What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capability?
My greatest achievement as a professional was the co-founding of my law firm in 1983. During our growth – from the four founding partners to a law firm of approximately one hundred fifty lawyers in four cities – we have never wavered from the commitment to the core values that formed the bedrock of our firm: to practice law with the highest level of professionalism and integrity; to always put our clients’ interests above our own; to treat everyone at the firm and our adversaries with respect and consideration; and to take great pride in the importance of the cases we prosecute – and the role they play in keeping our capital markets healthy and transparent.
Personally, my greatest achievement is my family: my beloved wife, my four wonderful children and their spouses and my ten extraordinary grandchildren. On a more individual and deeply personal note, I am incredibly gratified by the recognition that I have received over the years as a photographer.
What do you do differently from your peers in the industry?
Our firm has always adhered to the principle of “quality over quantity.” By that I mean that we have always taken on far fewer cases than our peers so that we can truly focus on achieving the best results for our clients and the classes we represent. Consequently, even when our firm was a fraction of the size of our major competitors, we consistently achieved the largest and most significant recoveries of any firm in our field.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
The advice I would give to my younger self would be to take better care of my body so I wouldn’t have to be walking around with six total joint replacements and assorted other maladies. In addition, I would recommend an earlier start in achieving better balance between personal and professional commitments.
Can you give me a practical example of how you helped a client add value to the business?
I have spent a considerable amount of time advising clients, family and friends regarding their business endeavors and I’ve always told them to take a long-term view of business development by building the business one brick at a time; respect their workforce; keep an open mind to ideas wherever they may come from; and be consistent and honest in their dealings with everyone so their reputation is an asset and not a liability.
Within your sector, what do you think will be the biggest challenge for clients over the next 12 months?
The new Trump administration and the Republican control of Congress will undoubtedly be the biggest threat to our institutional clients and the rights of investors, consumers and workers. There is already a significant movement to gut investor and consumer protections that took so many years to develop.