Features October 2018

Four countries, each with their own unique culture and corporate environment. Seventeen production plants churning out widgets and wares by the ton: medical devices, communications networks, industrial and automotive equipment, IT, electronic systems, clean technology, the list goes on. Nineteen thousand employees—more than Lowe’s or Charles Schwab, and nearly twice as many as Facebook. And […]

Ask Deb Steiner what inspired her to become a lawyer, and you’ll get a response quite different from the range of clichéd answers you’re used to hearing. In fact, she was initially turned off by the idea; a devout Anabaptist, the career path felt contrary to the values she espoused. But she couldn’t shake the […]

We’ve all known someone suffering from a rare condition or disease—if not a friend or family member, then someone a mere degree away. For most, such awareness brings with it a sense of helplessness; the sinking feeling there’s nothing you can personally do to improve their lives. Greg Pate can sleep a little easier. As the […]

As a law student, Fernando Barrera was focused, driven and dedicated. But he was, and still is, a man of few words, so he had his doubts about pursuing the legal profession. “I did not see myself as the kind of person who was always arguing,” he says. Then, one day, a professor’s words helped […]

For sports fans around the world, the mobile-phone revolution has ushered in a new age of instant-update convenience. Even if you forgot to DVR the big game, second-by-second stats and scores are never more than a swipe or two away, whether you’re waiting for coffee or headed to a friend’s for dinner—so long as you’re […]

If your college-age daughter told you she planned to spend Christmas in a slum in India as part of her studies, you’d be forgiven some nervous dissuasion. Jamie Cox didn’t simply encourage daughter Ann’s altruistic impulse (and wanderlust); he tagged along for the ride. What he found on the other side, amid cacophony and swirling […]

Rare may be the person among us who’s not on a first-name basis with someone incarcerated. At any given moment, there are around 2.3 million Americans being detained in a local, county, state or federal facility. Whether it be for a short stay in jail or a long stretch in prison, some kind of positive […]

Lawyers have their oft-pure stories about how they discovered the legal field: devouring the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes during summer vacation, perhaps, or writing an essay on the humble heroism of Atticus Finch. Joe Limone’s story is far grittier, and involves a Massachusetts subway and a cigarette. During one of his hundreds of hour-long […]

The grind begins at home, scheduling the day’s appointments and following up on overnight emails and requests from international clients across different messaging platforms. Upon arriving at Red Spark’s offices, she’s back to juggling intellectual property (IP) issues—along with contracts and compliance—for one of the company’s flagship marketing platforms, with a chorus of calls and […]

Mark DiGesu has always considered himself more of a chess guy than a checkers guy. He’s drawn to the cerebral nature of the classic strategy game that has transfixed and confounded players for centuries, and that same quality attracted him to the law. Particularly as an in-house lawyer, he says one must be thoughtful, plan […]