JEFF MODISETT, 55
FIRM: Bryan Cave LLP
LAW SCHOOL: Yale
CLIENTS: Facebook, Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd., Microsoft, Oracle, X Prize Foundation
YEARS IN PRACTICE: 28
Reason I’m a Lawyer: I wanted a career that would get me off the farm. I was thinking of becoming a doctor, but got stumped by calculus. And I decided not to become an actor because I like to eat. I have found I truly enjoy policymaking and solving problems for my clients.
Most Challenging Case: Suing Big Tobacco. Our $200-plus billion tobacco settlement was the largest of its kind.
Best Career Moments: My upset victory in the race for Indianapolis prosecutor in November 1990, successfully prosecuting Mike Tyson for rape just a few months later, being elected Indiana state attorney general in 1996.
Worst: My upset loss in prosecutor’s race in 1994.
If I Weren’t an Attorney: CEO of a high-tech company. I was co-CEO of TechNet and loved the excitement and “nothing is impossible” attitude of the industry. I joined Bryan Cave after the high-tech bubble burst.
Bucket List: Taking my sons on a trek through Nepal. I’d love to see the world with them from one of Annapurna’s peaks!
My Colleagues Don’t Know: I had two near-death experiences on the same backpacking trip through Africa when I was 24 years old – one an illness; another nearly shot.
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DARRY SRAGOW, 63
FIRM: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
LAW SCHOOL: Georgetown
CLIENTS: California State Parks Foundation, Yocha DeHe Wintun People, All Student Loan, Environmental Defense Fund, NextEra Energy Resources
YEARS IN PRACTICE: 27
Reason I’m a Lawyer: Being a lawyer is incredibly handy in public policy negotiations and life in general.
Most Challenging Cases: Winning environmental battles against opponents who enjoy an overpowering resource advantage, passage of the Clean Car Bill in 2002, stopping construction of a toll road through San Onofre State Park.
Best Career Moments: Helping ordinary people get justice against long odds, including enactment of a federal law providing compensation to veterans of the Brownsville Incident and stopping construction of a dam at a time when that was unheard of.
If I Weren’t an Attorney: I would be intellectually unfulfilled.
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