Latham & Watkins partners Jamie Wine and Andy Gass have both found their own ways to build a Big Law litigation practice.

Wine began her career during an era of uber-specialization handling securities cases for Big 4 accounting firms. Since the Big 4 were early adopters of alternative dispute resolution, that meant early stand-up opportunities for Wine during arbitrations. She harnessed the accounting expertise and trial experience she picked up early on to build a more expansive complex commercial litigation practice as a partner. “The facility to understand those [accounting] issues ends up being a huge plus and something that you can market if you’ve got comfort with and expertise with those concepts,” Wine says.