When I was younger, I had several mentors in my life and I would say I probably had three or four mentors that kind of helped me get through some of those tough years. And three of the four happened to be attorneys so it kind of gave me a starting point of asking them questions, finding out a little bit about the law, and further exploring it as I got into my early 20s.

I’ve been very fortunate. I do criminal defense work but I’ve had the experience in the past that I spent two and a half years working for the United States Attorney’s Office who prosecutes major federal offenses. I’ve also served as a judge over the last seven years and now I’m a criminal defense attorney. And so, I’ve had the opportunity to work in essence both sides of the streets as well as sit on the bench. It gives me a good perspective of criminal law in Arizona.

I actually try to be very involved in our community. I’ve served on the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce board of directors for several years. I’ve also been a chairman of the board for a local YMCA. And I’ve been actively involved in the Boy Scouts of America for the last 20 years serving as a scoutmaster for many of those years. It’s kind of an opportunity where I had men who influenced me during those impressionable years and it gives me the opportunity to hopefully give them another role model to look up to.