Gloria Park always wanted to be a storyteller, but she never anticipated that ambition would lead her deep into the world of high-stakes commercial litigation.
The Susman Godfrey partner grew up in a first-generation immigrant family, a background that shaped both her drive and her early encounters with imposter syndrome inside elite legal circles.
Park chose law school specifically because it offered her the chance to, in her own words, “tell stories for a living,” framing litigation not as a technical exercise but as a narrative craft.
That storytelling instinct, she argues, is central to what separates effective litigators from merely competent ones, though not in the way most people assume.
It is attention to detail rather than courtroom theatrics that truly distinguishes strong litigators, a point Park returns to repeatedly when reflecting on her development as a trial lawyer.
The mindset that carried her through six demanding years as an associate was a simple but powerful mantra: “why not me,” a phrase she used to push back against the self-doubt that often accompanies being the first in a family to enter Biglaw.
Park deliberately chose Susman Godfrey, a litigation-only boutique with a distinctive hiring policy of recruiting exclusively from federal judicial clerkships, giving its lawyers a shared foundation and a particular edge in the courtroom.
That model, she explains, creates a bench of litigators who understand how judges think and what they expect, a structural advantage that shapes everything from brief writing to witness examination.
One of the most striking moments Park shares is taking her very first deposition just eight weeks into practice, entirely alone, against a firm’s global head of litigation, a trial by fire that she credits with accelerating her development.
She is also candid about the role of pro bono work in sharpening her litigation skills, arguing it is far more than a reputational asset for the firm and genuinely builds courtroom capability.
Outside the office, Park balances her high-stakes caseload with church, choir, and a recently adopted kickboxing habit, all of which she treats as essential to sustaining performance over a long legal career.
Her broader message to associates navigating the long road to partnership is that the facts of any case are fixed, but how a lawyer frames them is where skill, creativity, and ultimately career success are built.