“Playing Tennis Makes Me a Better Lawyer”

In Law360’s ongoing series dedicated to how attorneys’ extracurricular activities enhance their professional development, Marshall Gerstein attorney Daniel Henry describes his introduction to tennis and how it has shaped his perseverance, work ethic, and outlook.

“Over the years, tennis became more than a competition,” Daniel writes in Law360. “It became my way of coping, processing, and rebuilding… Tennis taught me that progress doesn't come in flashes; it comes in quiet, consistent practice, the kind that no one sees. You can't fake repetition, and you can't shortcut precision.”

Tennis has also influenced Daniel’s approach to his intellectual property practice.

“When I started practicing patent prosecution, that same truth quickly revealed itself,” he recalls. “Writing claims, parsing examiner arguments, and analyzing prior art all demanded a level of attention to detail the scale of which I hadn't fully appreciated… But tennis had already taught me that refinement happens through rhythm, doing the same thing over and over until the motion becomes natural. As repetition and experience compounded, my outlook on my progress as a legal practitioner also changed.”

You can read Daniel’s article in Law360.