I wanted to become a criminal defense

lawyer because of the special

relationship between criminal lawyers

and their clients

during law school and when I was just

starting out as a lawyer I dipped my

feet into a few different areas of the

law I handled some immigration cases

some divorce cases and some kind of

complex civil litigation once I started

doing criminal cases I realized that I

was able to work with people during the

hardest times of their lives

that when someone comes up to you and

says I’m involved in this case and it’s

the state of Minnesota versus me or the

United States of America versus me that

that’s a special kind of responsibility

and a special kind of privilege I like

my clients I trust my clients I respect

my clients and I want to help them

through this dark time of their lives

one of the things I like to do when I’m

not practicing law is I’m a tournament

level poker player so this last summer I

went to the Tournament of Champions for

the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas

and had a good little run there and it’s

it’s a really fun thing to do but at the

end of the day it’s just playing cards

and being a lawyer is much more

meaningful to me it’s it’s something

real because you’re making a real

difference for people