in tech never went away.
What is your practice area?

I work with technology companies going through transformational phases: IPOs, M&A, international expansion, and other major growth moments. I’m a general business lawyer focused on corporate law, M&A, IP, and employment law. I work closely with board members, CEOs, founders, and executive teams to structure and drive strategic outcomes for their business.
How long have you been in your current role?
I’ve spent about fifteen years as a general counsel or chief legal officer after starting in-house right out of law school. Over time, my work has evolved into broader business advisory roles, which I absolutely love.
How have you seen the practice change since you started practicing?
Lawyers used to do legal research in physical libraries with books and send faxes or letters for written notice. Now so much of what we do is digital and far more efficient, but also less personal. In the last couple years, AI has also changed how I work. I use AI to get smarter faster, synthesize lots of data, create presentations, and simplify complex communications. I learn new things I can do with AI agents every week. I never outsource judgment and I always carefully vet any AI output before it goes to anyone.
What do you wish you had known before you started working as a new lawyer?
Your career path might not look like everyone else’s. You may not look like the other lawyers in the room. What is important is what you have to contribute. Listen more than you speak, and speak when something needs to be said.
What are your career highlights?
I’ve always wanted to stand on the platform to ring the bell on Wall Street. In 2021, I had the privilege of doing that at the New York Stock Exchange with my team at our company’s IPO. What made it even better was being able to bring my son, who was in high school at the time, onto the NYSE trading floor.

Every deal we close for the purchase or sale of a company feels like an important career milestone. None of my career highlights were achieved alone. Business law is a team sport.
What is your favorite part of the job?
Solving hard problems with smart people and helping companies turn bold ideas into reality. At the end of the day, it’s all about people working toward something meaningful.
What parts of the job do you wish you could outsource to AI?
Scheduling and expense reports! Oh, and resolving meritless claims. Those can be so distracting and wasteful.
What advice would you give a new business lawyer?

There are many ways to create a successful career using your law degree. Seek out projects and people doing interesting things early on and put in the time. Many very successful business people started out in law.

When I was in law school, I read a quote by former Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice William M. O’Connell, who said: “Without ethics ours is a crass calling.” This is especially true for business law. Choose to work for good people and businesses doing good things. It matters.
What advice would you give a senior lawyer who is charged with mentoring a new lawyer?
Move past the day-to-day work. Work with the new lawyer to create a vision for what they might want to do (or at least what they could be qualified to do) in a few years. Identify specific skills and experiences they should pursue to advance their career toward their vision.

Remind new lawyers that it is okay to take risks and support the businesses they advise in taking smart, calculated risks, so long as everything is legal and ethical.

I had the benefit of working with an incredible mentor early on and it had a very positive impact on my career. ♦

Barrister Banter: Daniel Gilbert

The purpose of the Barrister Banter series is to bridge the gap between junior and senior business lawyers in Oregon, fostering understanding and camaraderie. For this quarter’s installment, we interviewed Daniel Gilbert, Senior Assistant Attorney General for the Oregon Department of Justice. Read on to learn how Daniel’s cross-country law experience, from Washington, DC to Oregon, informs his words of wisdom for young lawyers.

Tell me about your path to being a lawyer. What inspired you to pursue this career?

I have always enjoyed logic and trying to piece together disparate pieces of information into a cohesive narrative. I also loved competing in games (sports and otherwise) and was good at learning esoteric rules and figuring out how to apply them when doing so would give me a competitive advantage. Law seemed like a good fit.

What is your practice area?

I am a government lawyer, serving as a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the General Counsel Division of the Oregon Department of Justice. In this role, I provide legal advice to numerous state agencies as they seek to carry out the duties assigned to them by the Oregon Legislature.

How long have you been in your current role?

I have been in my current position for a little more than two years and an attorney with the State of Oregon for about thirteen years.

How have you seen the practice change since you started practicing?

Client expectations around response times and attorney availability have increased significantly. There is also an increased desire to use quantifiable metrics to evaluate attorney performance.

What do you wish you had known before you started working as a new lawyer?

Three things. First, that you are in charge of your own career. It is critical for a young attorney to constantly step back, evaluate their career to date, and decide if they like the path they are on or if changes are necessary. Any organization, including law firms, defaults to using their employees in a way that best suits the organization’s needs. A young attorney should continually evaluate and ensure that their career is developing in a way that is conducive to their long-term needs and desires.

Second, I wish I had understood the importance of relationships and of developing a reputation for excellence and good judgment (both internally and with clients). The same piece of legal advice can be treated differently depending on who delivers it and how it is delivered. You will have a happier and more successful career if you become known as a trusted advisor who understands the clients’ needs and gives great legal advice that is tailored to those needs.

Third, keep an open mind with respect to career opportunities. When I started my career, I “knew” that I wanted to do international law. And I spent the first seven years of my career doing so while working at a large firm in Washington, DC with a practice that focused on investment treaty arbitration and representing foreign sovereigns before U.S. federal courts. But life brought me to Oregon, and I have ultimately been much happier working for state government than I was doing what I thought was my dream job.

What are your career highlights?

My career highlights involve successfully guiding clients through unsettled areas of the law. As a government attorney, one highlight was successfully advising the Oregon Legislature as it sought to retain the ability to conduct redistricting when (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) the Legislature would not receive the federal census data required to conduct redistricting before the deadline for state legislative reapportionment that is set forth in the Oregon Constitution.

What is your favorite part of the job?

My favorite part of the job is the number of novel issues I am asked to analyze and provide legal advice on. I have worked in state government for almost thirteen years, and it feels like nearly every week I am presented with a new circumstance to figure out.

What parts of the job do you wish you could outsource to AI?

Basic legal research/case law summaries.

What advice would you give a new business lawyer?

Work hard, develop a reputation for producing excellent work, and remember that professional relationships matter.

What advice would you give a senior lawyer who is charged with mentoring a new lawyer?

Take the responsibility seriously. This means taking the time to get to know the new lawyer as a person and trying to figure out what they actually want to accomplish in their legal career. Advice is much more helpful when the recipient feels understood. ♦

Barrister Banter: Michael T. Faulconer

The purpose of the series is to bridge the gap between junior and senior business lawyers in Oregon, fostering understanding and camaraderie. For this quarter’s installment, we interviewed Michael T. Faulconer, an attorney at Gleaves Swearingen in Eugene, Oregon. Read on to learn about how Michael found his way from Tokyo to Eugene, his advice about the importance of critical thinking and a work-life balance, and his take on AI.

Tell me about your path to being a lawyer. What inspired you to pursue this career?

My path was not a traditional one. With degrees in International Studies and Japanese in hand, I went to Tokyo after college and worked for a little over three years in a Japanese government office as an international relations consultant. Following that, I went to work for a Japanese tech company. It wasn’t until I was in my late twenties that I began to think about law as a potential path for me. Although those experiences were priceless, I was looking for a career that would afford me a greater opportunity to apply analytical and problem-solving skills. I was very drawn to the idea of law school and the practice of law because there is no better medium for developing and applying those skills, particularly in a way that allows me to do good for people and for causes that I care about. That led me to Michigan Law School and becoming a lawyer.

What is your practice area?

My practice focuses on business transactions and general corporate guidance. Although there is a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), I enjoy assisting clients with all sorts of transactions, including commercial real estate sales/leases, financing transactions, and commercial contracts of all types. I got my start at Sidley Austin in Los Angeles, where my focus was mainly on finance and international transactions, but gradually my interest led me more toward M&A and other types of transactional work. I learned much during my time in LA, but making the move to Eugene gave me the opportunity to broaden my practice to include all types of transactional work, which was a welcome change.

How long have you been in your current role?

I started at Gleaves Swearingen in 2007, and became a partner soon after. My role has grown to include firm administration as part of our management committee.

How have you seen the practice change since you started practicing?

I think it has become less personal. It feels like we spend less time in the same room with clients and other legal professionals than we used to, and we don’t get to know people as well. Since I started practicing there have been numerous technological advancements that have enhanced our ability to provide services to our clients, but not without a cost. In this sense, I tend to think of technology as both a blessing and a curse.

What do you wish you had known before you started working as a new lawyer?

A great work/life balance is the key to happiness. Life is too short to spend all of it working. After a few years in LA, I realized that I was missing out on too much, so I made the decision to move back to Oregon and situate myself in a community where I can have it all—a sophisticated business law practice, meaningful involvement in my community, family time, and time to spend on things that I enjoy. One of those things is coaching. I coached club and high school softball teams for fifteen years, giving me the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of young people in our community in a way that I couldn’t achieve with my lawyer hat on.

What are your career highlights?

Over the years there have been many large deals involving many millions of dollars, and it’s easy to point to those and say those are the highlights. But there have also been many deals involving small business owners, nonprofits, and other members of our community that have been just as rewarding. Every time we helped a client achieve their goal counts as a highlight in my book.

(On the coaching side, two 6A state titles as the head coach at Sheldon High School stand out as highlights that I’m proud of. Go Irish!).

What is your favorite part of the job?

I love solving puzzles and coming up with creative solutions to problems, and those are big parts of this job. I also enjoy my colleagues and coworkers that I work with on a daily basis. We have an amazing team here at Gleaves, and it makes the job all the more fun and rewarding when you have great people around you.

What parts of the job do you wish you could outsource to AI?

You are asking the wrong guy. I’m pretty convinced we are just a few short steps away from finding ourselves in The Matrix or being destroyed by Cylons (shoutout to Battlestar Galactica). But all joking aside, being a good lawyer requires critical thinking, good judgment, and the ability to communicate with people, and these are things that can’t be outsourced. They are also what makes being a lawyer challenging and fun.

What advice would you give a new business lawyer?

Don’t be in too big of a hurry. Focus on the quality of your work. Think critically, challenge assumptions, write clearly and with precision, and review thoroughly. Then double check everything. Good things will come to young lawyers who do these things.

What advice would you give a senior lawyer who is charged with mentoring a new lawyer?

Law school was great for developing critical thinking skills, but I think most of us learn how to be a lawyer from other lawyers. Remember those who mentored you, and be patient and generous with your time in paying it forward. ♦

Barrister Banter: Peter Bragdon

The purpose of the series is to bridge the gap between junior and senior business lawyers in Oregon, fostering understanding and camaraderie. For this quarter’s installment, we interviewed Peter Bragdon, the Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, and General Counsel for Columbia Sportswear Company and the winner of the 2024 James B. Castles Leadership Award. Read on to learn about his rich professional background that led him to working in-house for Columbia as well as his opinions on making mistakes, seeking mentors, and being a mentor.

Tell me about your path to being a lawyer. What inspired you to pursue this career?

I took a twisted, unconventional path, and I consider it a stroke of good fortune that I am in this role. I tend to look at careers as a collection of skills and experiences that can be put to use in a variety of ways. For me, my primary experiences are a blend of law, public policy, media, and business, and I use all of that in my role. I started out as a journalist and won a fellowship to get a master’s degree at Yale Law School. It was an amazing year, and I got a glimpse into the power of understanding the law and the multiple ways a law degree can be used to create change. I chose to go on to get my JD, hoping it would lead to opportunities in the private and public sectors and also help me find ways to contribute to civic efforts outside of work. That’s how it worked out. For example, early in my time at Columbia I was given a leave of absence to serve as Governor Kulongoski’s first chief of staff. That role didn’t require a law degree, but I doubt I would have gotten there or been able to do the job without it.

What is your practice area?

Being in-house has meant being a “free-range” lawyer. Working for a public company selling products in roughly one hundred countries, there is no end to the variety of legal issues, which on a given day can include engaging with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, addressing a trademark issue in Europe, or looking into a construction project in India, just to name a few examples. I started out as a corporate securities and finance attorney, which was great training for thinking in a multifunctional way.

How long have you been in your current role?

I have two answers. I became General Counsel in 2004. But my role has evolved steadily, as has the company. Over time I have come to oversee multiple functions within the company and eventually took on the roles of Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, and General Counsel.

How have you seen the practice change since you started practicing?

I see many more in-house lawyers getting involved in a broad range of issues across organizations, managing multiples functions and being viewed as strategic partners in leadership. That’s certainly been an opportunity at Columbia, but I see it elsewhere.

What do you wish you had known before you started working as a new lawyer?

Mistakes may be your best teacher…avoid them at all costs, but use every one of them to learn. I have worked with more amazing people than I can count, but a common theme that has made them amazing was how understanding they were and the room they gave me to make my own mistakes and learn. I wish I hadn’t made them, but I probably ended up better off as a result.

What are your career highlights?

Meeting Ted Kulongoski when I was a journalist in the 1980s and working with him as Special Assistant Attorney General in the Oregon DOJ and as his Chief of Staff in the Governor’s office. Getting introduced to Columbia Sportswear’s management in the 1990s before the company went public, and getting the chance to join the company and grow with it. And both of those things led to civic engagement, ranging from the Board of the Oregon Community Foundation to being a member of the Port of Portland Commission.

What is your favorite part of the job?

At Columbia Sportswear, we work to connect active people with their passions. That is a great mission, and I get to pursue it with many talented people across every company function. I get paid to see the world and learn something new every week.

What parts of the job do you wish you could outsource to AI?

I would be happy to never read another contract. Fortunately, you can’t really outsource judgment or relationships, which are among the best parts of being a lawyer.

What advice would you give a new business lawyer?

Don’t wait for business to come to you. Personally, I think some of the best parts of being a lawyer are the relationships you can build, and the opportunities to gain a holistic understanding of a business or industry. There are plenty of isolated legal issues that have to be addressed at given times, and those are important, but it can be incredibly satisfying to be engaged with management on a business effort, start to finish, bringing not only the legal skill but business judgment. I have enjoyed being at the table when ideas are first debated through to when the business effort comes to fruition (or, in some cases, doesn’t). But my best advice is to seek mentors wherever you can. You’ll be surprised how many people inside and outside the law are willing to be helpful.

What advice would you give a senior lawyer who is charged with mentoring a new lawyer?

Be kind and be generous with your time. It is hard to believe many senior lawyers would have been successful if someone hadn’t done that for them. Pay it forward. ♦

Barrister Banter: Catherine Meyer

The purpose of the series is to bridge the gap between junior and senior business lawyers in Oregon, fostering understanding and camaraderie. For this installment, we interviewed Catherine Meyer, General Counsel at Alliant Systems and Executive Committee member and Treasurer for the Corporate Counsel Section of the Oregon State Bar. Read on to learn more about her path to law, her current role, and what she’s learned about the field.

Tell me about your path to being a lawyer. What inspired you to pursue this career?

Late in my undergraduate studies, I figured out I was going the wrong direction. It was around then I discovered an interest in public policy, and it ultimately led me to start thinking about practicing law. And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense for me. I wanted a career that would challenge me for the long-term and provide opportunities for a stable future, and my friends and family all told me they thought I had the right personality for it.

What is your practice area?

I am a corporate/commercial attorney working as the only in-house with a construction company—so, sort of a transactional commercial generalist with a strong construction component. In my role, I help guide one specific company through a variety of legal issues that arise for them, allowing me to customize my advice to their specific needs. This is a solid departure from law firm culture, where law firm attorneys keep their very detailed legal advice separate from advice related more to business goals or processes.

How long have you been in your current role?

Just over a year.

How have you seen the practice change since you started practicing?

AI definitely brings up a lot of changes, although it seems to affect some areas of practice more than others. It seems like a great tool for improving and economizing document discovery.

What do you wish you had known before you started working as a new lawyer?

I wish I had known how long it can take for new lawyers to feel at all comfortable in the role and to find a position that is a good fit. For me, I didn’t really enjoy practicing law until I went in-house five years after passing the bar.

What are your career highlights?

I ran my own very small firm before joining another firm. After practicing in Oregon for three years, I moved to British Columbia and became licensed there and in Washington. My first in-house position was with a multinational consulting company, and I gained more and more responsibility for the broad variety of topics that arise as part of a small legal team. I also learned to work with internal stakeholders with a business focus—a rather different dynamic from working in a private firm.

I am proud to highlight one particular achievement. When I was still in private practice, I had the unique opportunity to help hone the arguments that prevailed on an appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court. I worked on a small team to research extensive legislative history, and was part of final logistical discussions with appeals counsel as to how to build that research into the arguments that won the case.

What is your favorite part of the job?

I love being a resource for my teammates, to help them succeed in their mission.

What parts of the job do you wish you could outsource to AI?

This is a tough question because, right now, I don’t trust AI to give me the right information. I currently use it only to get me pointed in the right direction. As AI improves, I hope to see that it could help reduce the time needed to review contracts.

What advice would you give a new business lawyer?

We are all always learning, so do not worry too much about what you don’t know. Find a mentor who will invest in your success, and focus on building skills.

What advice would you give a senior lawyer who is charged with mentoring a new lawyer?

Ask a lot of questions of the new lawyer; don’t assume the new lawyer’s experience is what you think you remember of your early years. The most valuable advice will vary by person, and understanding the new lawyer’s experiences, goals, and concerns can help make a mentoring relationship much more meaningful. ♦

Barrister Banter: Melissa Jaffe

The purpose of the series is to bridge the gap between junior and senior business lawyers in Oregon, fostering understanding and camaraderie. For this article, we interviewed Melissa Jaffe, the owner and principal attorney of the Law Offices of Melissa B. Jaffe, PC and a member of the Business Law Section Executive Committee. Read on to learn more about her path to law, her practice, and her advice for junior and senior lawyers.

Tell me about your path to being a lawyer. What inspired you to pursue this career?

I worked at a club in college called the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. At the time, I mostly did it for the free concerts, but witnessing the amount of behind-the-scenes work that went into each production was inspiring. Eventually I was tasked with reading and even redlining contracts, and I was hooked—I knew I wanted to be a transactional lawyer. I was able to problem-solve, be creative, and interpret different perspectives from different stakeholders, and I was responsible for making sure all the details were tracked and executed. If there was a disagreement, I was routinely called upon to mediate. It was fast-paced, detailed, and incredibly satisfying to witness how many lives were impacted with each event.

What is your practice area?

I am a transactional business lawyer with a focus on intellectual property and privacy law. My skill set is called upon regarding artists, producers, entrepreneurs, new business technology (such as cryptocurrency), and new endeavors of all kinds.

How long have you been in your current role?

I became a lawyer nearly twenty years ago. I have owned my own practice for the last seventeen years.

How have you seen the practice change since you started practicing?

Technology has changed everything in my practice. I literally think everything has been updated—my staff is all remote, I use AI to assist with scheduling and managing calendars across different time zones, and all my clients have some internet component, which has caused privacy issues to increase exponentially. From a business ownership perspective, when I started my practice, I would use Yellow Pages ads. Now I have marketing strategy sessions that include social media, apps, and video presentations. I own a multi-jurisdictional practice; I’m licensed in CA, OR, and WA and will sit for the HI bar shortly. Almost all my meetings are remote through Teams or Zoom.

What do you wish you had known before you started working as a new lawyer?

I really wish I would have invested in a joint MBA/JD. Running your own firm is so much more than just billing and emails. There are aspects of accounting, management, marketing and PR, and feeling responsible for staff that add additional layers of stress I wasn’t necessarily prepared to encounter. Luckily, I enjoy learning and was able to grow along with my practice. Honestly, I remember thinking I was finished with classwork once I graduated from law school, but it turned out I wasn’t, not by a long shot!

What are your career highlights?

There have been so many. When I started my career in Portland, I would give free talks to artists on the basics of intellectual property. About ten years later, I was called on to write a brief on copyright law in a very high-stakes litigation. Based on my talk, the artist was able to deftly negotiate a derivative rights clause to his contract that ultimately won him a lot of money. I think the particular nuance escaped many of the corporate lawyers when drafting the agreement. He contacted me after the judgment was rendered to thank me. I truly changed his life for the better. That was very gratifying.

Another person who joined my office as an assistant went on to run her own incredibly successful creative business. We are still in touch, and I know many of her business decisions were based on the talks we had had years prior.

When I am able to get my clients, staff, or audience members to understand the importance of legal theories or intellectual property issues—when I see the light bulb turn on—that is intensely gratifying for me.

What is your favorite part of the job?

My favorite part of my job is making the world a better place for my colleagues, clients, and their clients. There is such an impact we get to make, and I believe it’s an impact that deeply enriches others in the long term. Watching business grow, multiply, and even sell has a certain magic to it. It is an honor to assist clients turn an idea or a small venture into something that can support their families and even generations into the future.

What parts of the job do you wish you could outsource to AI?

I am learning to love marketing. Promoting myself and my business is a tough thing for me because my name is also my law firm name. As a solo practitioner it can feel uncomfortable to talk about myself. At times, I wish I could avoid it entirely and hand it off to AI.

What advice would you give a new business lawyer?

My biggest advice to new business lawyers is to turn your devices off while with family, especially if you have children. I understand we are a competitive group, but it makes a big difference for mental and ultimately physical wellness to just be present with loved ones.

My second piece of advice is to engage in service. My community service through the Business Law Section, Intellectual Property Law Section, Oregon Women Lawyers, House of Delegates of the Oregon State Bar, and state bar taskforces has allowed me to meet others who are passionate about the practice of law. The pro bono work I’m engaged in is some of the most impactful.

What advice would you give a senior lawyer who is charged with mentoring a new lawyer?

I recommend senior lawyers remain vulnerable and open with their mentees. I have made great friendships with my mentees and discovered some pretty serious circumstances that truly needed attention. I’m grateful I was able to help in sometimes profound ways. Other times, just remaining available means a lot to a brand-new lawyer.

Barrister Banter: Joe Cerne

This is the first installment of the Business Law Section’s “Barrister Banter” series. The purpose of the series is to bridge the gap between junior and senior business lawyers in Oregon, fostering understanding and camaraderie. For this article, we interviewed Joe Cerne, an associate at Lane Powell and a member of the Business Law Section Executive Committee. Read on to learn more about his journey into law, his favorite parts about his career, and some advice he has for both junior and senior lawyers.

Tell me about your path to being a lawyer. What inspired you to pursue this career?

After graduating from college (University of Puget Sound–go Loggers!), I worked at Boeing in Seattle, Washington. I enjoyed my role there on the supplier management team working with aircraft supplier contracts and assisting with the relationships between Boeing suppliers and airline customers. It was my first real experience with reviewing and discussing legal contracts.

I was not part of the official Boeing legal department, so instead my role was to work with Boeing suppliers and airline customers, looking at many types of disagreements from a practical perspective and find business-first solutions. I enjoyed the creative problem solving and thought that going to law school would be worth the investment so I could continue to work with clients to help find practical solutions to their problems.

What is your practice area?

Primarily corporate, securities, and mergers & acquisitions. I also do a fair amount of work in the startups and venture capital space, as well as some commercial real estate work.

How long have you been in your current role?

I just finished my sixth year with Lane Powell. I was a summer associate in 2017 before I joined full time in the fall of 2018.

How have you seen the practice change since you started practicing?

It feels like we talk a lot about pre-COVID versus post-COVID as a defining period of change—some things changed for the better; some things, maybe not. I think one of the more interesting changes is that a “conference call” is really never a phone call anymore; it’s a video call rather than a true dial-in phone call. I honestly cannot remember the last time I called in to a group conference call line that wasn’t connected to a video platform. I think many clients appreciate the sense of realness that comes with seeing their attorney in front of them.

What do you wish you had known before you started working as a new lawyer?

That my job could be, at times, boiled down to being a professional emailer. As lawyers we are of course much more than professional emailers, but sometimes it really does feel like I should have taken an “Email Management 101” in college because so much of our communications are in emails. With that said, being effective in email communication can really set you apart from other lawyers, and make your client and opposing counsel interactions much more efficient.

What are your career highlights?

I have found it fulfilling to participate in law school and new lawyer mentorship programs. Seeing the development of law students into new attorneys has been rewarding. In particular, seeing summer associates that I’ve worked with and mentored join the firm full time after law school has been a highlight as well. The basic things that more experienced attorneys do every day and take for granted are sometimes the most daunting to law students and new lawyers. The seemingly simple conversations often have the greatest impact on law students and new lawyers. We are all extremely busy, but the positive impact we can have on law students and new lawyers is worth the time investment. I would encourage everyone to make an effort to volunteer their time to support law students and new lawyers.

What is your favorite part of the job?

Seeing the passion that business owners have is really inspiring. Knowing that I get to work with people who care so deeply about their employees and customers, and working hard for them, is one of my favorite parts of this job. The emotion and “off-the-clock” energy that business owners spend to take care of their employees and customers is impressive. There are of course many ways to run a successful business, but one of the common threads seems to be that everyone is passionate about what they do, and passionate about taking care of their employees and customers.

What parts of the job do you wish you could outsource to AI?

Billing my time in six-minute increments. There are all sorts of timers and other tech resources available, but if I could outsource that entire process, including drafting billing narratives, that would be great!

What advice would you give a new business lawyer?

Ask questions. Graduating from law school and entering the practice of law, and particularly transactional business law, can feel overwhelming. It is hard to obtain meaningful exposure to transactional business law topics/concepts in law school. Know that nobody expects you to have experience, and everyone understands you are likely seeing documents and hearing concepts/terminology for the first time. It would be concerning if you didn’t ask questions. But make sure to Google your question first! If nothing else, a few clicks on the internet will help you ask a better/more refined version of your question.

What advice would you give a senior lawyer who is charged with mentoring a new lawyer?

Ask questions. Starting out in the practice of law, particularly for those without lawyers in their family or in their personal lives, can be extremely intimidating. Even if the questions are not on the client-focused topic, the feeling that a senior lawyer cares enough to ask “how are things going” can go a long way toward creating a sense of belonging. Being able to learn more about who someone is, and their experiences that brought them to the practice of law, will not only improve communication long term (and help deliver better results for your client), but it will also help reduce the anxiety and stress that comes along with being new to the profession. ♦