Stephen Schurman, Vice President
On testifying in court
Well, I enjoy debating, so testifying is something I look forward to doing more. It’s demanding – you have to make your points, listen carefully to what’s being asked, and defend against the criticisms from the opposing side. It’s not easy to break into it, but if you start by testifying on some small cases, you get the experience you need to qualify for bigger ones.
Recent work
I just testified in a case involving a commercial lease dispute, in which our client prevailed. I am also supporting academic experts in a couple of cases involving stock options backdating. I had to refresh my memory on technical option valuation issues for that work. It’s very analytical and data oriented, which I enjoy.
Working in Menlo Park
During grad school in Chicago, I worked for an economic consulting firm. From that experience, I knew I liked the industry, but I wanted to live in California. The Menlo Park office is unusual and interesting because, although it’s relatively small, we do a mix of both litigation and strategy work involving everything from antitrust to health care. The variety in the work here is surprising for an office of its size.