One time I had a case where the Solicitor General asked for SCOTUS cert on one of my cases. I had won in the Ninth Circuit. That day, I had 50 calls from male lawyers telling me why they should take over the case, diminishing me. Who knew lawyers troll the SCOTUS dkt for cases?

Then, I got a call from arguably the best Supreme Court litigator of all time. Telling me to keep my case. He said if I needed any help, he would make sure I was as prepared as I could be and he would help me defeat the cert request.

The lawyer was Paul Clement and we defeated the cert request. Since that day we have done multiple cases together. And next week, our student will argue with another one of his colleagues about whether a citizenship statute violates equal protection.

I read somewhere you make more long term alliances when you build people up, rather than bring them down. And that is true. Because to this day, I remember each of those male lawyers who called me to tell me I was not worthy. But I only work with the one who tried to build me up.