Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Memphis, and I find it to be a very fun place.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
When I was very small, I wanted to be a zoologist because I loved animals. Later on, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I was heavily influenced by my grandfather who was a P-51 fighter pilot in the Pacific. That never materialized. Sometimes you just have to settle and be a lawyer.
Did you go straight into law after college?
No, I framed houses and did construction work during high school and college. After I got a B.A. from the University of Mississippi, around 2009, the recession hit, which meant construction was no longer an option and it was a tough time to be a college graduate.
What led you to join the Army, and how did you end up in sniper school?
I am not entirely sure why I chose the Army over any other branch of the military, but I was enlisted rather than taking the officer route. Having a college degree is rare among enlisted infantry, which qualified me to volunteer for a lot of things—or as they say in the Army, “voluntold.” Although I had hunted with my grandfather growing up, I was pretty much forced to try out for the snipers in the Army. I made the cut and went on to graduate from U.S. Army Sniper School. I was also deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
What do snipers and attorneys have in common?
They both require patience and a mild ability to predict individual behaviors.
Why did you decide to go to law school?
My brother is a lawyer and likes the law, and I needed to figure out something to do with my life other than meandering about in the Army. I was convinced there was a better way to make a living – though I turned out to be wrong about that. But seriously, I ended up earning my J.D. from the University of Memphis School of Law.
How did you transition into insurance defense?
I was practicing family law and had a kid. I erroneously thought that insurance defense would be a little more stable so I could be home more, so I started my journey at a small local firm.
Have you and your brother ever faced each other in court?
My brother does family law, plaintiff-side and defense-side tort law and government tort law. I actually got my start working with him in family law. We eventually ended up on opposite sides of the bar, so to speak – insurance defense for me and some personal injury for him – and we did face off in an insurance case. We do have a sibling rivalry, and I would have loved to beat him in court. So, for now, I haven’t been able to find out who would win in court.
What does a normal day look like for you now?
I do not really have a normal day. I serve as national trial counsel and national coordinating counsel for multiple entities. Our team operates on a national scale, which requires an immense amount of coordination, logistics, and strategy. Fortunately, we have built a fantastic team, and I work with some of the best litigators in the country, which makes the hard strategy and logistics much easier.
How did you first connect with Magna?
I was a third- or fourth-year associate presenting to a mock jury when I met Magna VP of Business Development Joe Glenn. He was well-dressed, in a suit, whereas I wear T-shirts to work every day and try my best not to look lawyerly. Joe looked more like a lawyer than I did. Since then, Magna has been along for the ride as my career has grown, helping us with mock trials (we do four to five a year), jury consulting, presentations, IT work, and court reporting.
What makes your relationship with Magna work so well?
Nobody is better at customer service than Joe Glenn. I can call him at 3 AM saying I need something by 4 AM and it will be done, which mirrors the dedication we show our own clients. I even remember emailing Joe once when he was on a plane, and he had his colleague Peter (Pete Hecht, one of Magna’s founders) email me back. Not knowing who Peter was, I told him, “No thanks, I only work with Joe. I just need Joe to land the plane.”
To pick one of the many things Magna does for you, I know a lot of clients really value the Magna mock trials. Can you tell me how they help you?
Every mock trial we do is for a specific reason, particularly the data we get back, which is almost addictive because there is so much of it. The information also educates us on a national scale and has a ripple effect on other similar cases, helping us base our litigation decisions on hard data. I have never been let down or disappointed. We also demand that Magna jury consultant Alicia Serpa attend every trial because her work has a direct, fantastic effect on what we do.
What is the main thing people misunderstand about trial work?
People do not realize how physically and mentally exhausting it is. Movies depict well-rested attorneys making grandstand arguments, but a real trial is a 20-hour production. You spend eight hours in court, but you are also going over notes in the morning, prepping witnesses in the evening, and filing half a dozen urgent procedural motions in a single day, all while keeping up with your other cases. By the end of the week, you just have red eyes, bags under your eyes, and are trying to survive the day.
Moving on to more important matters, your hometown of Memphis sometimes gets a bad rap. What do you say to the critics?
They are only hearing the bad news, but that does not mean there is not also great news. Memphis is a blast, has a ton of culture, and is a genuine melting pot. Then there is the 32-story Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid (which, as you might have guessed, is inside an actual pyramid once used as a sports arena), which is a 535,000-square-foot facility featuring an alligator pit, pistol range, indoor swamp, and a lodge-style hotel.
If the ducks who famously march through The Peabody Memphis hotel every day ever attacked someone, would you defend them?
I’ve probably only seen them twice in the last 20 years, but yes, I would defend them.
What are your thoughts on dry-rub ribs – a Memphis culinary trademark?
If you are getting the wet-rub ribs, you are doing it wrong.
What are you reading right now?
I am reading a giant stack of pleadings. However, Terry Pratchett is my favorite author. I also read a lot of children’s books because my kids are 6 and 8.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Dead in this chair, doing the exact same thing. Or trying to wrap it up, as I’d like to retire while I’ve still got something left to do. If I do retire, I will probably just sit on my butt, though I haven’t thought about it much. This job itself is similar everywhere, but whoever you work with makes all the difference, and working with the people at Segal McCambridge has made all the difference to me.