Changing Course

Josh Verde was the kid always glued to the window seat on flights with his family from their Boca Raton home to visit relatives in Michigan. Everything about air travel fascinated him. “I always wanted to be a pilot,” he recalls.

That conviction intensified at age 10, when his family took their first international trip—to Europe. “Flying over the ocean sealed it for me,” he says. “I’m like, ‘I have to do this.’”

Verde earned his pilot’s license in high school, attended undergrad at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, and by his early 20s, was flying jets for Continental Airlines through its regional carrier, ExpressJet. Over the next 6 ½ years, he rose to the rank of captain and flew across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

“It was a neat job at the time, with fun travel perks like jump-seat privileges,” says Verde. 

What eventually became more interesting than the cockpit, however, was his work with the Air Line Pilots Association. As hotel committee chair for the union, his role was to ensure that layover hotels were safe, comfortable and compliant with contract terms, and to advocate for pilots when issues compromised their rest time.

“Sometimes they’d land and there would be no rooms available, or the hotel van wouldn’t show up,” he says. “Or they’d get ‘walked,’ which is when a hotel gives away your reservation and sends you to a lesser property down the street.”

There were also back-and-forths with management over cost-cutting measures, such as assigning crews to hotels that lacked certain amenities. “Some places offered laundry service or check-cashing—stuff that made life on the road a little easier,” Verde says.

Stepping up for his fellow pilots sparked a new passion. “I gained a lot of professional and personal fulfillment,” he says. “Flying is very much like being a bus driver—nothing wrong with that, but it gets tedious after a while.” 

His interest in advocacy got a push from an unexpected setback. He’d been offered a job with Northwest Airlines, the kind of next-step role of a pilot’s dreams. But during the company’s merger with Delta, the offer was rescinded.

“One day, I had the job. A few weeks later, they called and said, ‘Just kidding.’ That was it for me,” Verde says. “I realized how little control I had over my aviation career.” 

Even before that, he’d been questioning the career-development opportunities along his chosen path. “Promotions are 100% seniority-based; there’s no merit consideration at all,” he says. “That takes a little bit of the spark away.”

Verde applied to law school and was granted a leave of absence by ExpressJet, where he hadn’t yet submitted his notice. However, by the end of year 1L, he decided it was time to commit fully. “I knew if I had a safety net, I wouldn’t perform as well in law school,” he says. “So I resigned.”

Verde opened his practice in 2012, planning to focus on labor and employment law, but a surprise call brought his two careers into the same orbit.

“A guy found my name through a local airport and asked if I could help him pick up a plane he’d bought in Minnesota,” Verde recalls. “I quoted him a ridiculously high price, thinking he’d say no. Instead, he said, ‘Deal.’”

During the flight, the man—COO of a Houston-based oil field services company—mentioned needing in-house counsel. By the time they landed, Verde had a job offer. “I got the break of a lifetime,” he says, adding that the company offered him a salary, a corner office suite, and the freedom to build his private firm on the side.

After the company was sold a few years later, Verde went all-in on his private practice. Today, he represents employees in wrongful termination, discrimination and retaliation cases, and advises select business clients. And he’s still involved in aviation. Verde maintains his pilot and flight instructor licenses and runs Aerovise, a consulting group that helps journalists accurately report on aviation incidents. “Aviation is complex and often misunderstood,” he says. “I wanted to help bridge that gap.”

While aviation law isn’t a big part of his day-to-day practice, it may be someday. “Texas recently added board certification in aviation law,” he notes. “I’m already certified in labor and employment, but I’d love to add that one.”

Pursuing law as a second career has been deeply rewarding for Verde. One of his favorite aspects of the profession? Its flexibility. “You can always pivot—you’re never stuck,” he says. “There were times when I was a bored pilot, but I’ve never been bored as a lawyer.”

Josh Verde’s Favorite Flying Movies

• Airplane! (1980)
• Airport (1970)
• Top Gun (1986)
• Airport ’77 (1977)
• Passenger 57 (1992)