I grew up in a less than privileged family in Los Angeles, went to UC Berkeley on a basketball scholarship, and then worked my way through Berkeley Law School. After a year at a civil firm, where I was conscripted as a soldier into an endless paper war. It soon became clear to me that I had neither the inclination, nor talent, to be a civil lawyer. The one facet of the practice of law that appealed to me was trial work. I joined the LA Public Defenders Office, the largest criminal defense organization in the country, where the work consisted primarily of jury trials.

There is no more intense trial experience than when another person’s fate is at stake. I found criminal trials exhilarating, extremely stressful and at times heart breaking. But, it seemed I had a knack for it. After a few years I was selected to join…