GF: That's a great question. So my home at Latham is in the complex commercial litigation practice, which is led by Sean Berkowitz, within the firm's litigation and trial department, and I'll also plan on working on intellectual-property cases, securities and derivatives, white-collar and investigations, to the extent there's a role for me to play. Particularly in Illinois or the Seventh Circuit, I could handle some appeals, and complex commercial litigation handles a wide array of cases, consumer fraud, business torts, contract cases, product liability, and the like. So the goal of my practice is just to provide as much value to Latham's clients as I can.

As we discussed, before I was a judge, I worked in two law firms, and I was the solicitor of Illinois. And in those roles I was a working litigator handling complex matters. At the law firms, they were high-exposure cases for our clients, and for the state of Illinois, they were significant public-law cases. For cases that were in the trial court, I set strategy, I conducted discovery, took depositions, drafted and argued motions, conducted hearings, and tried cases before courts and arbitrators. For cases on appeal, I drafted and edited briefs and argued appeals.

My plan is to continue, or I guess resume, that practice at Latham, rolling up my sleeves and handling complex, high-exposure cases. But I'll be able to do so with the perspective that I've gained from 12 years on the bench, both as a district judge, which was most of my work, and having sat by designation on the Ninth Circuit pretty regularly over the last few years and earlier on the Seventh, and I hope it will prove to be a valuable perspective.

I lost count at some point of the number of times as a judge when I was reading briefs or hearing argument or presiding over a hearing or at trial where I thought to myself, boy, I wish I knew that when I was a practicing lawyer. And what I mean by that is that as a lawyer, you make the most informed judgment you can about how a particular argument or strategy or tone or piece of evidence will hit the judge or the jury. But what can appear to be a good or smart or strategic move on paper or on the chalkboard when you draw it up in the conference room, it's not necessarily a good play in reality. And given the number of reps I had as a judge, particularly during my day job on the district court, I could bring to bear, hopefully, a perspective and exercise judgment that will bring value to our clients, whether I'm drafting or editing a brief or motion to dismiss or summary judgment motion or Daubert motion or engaging with imposing counsel about discovery or taking or defending a deposition or handling a hearing or a trial.

So I guess that's a long way of saying I want to resume my practice of actually being a working litigator handling cases. And another component of my practice, which complements the first and will draw on the perspective that I gained as a judge, is to be a strategic advisor on a particular case or a particular client. And that can entail something as simple as conducting a moot court in significant cases, whether for Latham teams or for clients who are using another law firm on a particular matter. It can entail reviewing strategy or litigation themes at the outset of a case or in the middle of a case or right before trial. Or it can entail taking a broader look at a client's portfolio of litigation or prospective litigation and thinking strategically in long term about how the client could mitigate its litigation exposure and better manage its litigation risks. So I know that's a lot, but that's what my plan is, at least at the moment, for the kind of practice that I hope to have at Latham.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45905591)

Luttig (CA4) left to become GC of Boeing, which would have been millions in total compensation. He was a very well regarded judge though and perennial SCOTUS candidate.

Michael McConnell (CA10) left to go back to academia, which was pretty weird.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45905645)

a judge has limits on making money outside of being a judge. but scholarship has no limits

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45906722)

from A3 judge to stupid discovery nastygram emails. sad!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45905681)

he obviously meant to say 'opposing' but freudian slipped

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#46046292)

*throws phone against the wall*

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45906047)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45906779)

https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/federal-judge-says-lawyer-turned-in-the-poorest-performance-he-has-seen-on-12-years-on-bench

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45906864)

also, soliciting "donations"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45907370)

I was at the point where I had children who were approaching college, with a husband becoming an ex-husband who was just getting his feet on the ground at a law firm so he had not yet started to earn Big Law money. I frankly did not believe I could continue to perform as a judge because of the money.

— Katherine Forrest, formerly of the Southern District of New York, in comments given to the National Law Journal, on why she decided leave the bench in favor of returning to Biglaw. She also noted that the high costs of living in New York City factored in to her decision to leave the judiciary. Forrest had served as a judge for seven years before she joined Cravath in 2018. She recently made a lateral partner move to Paul Weiss.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45907875)

every biglaw firm of consequence, all day every day.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#47969449)

what did sean baldwin do between 1998 and 2011? this is forrests husband.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45909407)

I am not sure why anyone wants to be a judge beyond a desire for public service and a job where getting fired is near impossible. If you get on the bench in your 30s and do 20-25 years (not sure where the pension kicks in) and then do some time in biglaw that can make sense if it’s even possible to double dip (I think it is). And while being a circuit judge seems interesting and fairly chill, grinding it out as a district court judge seems rough.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5286847&forum_id=2#45910906)