Rudolph “Rudy” Garcia once criss-crossed the country with little more than his hitchhiker’s thumb and a desire to go west. He gets his adrenaline pumping when he’s on trial. And now he is the incoming chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Garcia, a shareholder in Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s litigation practice, said in an interview he got involved in the bar association because “this profession has been very good to me. I basically started with nothing and I ended up with a good life and I would like to make sure others have the same opportunities.”