New York Law School (NYLS) alumni Michael Bowe ’91 and Heidi Goldsmith ’21 recently connected under unique circumstances: the launch of Brithem LLP, a new boutique law firm focused on high-level courtroom advocacy in matters with significant commercial and societal impact. Bowe, who co-founded the firm with longtime partner Lauren Tabaksblat, brings more than three decades of trial experience to the venture. Goldsmith, a senior associate, joined Brithem after practicing at a large law firm and an earlier career as an aerospace engineer.
Brithem launched with 13 legal professionals, including a former Supreme Court clerk, seasoned trial lawyers, investigators, and paraprofessionals. The firm’s name originates from the Old Irish term Brithem, meaning preeminent legal practitioners who served justice to people across all levels of influence. Below, Bowe and Goldsmith discuss how they first connected, what it means to pursue trial law as an art, and how their NYLS experiences resonate in their work today.
How did your paths cross, given that you attended NYLS years apart?
Bowe: “When we were planning the launch of the firm, we were working with headhunters and were very clear about what we wanted to build: a high-end boutique focused purely on trial work—the art of advocacy.
We told the headhunters that we were looking for ‘unicorns’—people whose true professional priority is becoming excellent trial advocates and who are willing to grind through the time and challenges it takes to get really good at it. Heidi was one of those people. She already had a very fulsome career in a challenging and demanding environment, and when I saw that she was a NYLS graduate, and that we had won many of the same awards at graduation, it felt like an obvious connection.”
Goldsmith: “I was already working with the same headhunter, who reached out about this new boutique firm. She mentioned that one of the partners was a NYLS graduate and asked if I’d be interested in speaking with him. I said, ‘Yes, absolutely. No question.’ That immediately made the opportunity even more exciting.”
Michael, you mentioned looking for “unicorns.” What does that look like when it comes to young lawyers?
Bowe: “A passion for the craft of courtroom advocacy, not just someone looking for a good job. Like any craft, be it sports, arts, or any profession, you need to put substantial time and effort in to become competent, then more to become good, then more to become accomplished. And because you are trying to improve throughout, you constantly face setbacks and frustrations. This is particularly tough in a highly competitive adversarial craft like litigation. You will need a level of grit that can only come with passion. I think it’s unfortunate that young lawyers who fit this bill are ‘unicorns,’ but after 35 years, I know it is true. Over the course of my career, I have seen the bigger firms care less and less about developing the next generation of first-chair litigators organically. They are perfectly happy today with a cadre of associates and junior partners who are just content to have a well-paying job. This services their high-leverage business model, and they can recruit their first-chair people from lateral hires. It’s clear to me that many of these young lawyers aren’t even aware of the future potential they are giving up in this environment.
We have the opposite view at Brithem. We’re very explicit that the work will be demanding. We’re going to give you responsibilities you haven’t had before and hold you to high standards. The only way to get better is by doing the work, and that means working hard, with mentorship and support, but also with grit. It’s like hitting a curveball. I can explain how to do it, but until you’ve seen a hundred of them, you won’t really know how. The lawyers we’re looking for have a strong ambition to become good at this art and beat the other guy.”
Goldsmith: “To add, the opportunity here is fundamentally different. In Big Law, the class year structure means that there is often someone above you who gets the opportunity first, and you have to move up the ranks before you can step into that role. I was always eager to take on more, but I understood that the structure limited how quickly that could happen.
At Brithem, I am not just given the opportunity to step outside that structure, I am encouraged to do so, taking on broad, end-to-end case management alongside drafting and other core litigation work. This is my second career. Before law school, I was an aerospace engineer designing helicopters, so I have already been through the process of learning a profession deeply and growing into a senior role. I know what that takes, and I am excited to put in that hard work again. I really appreciate what Brithem is asking of me and offering me, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to assume that level of responsibility and fully invest in mastering the practice of litigation.
Heidi, how does your engineering background influence your work as a litigator today?
Goldsmith: “The sum total of everything I did prior to becoming an attorney is all still with me. Being an engineer is all about critical thinking and logic, thinking outside of the box, understanding how things connect, and understanding how I can apply something I did in one design onto a new design, even when it’s a little bit different. That’s exactly what happens when you look at a lawsuit. All the facts are different, maybe the underlying law is different, but you always have to look at what you already know. And that’s particularly important in the types of cases that we work on at Brithem—we’re expanding outside the boundary of what already exists or testing existing law in the context of new technologies. You have to think, ‘How can I extend it? How can I convince someone to change how they look at what was originally written, and make it fit a new set of facts?’”
How does your experience at NYLS still resonate with you?
Bowe: “I’m a native New Yorker, and NYLS felt very real to me. Many of the students had prior careers or were working while in school. People had a lot at stake, which created a very different culture and sensibility. It had a very real-world feel to it, and I think that’s an important piece of trial work. If you don’t understand everyday people and how they think, especially jurors, you’re lost. NYLS was great preparation for that.
I had some really great professors. I was in Nadine Strossen’s first class. It was really great learning from her, particularly because she and I disagreed on so many things. What we did agree on was that you should be able to say what you want to say and then debate it. That was a great part of her class, and she really valued that. Michael Perlin was another really great professor who really imparted an understanding of how the principles of law we learned in law school are applied in the real world.”
Goldsmith: “I instantly felt at home at NYLS. I was in the evening division, and there was a real sense that we were all in it together. It wasn’t the typical law school vibe that you hear about, where everyone is competitive. It was never like that. My evening division cohort was a family from day one. And the administration knew us and really cared about us individually. When I heard one of the Brithem founders was a NYLS alum, I immediately felt like I knew what kind of environment this firm would have. I think that’s indicative of NYLS—everybody feels real.”
As Brithem begins its work, Bowe and Goldsmith carry forward a shared NYLS foundation rooted in ambition, real-world perspective, and passion for the craft of courtroom lawyering.