Brian Cabrera on legal judgment
From 5 Secrets to Thrive for Lawyers & Law Students | Brian Cabrera, Silicon Valley Senior Tech Executive · · PracticePro
“The law is easy to find or Google; what matters is the application of the law to facts and exercising judgment. As you move up, focus on judgment because executives want to know what you think they should do, not just what the law says.”
On , Brian Cabrera, SVice President, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, and CS at QUANTUM CORP, spoke about legal judgment during 5 Secrets to Thrive for Lawyers & Law Students | Brian Cabrera, Silicon Valley Senior Tech Executive on PracticePro.
About Brian Cabrera
In a September 2023 keynote speech at PracticePro's 10th anniversary, Brian Cabrera, a Silicon Valley senior tech executive, shared five pieces of advice for lawyers and law students. He stated that the legal profession "is not a race" and advised taking time for additional education or experiences. Cabrera said that at the executive level, content knowledge and hard work are assumed, and that "the differentiator is relationships." He described law firms as "my best friends and partners" and emphasized a symbiotic relationship between in-house counsel and outside firms. Cabrera also discussed personal attributes he considers strengths. He described having an 80% hearing loss in his right ear and said his mother taught him to overcome challenges by seeking accommodations. He called his sensitivity "my secret superpower," stating it helped him read rooms, detect dishonesty in negotiations, and become a better negotiator and HR leader. He defined integrity as "what you do when no one's watching" and said that as lawyers advance, they should focus on judgment rather than simply finding the law.