While my brothers played stock-market simulations with my father, I buried myself in books about the Supreme Court and civil rights law.

Our dinner table often turned into a battlefield.

My father would listen to my arguments, then slice into his steak and dismiss them with a single sentence.

“The law is for people who couldn’t succeed in finance,” he’d say.

“It reacts to problems instead of preventing them.”

At the time, I didn’t understand how ironic that statement would eventually become.

The Decision That Changed Everything

During my senior year of high school, acceptance letters began arriving.

I had applied to business schools to keep the peace.

But secretly, I had also applied to pre-law programs.

When my acceptance letter from Berkeley arrived—along with a substantial scholarship—I knew my life was about to change.

That evening I called a family meeting.

My hands trembled as I spoke.

“I’m going to Berkeley,” I said. “I’m studying pre-law.”