Most of the country knows C. Ryan Germany had a big moment in the national spotlight this year.

He was only doing what he’s done since he left his business litigation practice at Lightfoot, Franklin & White in Birmingham, Alabama, and took a job to be close to family in Atlanta in January 2014 as general counsel for the Georgia secretary of state—defending the election system, among many other duties. But this time the challenger was a sitting president of the United States: Donald Trump.