Discovery with Erzsebet Pifko

I can’t go a day without … coffee and meditation.

If you were in my office, you’d … think you were in a Kate Spade boutique.

My colleagues would be surprised to know that … I had a serious goth/emo phase and I still have blue underlights in my hair (which I’m excellent at hiding).

The lawyers I most admire are … the attorneys of Earthjustice.

The quality I most like in a lawyer is … not taking yourself too seriously.

If I weren’t a lawyer, I’d be … a professor of particle physics at a European university. Or a travel blogger. (Probably the latter.)

When I started, I wish I knew … how much of my day I was going to spend sending follow-up emails.

When I win a case, I celebrate by … getting my hair done and going to the beach. In that order, so I look great for an entire three hours.

The SCOTUS justice I’d like to meet is … Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In fact, I’m wearing my “Notorious RBG” shirt right now.

The SCOTUS decision I’d overturn is … Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker.

A different practice area that intrigues me is … animal rights law.

My favorite Twitter feed is … @jk_rowling.

My motto is … always be unapologetically you.

My favorite song lyric is … “I searched for form and land / For years and years I roamed / I gazed a gazeless stare / At all the millions here / We must have died alone / A long, long time ago” —“The Man Who Sold the World” by David Bowie.

The movie line I quote most often is … way too offensive to quote here.

The three people I’d invite to dinner are … Elon Musk, Eckhart Tolle and Marilyn Manson.

If I had a morning show, my co-host would be … Gary Vaynerchuk.

Nothing cheers me up like … traveling to somewhere I’ve never been before.

My guilty pleasure is … Oreo cheesecake. On second thought, I don’t feel the least bit guilty about it.

If I had a time machine, I would … keep going back to sleep.

My favorite word is … “unpresidented.”

My least favorite word is … “scintilla.” It’s worse than “moist.”

The last TV show I binge-watched was … The Walking Dead.

If I won the lottery I’d … buy a chateau on the Côte d’Azur with views of the
Mediterranean and the Maritime Alps. I would also open a cat café in Amsterdam.

The most annoying thing about my job is … billable hours, a.k.a. the requirement to justify my existence in six-minute increments every day.

My courtroom walk-up song would be … “Cthulhu Sleeps” by deadmau5.