Q: Was it the family connection that first got you interested in law?

A: My father was one of Albuquerque’s very first municipal judges. He did that for about nine years or so. Then he was state attorney general in the late ’60s. That’s where I picked up my love of public service and politics that got me involved in the Legislature once I became a lawyer. He went on the state court trial bench—the district court in New Mexico. He was on that for 17 years, until he retired. That’s what not only inspired me to become a lawyer, but to get in the courtroom and try cases.

He used to take me to the courthouse, to his chambers, and I just loved his friends and colleagues, the judges and the lawyers. Albuquerque was still a pretty small town, and I had a lot of exposure to the really good lawyers in New Mexico.