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When asked his view of his work as an attorney, Alvaro Anillo smiles and taps on his eyeglasses: “I think of these. I always have them on and they are the windows through which I look at the world. I regard them as an analogy to my work: helping clients to see through the static and focus on clear solutions to their legal problems.”
After graduating with his J.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1992 and serving for a year as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Juan Torruella of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Alvaro worked for several years at another Washington law firm and then began helping clients to see things clearly at Groom in 1997, when he joined the firm as a specialist in employee benefits litigation. “When I first developed an interest in employee benefits law,” he says, “it was only natural to pursue a career at Groom. No other firm in the country has the depth of experience in so many areas of the field.” But while Alvaro might have joined Groom because of the nationally recognized experience of its legal specialists, it’s the firm’s commitment to fostering a collegial workplace culture that he most values: “I remain at Groom because I have developed relationships with colleagues at the firm and in client working groups that are close and rewarding. Because I have the opportunity to actually learn something about the people involved, the work just does not seem like work. I find it deeply satisfying to combine my legal skills with those of my colleagues to arrive at the best results for our clients.”
Alvaro’s regular interactions with other Groom attorneys who bring different technical backgrounds to the table has enabled him to broaden his understanding of—and perspective on—employee benefits law. But even as his vision of what’s possible in his chosen field has evolved, he has kept his eyes focused on one constant: “I always keep in mind that the law does not merely involve a set of abstract rules; instead, it frequently has real consequences for the lives of everyday people. This is especially so in the employee benefits field, where the outcome of a dispute or the seemingly abstract analysis of a legal issue may have serious economic and personal implications to a plan participant or plan sponsor.”
There is certainly nothing myopic in that point of view.
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