HENRY SHIELDS Jr.
Firm: Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Law School: UC Berkeley
Selected Clients: NBC Universal, DirecTV, Lifetime, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Caruso Affiliated.
Years in Practice: 36
Most Challenging Case: Having to convince a jury that my well-heeled corporate client did not take advantage of an elderly litigant and that it was really the other way around.
Best Career Moment: Winning a case that ended the deceptive practice of offering sexual telephone calls by way of an 800 number that callers perceived to be free of charge.
Worst: Realizing at the end of a four-month trial that the judge must declare a mistrial and have a complete retrial of the case.
Highlight From Past Year: Convincing a plaintiff who had filed a trademark case that his theory of the case was hopelessly misguided.
Longest Workday: Forty-two consecutive hours because of an impending motion deadline.
How My Practice Is Changing: There have been more entertainment cases because of the demise of the commercial real estate market.
If I Weren’t an Attorney: I would probably be a boring accountant instead of a boring lawyer.
My Colleagues Don’t Know: How old I am and I want to keep it that way.