Featured Lawyer: X. Kevin Zhao

X. Kevin Zhao
Attorney
Greene Espel

What is your area of practice? 

I focus on complex litigation, including multi-district, business/commercial, public sector, and intellectual property litigation, as well as arbitrations. My practice also includes conducting internal investigations and, to a lesser extent, regulatory compliance. My pro bono practice focuses on asylum and immigration issues.

Why are you unique?

I believe everyone is a product of his or her experiences, and if I am unique, it is because of my unique mix of experiences.

I’ve long identified with the “immigrant story” because it is also my story. My parents met in college in China, shortly after the end of the Cultural Revolution and the re-opening of universities. Although my parents were married and had a son (me), they were forced to live in different cities after graduation. (I lived with my mother in a dormitory room that she shared with a roommate.) My father came to the United States to study Chemistry when I was two, and my mother and I joined him a year later. I learned English when I attended a public school in inner-city Detroit, while my father pursued his Ph.D. and my mother washed linens and waited tables, even though she too had a college degree. We benefited from a support network of other recently-arrived Chinese families, many of whom are still among my parents’ closest friends. When I was 10, my family moved from Detroit, Michigan to Manhattan, Kansas, and I went from a school that had almost entirely students of color to one where almost all students were white and very few shared my immigrant story.

My roots and my early experiences—as well other experiences later in my life (college, law school, clerkships, and international travel), which are probably more similar to those of many other attorneys—have shaped my worldview and continue to influence the way I think about the law.

How did you do it? 

Well, “it” is very much still a work in progress. But I’ve gotten where I am through hard work and considerable good fortune. I’ve always worked hard, but I would not be where I am now without having luckily encountered all the people who gave me opportunities to succeed. While I was in college, Ms. Georgia O’Brien gave me an internship in Washington D.C. with the late Congressman Martin O. Sabo, an opportunity that led to my interest in politics, policy and eventually law school. Several professors mentored me throughout law school, and Judge Patrick Schiltz and Judge James Loken taught me how to analyze legal issues while I clerked for them. And now, my colleagues at Greene Espel continuously give me opportunities to shine in court and in front of clients.

What do you do outside of the law? 

Family. It’s not easy to build a practice while parenting two young children (now aged almost three years and almost three months) with a spouse who is also an attorney, so I don’t have time for many other activities. I will note that I am a fan of the musical “Hamilton,” and recently while at trial in S.D.N.Y., I used my only 30 minutes of free time in a week to visit Alexander Hamilton’s grave at Trinity Church, which was six blocks from the hotel where I stayed. Shout out to Hamilton fans!

Who were the people critical to your success and who do you want to thank? 

My parents, my wife and children, my colleagues at Greene Espel, and all the mentors in my life who, as noted above, gave me opportunities to succeed. Thank you!