Will Barnette, associate general counsel at The Home Depot, likened the experience of arguing before the nation’s highest court to preparing for and taking the bar exam. And the stakes were just as high.

Last month, Barnette argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Atlanta-based Home Depot in a case involving the federal Class Action Fairness Act with strong jurisdictional implications for corporate defendants haled into cases because a plaintiff who originally had been a defendant added counterclaims against it.