As a child, Amanda Zablocki walked to school with her father every day, she said on this week’s Drinks With The Deal podcast.

“It was rare to get that type of focused attention,” said Zablocki, the youngest of seven children.

On those walks, Zablocki’s father told her about his work as a solo practitioner, which involved everything from advising couples contemplating a divorce to commercial real estate and litigation.

“I remember the excitement of hearing about his day and all the problems he was solving for all these different clients” and “the joy that he had in talking about it. He loved what he did. I knew at that very early age that I wanted to be a lawyer.”

Zablocki thought she might practice with her father, but she started as a litigation associate at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in New York, where she’s now a partner and the co-leader of the healthcare industry team.

As a midlevel associate, she started doing litigation-related work for a healthcare partner at Sheppard. At the time, she said: “I had a young child who was diagnosed with a very rare, severe immune deficiency that put my family and I in the hospital space for about five years. He’s cured now and totally fine. But in the moment, it was a very big part of our lives just being thrust into the healthcare system.”

When Zablocki learned that she could specialize in healthcare law, she said: “I decided to transition into healthcare out of that personal mission and purpose. I found almost a calling in the healthcare corporate work because of what we can do and the impact that we have as lawyers for our clients.”

Listen to the podcast with Amanda Zablocki below:

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