outside of their common environment, helping them understand they can be something different from what they are used to seeing in their everyday lives. I joined the Oregon Army National Guard in 1999 as an enlisted soldier for two reasons. The first was to give back to the country and my community. The second was to help pay for college. Joining the National Guard allowed me to perform my military duties and finish college at the same time. It wasn’t until my third year in the military that a senior military officer asked me if I had ever thought about becoming an officer. I realized then I could make a bigger impact on my career as a military officer, and so I applied to Officer’s Candidate School, becoming an infantry second lieutenant by the time I graduated from Portland State University in 2005. The Afghanistan War was well underway at this point, and I received orders to deploy on my first combat tour in January 2006, leaving my wife and one month old daughter behind. During the deployment, we ran missions with Afghan, multinational and Special Forces in the Farah province of south-eastern Afghanistan. Being in fire fights, having artillery rounds launched at us at night, and driving through improvised explosive device (IED) laced roads was a common occurrence. You get used to the chaotic nature of a combat environment, and watching people shooting at you loses its initial effect. Our small outpost feared taking a shower more than getting into a firefight because the shower had an electrical wire near it that would sometimes get activated, shocking you back to your senses. During my deployment, I thought about what my next step would be: become a neuropsychologist, get an MBA or perhaps be an attorney. As fate would have it, I found an old LSAT prep book during a trip to the main military base in Kabul. After reading half of the book, I coordinated to take the LSAT during my mid-tour leave. I applied to Lewis & Clark Law School while still deployed and was accepted to start in the fall of 2007. At this point, I was the only one in my family to have graduated from college or be accepted into a professional level program. All of this taught me that you must grapple with adversity with an eye towards the future and not let the circumstances you were born into define or hold you back. After law school, I worked for Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul De Muniz, a giant in the Oregon legal profession. Justice De Muniz was my example of how attorneys and judges should approach the legal profession — with humility, tenacity, professionalism and understanding towards the public they represent. To this day, I value all the conversations and wisdom Justice De Muniz shared with me on an almost daily basis. Prior to starting my firm, AmicusPoint Law, I was fortunate to work for two notable law firms, Barran Liebman and K&L Gates. It was here that I found a sense of purpose and belonging, working with remarkable attorneys on interesting and complex legal problems. The attorneys at both firms were more than colleagues, they were mentors, friends, and examples of what right looks like. Now, as a practicing attorney and a retired infantry major with three military deployments under my belt, one of my goals has been to promote the understanding that the legal profession is not a goal attainable only by those whose life appears privileged. Adversity and few resources should be no reason for giving up before getting started. Rather, a person’s future is crafted by the thoughts, decisions and actions they take. This is a lesson I try to impart to both my daughters now and to every law student or prospective law student I meet. In Our Voices continued from p. 15 16 Trial Lawyer | Summer 2024
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