My FTC Moment … Goes back to when I was a relatively new attorney in a litigation shop in the Bureau of Consumer Protection. BCP is a great place for opportunities for new attorneys. For example, only a year out of law school, I was in federal district court, successfully arguing against a motion by a third party to lift an asset freeze in an investment fraud case because the third party’s prominent law firm failed to properly perfect the third party’s security interest and then tried to make it look like it had. But that pales in comparison to my assignments in one of the other cases I worked on at that same time. The lead attorney had negotiated a settlement with one of the proposed defendants. One of the team members disagreed with the terms of the settlement and wanted to write separately. Our Associate Director also disagreed, for different reasons, but was willing to forward the recommendation to accept the settlement along with his own statement. Each asked me to draft his memorandum, and no one realized the same author drafted all three documents. It is said a good lawyer can argue both sides of a case, but how many get the opportunity to argue three sides?

—James Reilly Dolan