An early career disappointment propelled Omar Alaniz into the world of bankruptcy law. Alaniz recalls the devastation he felt when neither of the two firms where he had worked as a summer associate offered him a job.

"I considered it a failure," Alaniz says. But he subsequently found a job with the Dallas bankruptcy and litigation firm of Neligan Foley after earning a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003. "I decided I’d have to be the best bankruptcy attorney I could be."