NextGEN Law: Chris Daniel, Sheffield and Lentine PC - Birmingham Business Journal - Birmingham Business Journal

Practice area(s): Criminal Defense, Appellate Work, Licensure and White Collar Litigation

Years practicing: 10

Law school: Cumberland School of Law

Why did you decide to be a lawyer? At first I thought I wanted to be a writer so in undergraduate school I was an English major. By junior year I realized I needed a job that would actually pay my bills. I took the LSAT because I'm horrible at math but love to read and write. Here we are.

What project/case/client has most influenced your career and why? One of the first cases when I was a baby lawyer where I realized we represented actual people and not companies or some government agency.

Who has been someone who has inspired your legal career (can be a real person or a fictional character)? Several people whether they know it or not: my law partners, John Neiman, Bill Athanas, J.D. Lloyd, and my parents.

What's the biggest misconception people have about lawyers from TV shows/movies? Every legal show makes trials look like an episode of Perry Mason. You can't just yell "objection" at a witness and speak to the jury in dramatic soliloquies. There are actually rules and procedures we follow to keep things fair.

What has been your greatest accomplishment so far in your legal career? Any type of appellate litigation or oral argument before the Alabama Supreme Court.

What's the hot topic in your practice area? Prison expansion, sentencing reform - especially for minor drug offenses, and E-discovery in a criminal prosecution or defense context.

How has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted your practice area? The pandemic shut jails and prisons down across the State. Those of us that have to visit incarcerated clients simply could not do it. This brought the entire system to a halt. The public rarely thinks about the people sitting in jail.

What's your favorite legal TV show or movie? The Devil's Advocate

If you could make any change to improve metro Birmingham, what would it be? Education, Public Transportation, and cooperation between the greater metropolitan area and Birmingham proper. In that order.

source: https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/news/2021/11/25/nextgen-in-law-chris-daniel.html

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