HBAM Member Spotlight: Lawrence Garcia

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What is your name?

Lawrence T. Garcia

Where do you work, and what is your position there?

City of Detroit, Corporation Counsel

Where did you attend law school, and when did you graduate?

University of Michigan Law School, 1995

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A park ranger

Who is your biggest role model and why?

My father, Dr. Julio H. Garcia.  He was always dignified and full of positive energy.  He was smart and kind, but did not take himself too serious.  He was a great man – never selfish or petty.

What has been the biggest accomplishment/victory in your legal career?

My first no cause verdict, nearly 20 years ago.

What is your idea of a great day?

Any day you find Caselaw on point and finish a brief you know will win is a great day.

What are two things about you many people might not know?

I have mild dyslexia, and I love working in the yard.

What organization or cause are you passionate about?

The Michigan Hispanic Collaborative – We have to get more young Latinos into elite society.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

Be patient. It takes  long time for opportunity to knock on some doors, but if you wait patiently, you will be in the right frame of mind when it does.

HBAM Member Spotlight: James Feinberg

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What is your name?

Jim Feinberg

What legal practice areas do you primarily focus on?

Criminal Defense, State and Federal

Where did you attend law school, and when did you graduate?

Wayne State University Law School. Graduated in 1968.

Describe the biggest challenge you’ve had to face in your legal career.

Being a sole practitioner. While most attorneys work for a law firm, major corporations or Government, being a sole practitioner is very challenging, both practice and financial wise.

What has been the biggest accomplishment/victory in your legal career?

Graduating and passing the bar exam the first time taking it. I worked full time in law school and while studying for the bar.

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always wanted to be a professional athlete, when that was not possible, I wanted to be a criminal defense attorney.

What word would you use to describe yourself?

Loving.

What is your favorite quote?

Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

What’s a great book you read recently?

Clarence Darrow for the Defense, by Irving Stone. I first read this book when I was 15 years old. As soon as I read the book, all I wanted to do was be a criminal defense lawyers representing the accused.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

Don’t take any shit from judges or prosecutors.

If you could time travel, where would you go?

Wow, that’s a tough question. I would like to go to Germany in 1933-34 and assassinate Adolf Hitler.

HBAM Member Spotlight: Monica Navarro

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What is your name?

Monica P. Navarro

What company/firm do you work for, and what is your position there?

I am Senior Counsel to the Freudenberg Group in North America.  The Freudenberg Group is a German conglomerate in 65 countries; I am responsible for providing legal support to the Freudenberg companies in four of those countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

What legal practice areas do you primarily focus on?

My practice consists of commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, dispute/litigation management, and cross border transactions in the medical device, automotive, aerospace, oil and gas, chemical, alternative energy, and household consumer product manufacturing sectors.

Where did you attend law school, and when did you graduate?

I received my J.D. in 1993 from the University of Michigan Law School.

Describe the biggest challenge you’ve had to face in your legal career.

The biggest challenge I faced in my legal career was achieving work-life balance.  As the mother of three now-adult children, having a successful legal career and a healthy family required a strong work ethic, but also clear priorities and boundaries, together with superior time management skills.  Easier said than done.

What has been the biggest accomplishment/victory in your legal career?

Choosing a single accomplishment as my “biggest” accomplishment is difficult.  Every single accomplishment, small and big, is a necessary stepping-stone to the next one.  However, if success is to be defined in terms dollars and cents, my largest recovery was a case against ABSG, which settled for $885 million.  Money aside, being selected as Crain’s Detroit 40 Under 40 and by Michigan Lawyers Weekly in the first class of Women in the Law opened many doors for me that settlement dollars alone would not have.

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A Lawyer!

What word would you use to describe yourself?

Resilient.

What are two things about you many people might not know?

I was class action counsel in one of the Florida Election Recount cases following the 2000 Hanging Chad Gore-Bush Presidential Election.

I am a rehab addict (real estate).

If you could be an animal, what would you be?

Bear.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

“Don’t get bitter; get BETTER” and

“When You Lose, Don’t Lose the Lesson.”