WBD Recruiting Success Stories: Tomio Narita

Today’s episode is part of our Recruiting Success stories series. Lori Patton, our Chief Recruiting Officer, sits down with Tomio Narita, a partner in our San Francisco office and co-leader of the firm’s Class Action Defense Team.

More about WBD's Class Action Litigation practice.

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Welcome back to Womble Perspectives and another episode of our Recruiting Success stories series. Lori Patton, our Chief Recruiting Officer, sits down with Tomio Narita, co-leader of the firm’s Class Action Defense Team and a partner in our San Francisco office.

We hope you enjoy today’s episode.

Lori Patton
I am here today with Tomio Narita. Tomio has been with us now for a few years here at Womble Bond Dickinson and joined us as a lateral from his own named law firm. Tomio, when I think back to some of our first interactions and our conversations about where you were in life and anticipating a transition I remember a lot of different things that were important to you about any landing spot as you moved from your firm to the next place. 
 
 As I think about that, it was such a successful boutique litigation firm and you had a lot of opportunities. Tell me, what got you interested in moving to a larger firm, and specifically, what was it about Womble?

Tomio Narita
Thanks, Lori. I remember meeting you It was, like it was just yesterday.

Lori Patton
Yeah.

Tomio Narita
I think you were one of the first people I met at the firm, and it was really delightful. Well, I you probably remember that the two top reasons I started thinking about moving away from my own firm to a larger firm, one was named Warren and one was named Ava. So I had just recently, my wife had just recently had a twin, a boy and girl in 2022. And we, we had been doing a great job at Simmons and Narita I think for years, almost, almost thirty. We had great practice going. I was very content, but when the, when the kids were born I started to realize, you know, you're going to be doing this job a lot longer than you thought you were gonna be doing it. 

You know, I just completely reoriented my career timeline, if you will. And one of the challenges we had at Simmons and Narita, we had a great firm, but we would constantly get this supply of young lawyers a lot of them right out of law school. We would train them. They would do great work with us, and then they would leave to larger law firms generally. You know, we couldn't, we couldn't pay them enough to keep them and we couldn't, we couldn't give them a huge range of cases, maybe, that they wanted to work on. And so, we would lose them, and then we just, we'd just keep reinventing the firm over and over again. And as I started thinking about the kids and you know, the future, I was like, "I, need a firm, I need a larger firm. I need a firm that's just chock-full of smart lawyers, you know, that are going to be, you know, attracting lots of other smart lawyers, really for me. And then I can just sit there and do my thing with them and really thrive." And that, that's what got me thinking about it.

Lori Patton 

Oh, I think that's fantastic. It really does that's exactly what I recall. It, it resonates with what we talked about initially. And I know you had many opportunities to talk to a lot of people, and you, you spent a lot of time analyzing what was going to be right for you. What was it about Womble that truly stood out?

Tomio Narita 

I think the, the people made me feel comfortable right away. You know, that, that was, that was really stood out to me. Everybody you know, they seemed to be smart and engaged, but they also really seemed to want to know more about me, more about the practice, more about, you know, where I thought things could go. They seemed excited about it. 

And you know, it wasn't just like folding in another number or folding in another, set of you know, set of lawyers into a, into a bigger thing. I, I, I just, I felt that right off the bat. The other, the other thing that made me feel comfortable was nobody was saying that, "Well, look, you know, you're a smaller firm. You're gonna have to crank up your rates, you know, by hundreds and hundreds of dollars an hour, you know, if you want to survive here," which I had heard at other, at other larger firms. 

Quite the contrary. The firm was like, "Look, we, we want you to bring everybody and we don't wanna lose your clients. They're great clients. You know, we'll deal with the rate issue as you, you know, after you get here, but let's, let's bring everybody over and make them happy." So that, I really liked that part I just, I just got a really good feel about the place which grew every time I met somebody new.

Lori Patton
And Tomio, when I think back on those conversations knowing that you wanted to have that cultural relationship piece but also dealing with a change, a big change, going from owning your own shop and being the name on the firm to moving to any large firm, what were some of the concerns that seeped into the process and how did you diminish those concerns mentally after getting to know more about Womble.

Tomio Narita
That's a great question 'cause there were a there were a lot of concerns. I, it was a complete unknown to me. You know, I had spent my whole career in small law firms, most of it in my own small law firm. I've had a lot of dealings with larger firms throughout my career, and I had lots of good friends actually in larger firms. but I'd never been on the inside of it. I only knew you know, what you hear as an outsider. 

So, I was mostly worried about was I gonna have to answer to somebody, you know, was there gonna be a lot of red tape, you know? Was there gonna be a lot of bigger personalities pushing things around on me and, you know, it was it was there was a lot of unknown there. And then, of course, the irony of that is having, having moved over here, you know, I've just been basically I tell people I've been liberated, right? I've just been liberated from the worry of running my own firm and I get to do exactly what I want to do which is run big cases, you know, deal with clients, do strategy, do trials, you know, go crazy every day practicing law.

And I don't feel like anybody's telling me what to do or I'm answering to anybody. Everyone just kind of is supportive and says, "Go do it.”

Lori Patton

And I love hearing that, of course, because that's some of what we saw in terms of the vision when you started talking with us. And you were clear about what you wanted. I know that you were looking not only for the cultural piece and the resources. How important was it that we have this national platform? Did that matter at all to you?

Tomio Narita 

Frankly, I didn't realize how impactful that was going to be. You know, I could I could sort of see it. I was like maybe a little cocky. I had been doing... you know, we've only had one office the whole, my whole career in San here in San Francisco, but I'd already been doing cases you know, all over the country for clients that called on us to do it. And so, I had been working, you know, through a network of, of really good local counsel that have been friends of mine for years. I didn't realize, like, how different it would actually be to have your partners and your colleagues in those offices you know? It's just incredibly different. It's, it's really invigorating and that's, that's had a really big impact since I came over. So, I would say I it was exciting to me in the abstract. The reality of it is, is is, it's far more impactful, you know? It, just, it's really helped me to, you know, expand the geographic reach of what I'm doing and I don't have to fake it, you know, when I'm in North Carolina or, you know, somewhere. It's like I've got hundreds of colleagues there that know the place inside and out, so that's pretty, pretty great stuff.

Lori Patton 

I love hearing that, of course, because that is what we believe we offer, so I'm so glad you've taken advantage of that and experienced it firsthand. When you think about your practice, specifically your slice of the legal world where you shine, tell me what you put out there in terms of this is who I am, this is what I can do for you. What do clients turn to you to get done for them?

Tomio Narita
Yeah. I I love that question because it's changed a little bit because of Womble. And that did, that took a little bit of courage on my end, I would say, that, I had always sort of told the world that I was a financial services lawyer, you know? And I have, I do have a ton of experience in that space, there's no question. But, but now if you, if you ask me what I do and, you know, what, what kind of lawyer I am, I'll tell you I'm a trial lawyer and I'm a class action defense lawyer. And I think that's really more accurate, frankly. It's the skills that I have that, you know, in doing trials and the strategy of handling class actions are ones that really transfer across industries or geographies or, you know, case law. It, it doesn't, I don't have to know, you know, all of the case law in an area to help a client do a do well in a class action, you know, or do well in a trial. 

And we have, and, and here at Womble, we're just stock full of just brilliant attorneys that have you know, specialties in so many areas, you know, we can, we can staff cases with specialists if we need it. So, I started projecting the generality of my skills a little bit more when I came here because I got the comfort to do that, and I think it's really paid off, I don't think of myself as a financial services lawyer per se, although a very large percentage of my practice obviously is still handling, you know, disputes in the financial services space.

Lori Patton

Well, Tomio, just to take that step comment a little bit further, when you think about how your existing clients and those client relationships, how those clients have transitioned to Womble. How do you think they have been impacted, or what have the biggest benefits been to your clients about your move to Womble?

Tomio Narita
Yeah, well the, the nice thing is that we, you know, I came and my entire firm came. You know, we were this, we were a really tight team of, of lawyers and our paralegal who, you know, saves my, still saves my life every day, Roseanna. 

So we were very tight well-oiled, small machine, and we all came. And so, we brought every single client, every single matter with us and so they're, you know, the clients, I think, didn't experience any hiccups from, from the transition. I think what's happened since I've been here is they, you the clients have slowly started to realize that we have, we have a hell of a lot of smart lawyers, you know, all over the country that can do stuff and, and in, in many respects, smarter than me, in that they'll, they'll know the, the local jurisdictions, the courthouses, the courts, maybe the opposing counsel that's on the case. 

So, we can really add a lot to clients in different geographies and there's a, you know, there's been a couple of my largest clients that have taken advantage of that, you know, since the move and I, I think with great, with great success. I think they're pleased and we're obviously pleased.

Lori Patton 

I love hearing that. And I'm, I'm curious also, have there been new client relationships that have come about since you've been here at Womble and what would you attribute that to?

Tomio Narita
Oh my God, there's been so many new ones it's hard to describe that phenomenon accurately. But we, you know, I, I feel like I have new clients pouring in all over the place and I'd say from two main sources. The main source is my own partners, you know, and my own colleagues here at Womble, I've, I think they've started take notice of, you know, what we can do in the class action team and how that can really be a good solution for their, for their clients, so they're getting more comfortable, you know, saying, we should, know, let, let's bring in, you know, Tomio and his team, or other people that can help in this kind of case." 

So that has opened up an incredible array of different client relationships and sort of cases that I never would have even gone for at Simmons and Narita. I wouldn't even tried to, tried get 'em. So those, those are, you know, really have been pouring in over the two years. 

And, and the other, I think is just a product of just, sort of the marketing muscle, if you will, of Womble just being really good at you know, our names out there, you know, the firm name pushing it out through social media or whatever channels that the firm uses. it's pretty dramatic how many clients just contact me cold, you know, just like zip. You know, they email you or they, they call you and they've just, they found us on the web or some other way. And so I think that's the main news source. But there's just, there's been a dramatic increase in the amount of different clients

Lori Patton
You know, that's music to my ears. I'm so happy to hear that . So, you know, Tomio, when you think about two years ago, what you anticipated happening here, both the positive and the, the fear factor it sounds like making this leap has been the best of what you anticipated and maybe some positives that you didn't even know to anticipate in terms of new clients and expansion of your, of your skillset and your brand.

Tomio Narita
I mean, this was hands down the best decision I've ever made. This is like, there's no comparison. It's just, you know, I feel like I, I feel 10 feet tall at this firm. I, feel like I've just been, you know as I said, liberated I feel like I've been, taken off like a rocket and I was thinking of it in much more narrowly, frankly, when I made the move. You know, I was thinking about still just my own client set and how would I do more for them and maybe there's some clients in that same space that I could do more for. I was thinking really, you know, in retrospect, in a really small, small scale way of what would happen and it's just, it's just kind of exploded out in a nice way in lots of different directions that I didn't anticipate. And again, that, you know, the confidence that I, I have in just working with all these incredibly, you know, talented people in the firm, experienced people that zip, you know, you can just call them and they can just fill you with information about the case law or the jurisdiction or the judge or the opposing counsel, it's pretty exhilarating stuff.

Lori Patton
And Tomio, take me at a granular level to how you quite literally went about making those connections. Again, thinking back to two-plus years ago. You joined our firm and you are in an office where you're getting to know people slowly but surely in your local office, but you have a national practice, so you've got to extend out. Quite literally, how'd you do it?

Tomio Narita 

That would that would require me to remember things that have happened in the last two years. Memory's gone.

No, I, I, I think it built a little bit slower, frankly, than I thought. You know, the the, you know, once I, I got here, as soon as I got here, I realized the scale of what was possible and my first year was a lot of time just getting set, getting people in the firm to know me, and I I feel like, sort of, I call it marketing within the firm. I, I, I'm a big, I'm a big believer in, you know, so just meeting people, either setting up meetings with them virtually or going to their offices and making a point of, you know, gaining, gaining the trust of your own partners, as if they were clients 'cause in a, in a way, they are. 

They have their cherished clients. They want to know that, you know, if they bring a great big class action to Narita, he's not gonna fall on his face and, and, and, you know, harm the relationship. So, I think that took some time to build, it just naturally does. And so that, you know, I spent a lot of my first year really, sort of, actively trying to do that and then really, in this second year, it's, it's really started to pay off even more. I think people are just more, you know, more people know who I am within the firm and, and that you know, I'm always around to get crazy on the case like, "Let's, let's do it. Let's go for it.”

Lori Patton
So, as we built out the lateral integration program here at the firm one of the things that we believe and, and value is that we've got to get our lawyers out to meet other lawyers in the firm so that there can be face-to-face conversation which leads to trust and relationships. So what I hear you saying is that part of what you have done in that integration of the firm is that you've reached out and connected with people by phone and in person, and in fact, that integration to your first line of clients, the internal partners, has been successful. Did you feel like people were receptive to that outreach?

Tomio Narita
Oh, yeah. Totally receptive. That made it really easy, you know. If there's a jerk that works here, I'm still waiting to meet him or her, you know. I'll find you if you're there. But I haven't yet and it's been a very receptive group again, just I'm sort of repeating the point, but it, I, I believe it to be true, you know. as a, as a small lawyer for 30 years with one office trying to grow basically a national practice, I had to go around the country and develop relationships with other lawyers, many at bigger law firms, and have them trust me and then I could work with them and they could work with me and that's how I built a big, you know a big practice at the, in that smaller space. I've basically been replicating that within Womble since I got here. 

You know, I'm, you know, my first line of marketing, in a sense, is to my own colleagues who are completely receptive to it and I wanna, I wanna, you know, build knowledge and trust with them about what they're doing and what, you know, what I could help them and their clients do. And I think that's, that has been paying off and I would, I would definitely encourage anybody who laterals over to, to, to lean into that heavily. It's, it's, it's easy to just sit down at your desk and, you know, sort of keep doing all the work that you've already been doing or, you know, or look out and try and grab the next, you know, seat at a table next to a general counsel. But don't forget about, you know, this incredible supportive group of lawyers who are here ready to tap you on the shoulder, you know, because, you know, yet they're your partners, they're your colleagues.

Lori Patton
I love that. So, I wanna shift a little bit to leadership opportunities in the firm. I am  sure and in fact I have heard from many laterals that they really want leadership opportunities. Some of them are seeking them very intentionally, and we have so many leadership opportunities within Womble. One of them you've experienced is to co-lead our class action defense team. I'd like to know from you first, how important do you think it is for laterals to engage in leadership?

Tomio Narita

I would say, the firm, the Womble firm really rewards initiative really well, and, and so if you see an opportunity, you should you should go for it. And you know, with the, with the class action space, I, I saw something that was, it wasn't really a gap in what the firm was doing, when I was coming over and I had done hundreds of class actions and I wanted to, you know, really ramp that up further, I, I just didn't personally feel like the firm was doing a ton to tell the world, like, specifically the message, "We have a lot of really good class action defense lawyers here and we kick ass at it, you know? Like, you should hire us for this." 

That specific message didn't seem to be really coming across well, So that's what I started saying to leadership people like, "Hey, shouldn't we be doing more of this?" You know, we've got you know, I can see by looking around and learning and talking to people, we've got a this wealth of experience but it just doesn't seem like we're telling people about it in a really coherent way. And, and that's what I've been trying to really push since I've come to the firm. 

And I think it's, I think it's been paying off, you know, paying off. I think that we still have a ways to go. We still, you know, you know, there's much more we can do to tell people just how good we are at this. But but I feel like, it's made some incremental improvements and I'm excited about, you know, what we can do with that. So I would say, you take the initiative. If you come over and you see something that you think you can help on, that you think you can be, you know, a leader on, then just go for it. You know, the firm's open to it. If you're gonna make the firm better, they want, they want your contribution.

Lori Patton
I really like what you said in terms of Womble Rewards initiative. I know in my 22-plus years here that has been part of my experience, so I think it has helped to keep me engaged and I have seen it with so many lawyers, both lawyers who have been considered "legacy," they've been here for a long time, maybe their entire careers, as well as laterals. 

We often hear the word that Womble is entrepreneurial. I am hearing both the rewarding initiative and entrepreneurial as, as similar, a similar mindset, a similar vibe. And I think that that's an important transparency within an an organization. It's an important cultural component to know that your voice is heard, you can raise your hand, you can make a suggestion and also take the lead in pursuing that suggestion to the improvement of the firm.

What else do you feel you've gained from taking on this flagship leadership opportunity to get the class action skillset out there? What are the other attributes and skills that you have developed.

Tomio Narita
That's... I think that's pretty easy. I think it's confidence, you know? And I'm just... and I'm no... I have no shortage of it. You know, you have to be confident to do what I do but you know, so I didn't... I didn't think I was lacking at all in the confidence department when I came over to the firm. But I I will say, you know, for all the reasons I've been emphasizing so far, that, being surrounded by all of these smart and capable attorneys, experienced attorneys who are friends and colleagues, that is electrifying. I mean, that is electrifying to my confidence level, 'cause I know what I can do, you know, if there's a trial that's coming up or if, you know, and the ship is sinking and they need someone to jump on and I know what I can do, you know, to run strategy on a huge class action and try and put it in the best position to win it or settle but now I... you know, I can... because of all these other smart attorneys around me, I know that I can do that, you know, in multiple different industries, in multiple different areas of the law, in multiple places in the country, that, you know, I might not gone for before. So I think confidence has really been the biggest... the biggest plus since moving over.

Lori Patton
Tomio, I wanna shift and focus on Tomio the non-lawyer, Tomio the husband, the father, the friend, the son, the community person. Tell us a little bit about what you are involved in outside of practicing law at Womble and importantly, how do you think that makes you a better lawyer when you are practicing inside Womble?

Tomio Narita
That last part you added made it easy. I don't have a lot of spare time at all from my day job. I, kind of... anybody who knows me knows that I just love this job, you know? I mean, 34 years I've been doing it and I leap out of bed to do this job every day. I seriously... like, when I open my eyes, I'm laying in bed, I'm starting to work on your case. You know, I just... I'm thinking about it. 

But but, you know, my main thing is my family. I have right now three-year-old twins and they're like their own extreme sport, you know, both physically and, and in the area of patience. So I think I've been really working on my patience, which I think hopefully makes me a better lawyer. You know, maybe some of the patience skills I learned as a lawyer are helping me as a dad. So this is my second time around as a dad and... but with twins it's it's not... it's not twice as challenging, it's a... it's a geometric progression. You know, trying to have fun and make them laugh and watch them grow and just be happy as a family is my main thing when I'm... when I'm not practicing law.

Lori Patton
I feel like I've heard so many comments from you today that lead me to think of growth, just growth concepts. Everything from your business growth, client growth, skill set growth, confidence growth. Of course you were already confident, but to cement it even further and that growth mindset is so critical and the success that people with a growth mindset have is astronomical as compared to a fixed mindset. 

When I hear that and think about the ways that Womble encourages we also think about the growth physically of locations and the both national and international components of Womble. Do you see our growth as being strategic and how do you feel about being part of a firm that is growing into new geography?

Tomio Narita
I would say one of the things that really attracted me, which I probably should've mentioned earlier when you asked, is about Womble is it really seemed like it had been growing in a smart way, not in some pell-mell, helter-skelter, you know, throwing money around and just kind of being crazy. It was a strategic, "This is why we're doing things," and I learned more and more about that during the, you know, the interview process, but I've obviously learned a lot more about it now being on the inside and I like that, you know. I'm I'm all in favor of growing. I think it's fantastic, but I I want to be part of a firm that's growing smartly and, you know, I I want, if we're bringing on other lawyers or folding in law firms, I want them to be crazy people like me, you know want them like that are just can't wait to do it and that are of a like mindset. That that, you know, that are electric at their job and wanna, you know, want the firm to succeed. that's what I really want to see because I think that's the kind of growth that's really gonna make the firm explode in in the right way, right? In the right way. So, and I think it's got the, you know, we've got the leadership that's doing that.

Lori Patton
Oh, I love all of that, Tomio. Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and comments, and before we finish the official interview piece, I just want to check in with you, are there other thoughts or comments that you want to be be sure that we share as part of this, or talking points that I may not have asked you about and you're thinking, "Well, hang on a minute. I wanna make sure you hear this too." Anything else that you want to be sure to share.

Tomio Narita
I would say, and I've said this, you know, privately to other people that I just feel so pleased having done the move that I've actually volunteered myself to do things like this and also to, you know, talk to you know, lateral attorneys if they're sort of on the fence or want to hear, you know, the, you know, what it what it's been like for someone who's enjoyed the move. So, I and I would reiterate that, you know I'm a huge fan of what's going on here and I think there's huge opportunity for people that want to, move over and join us. And so you keep me on your list of someone that that people should feel free to reach out to.

Lori Patton
Thank you for doing it. We so appreciate you.

Tomio Narita
Likewise. Likewise, Laurie.

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