One-on-One With Hicks Johnson is a new series featuring conversations with our attorneys about their legal practice and career path. In this inaugural conversation, Hicks Johnson Associate Gabe Slater talks about his decision to make the leap to a smaller firm, a recent matter where he was involved on every aspect of the case, and his advice to associates just beginning their careers.

Q&A with Hicks Johnson Associate Gabe Slater

Gabe Slater is an associate at Hicks Johnson who focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation. Below, he discusses his decision to join a litigation boutique, what he is learning about business development, and what sets Hicks Johnson apart from its peers.
Q: What made you choose a boutique over the Big Law path, and what made you choose Hicks
Johnson in particular?
A: Coming out of law school, I followed the path of least resistance and took a job in Big Law. I largely had a great experience at my prior firm, built fantastic relationships, and developed many critical skills that help me to this day. That said, after practicing for two years, I saw that it was going to be difficult to gain the kind of experience I wanted to develop my practice: substantial reps managing cases, building client relationships, and taking cases to trial or final hearing. Hicks Johnson offered me the opportunity to get the kind of stand-up experience that is hard to come by in Big Law, while still doing the types of cases I wanted to build my practice around. I jumped at the chance to leave Big Law and could not be happier with the move.

Q: On a recent arbitration matter, you played a key role on the team that reached a favorable
conclusion for the client. Could you talk a bit about your experience playing an active role?
A: During my first week at the firm, I was staffed on a matter in the early stages of an arbitration proceeding. Over the following year, I was able to own major aspects of the case through the final arbitration hearing, which took place over two weeks in New York City. During my work on the case, I took and defended multiple depositions, led witness interviews and witness preparation sessions, managed discovery and oversaw document reviews and productions, drafted substantial briefings, and, finally, examined multiple witnesses at the final arbitration hearing.

Not only was I involved in every aspect of the case, but I also had the chance to own critical portions of the litigation. For instance, I led every step of the way in developing the testimony of a third-party witness in our case, from conducting initial outreach to flying across the country to conduct witness preparation sessions to taking the witness examination at the final hearing. It was incredibly rewarding to see work I had put in over the better part of a year pay off at the final arbitration hearing.

Q: What have you learned so far about business development?
A: Coming from a Big Law firm, many clients are brought in through the firm’s transactional practice or are long-time institutional clients of the firm. At a litigation boutique, I’ve learned that developing a base of clients involves maintaining genuine, lasting relationships in your network. From working with the partners at Hicks Johnson, I have seen firsthand all the work they do to develop real relationships with past clients, current clients, and potential clients for the future. As I look ahead to my future, I now have a much better grasp of the time of commitment and work required to develop the kind of business I want.

Q: What do you think sets Hicks Johnson apart from its peers?
A: Being a successful litigator involves making constant judgment calls. From major case strategy decisions to minor discovery issues, effectively leading a case means getting comfortable with difficult decisions. When I first joined Hicks Johnson, another attorney told me that decision-making is like a “muscle.” You need to work on it in order to get better.

One thing I value about Hicks Johnson is that associates are constantly involved in this decision-making process for every aspect of the case. Partners are always available to discuss their cases and actually want to talk through strategy and plan with their associates. That gives you a front row seat to the decision-making process, and quickly, you find that you are taking turns in the driver’s seat making decisions of your own. This is an invaluable experience for an associate if you want to build the skills to one day lead your own cases.

Q: What qualities and skills are partners looking for in junior attorneys?
A: I think that junior associates regularly assume that partners and senior associates won’t value their judgment and only want them to stay between the narrow lines of a particular task. For instance, when assigned a research question, many junior associates will try to answer the question in a vacuum, without sharing their insight regarding strategic implications, or consider how the research fits in with the larger case.

But in my experience, I have found that supervisors regularly appreciate when junior associates take a stab at offering analysis and strategic recommendations of their own — even if the ideas are outside the box. If you are right, you win, the team wins, and your client wins. If you are wrong, it can still be useful for the rest of the team to develop their own strategic thinking and discuss why a different path makes sense. And once you start offering your own insight, you often find that senior attorneys will look for your contributions going forward.

So, in short, my advice to associates just beginning their career is to take chances weighing in on strategy. If you only act like a cog in a machine, you will only ever be treated as one.

Click here to download the PDF of the One-on-One with Gabe Slater.

Hicks Johnson PLLC is a premier boutique law firm with offices in Houston and Chicago, specializing in complex commercial litigation, arbitration, and appeals. Known for delivering results, our trial and appellate lawyers are well-versed in handling high-stakes cases.

DISCLAIMER:
This is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The content provided does not constitute the formation of an attorney-client relationship. For advice specific to your situation, we recommend consulting with licensed legal counsel.