Congratulations on recently receiving the prestigious Champion of Justice Legal Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers! Who/What inspired you to pursue white collar defense and what this award means to you?
I was a first-generation college student who entered college with a vague sense of wanting to make the world a fairer place, but no window into how to do that. College helped me tackle “big ideas,” and one that grabbed me was the proper relationship between the state and the individual. Working as a small-town paralegal after college, helping injured workers get statutory compensation, showed me how lawyers put those big ideas to work client-by-client.
It all came together when I took criminal procedure as a 2L. I can’t think of another job where I could put the ideas that inspire me into practice daily, helping someone through what is often the most demanding challenge of their life and holding the government to its obligations.
I was immensely gratified to receive NACDL’s Champion of Justice award, because it stands for exactly this: excellence in legal practice as a tool for protecting individual rights and making the system more equitable. Many of NACDL’s leaders are high-profile trial lawyers whose cases garner national and international attention. As a comparatively introverted appellate lawyer, the recognition touched me deeply.
And why white collar? Because people are interesting, and complicated! White-collar cases usually revolve around what was in the client’s mind; as I once told a jury when I was trying cases more regularly, “this isn’t a whodunit.” The intersection of legal and factual issues that creates is endlessly fascinating. Thorny privilege questions in the corporate context, regulatory overlays that spawn technical and constitutional questions, prosecutorial efforts to police integrity in commercial or political activity—we see it all in the white-collar arena.
Who is the most influential person in your law career?
It’s hard to single out just one! I’m inspired by people who chart their own path toward doing excellent work they find personally meaningful. I certainly haven’t taken the most conventional path to my federal white-collar appellate practice, having spent my entire career on the defense side, most of it outside Big Law. The courage to chart my own path is bolstered by others who’ve done so.
Tell us something about you that might surprise us.
Well … I detest talking about myself, and I struggle with “networking”! The joke’s on me, though: I love talking with smart people about the interesting things we’re each doing, and exploring how we can support each other in doing them even better.
Is there a special WWCDA moment or experience that stands out to you?
The Thought Leadership Committee was my entree to genuine engagement and a leadership role.
The special moment that stands out to me now flows from that. Committee member Caitlinrose Fisher gave me a shout-out on the Discussion Forum for the cert grant in Kousisis—and countless members sent me messages of sincere congratulations. Was that “networking”? I suppose so. But it was also a supportive professional community.
What are your favorite activities to do outside of the office (hobbies, interests)?
You’ll usually find me outdoors getting my hands dirty! Often I’m in my home garden in Philadelphia, enthusiastically sharing native plants with neighbors and explaining how small-scale planting choices can support the ecosystem. Or I’m pitching in on eco-restoration projects in a nearby urban natural area, trying to convince college students doing mandatory service work that they should care about the biodiversity crisis.
If I’m not there, I’m probably out in my kayak. And if it’s winter, I’m probably reading a book about one of these topics and planning for spring!