Be a Joiner

Not many people can say that they’re the only one with a particular identity. But in the case of Aline Longstaff, she might be the only Tongan-American Utahn who grew up in Saudi Arabia.

“It’s kind of my superpower, this weird background,” says Longstaff, with Snell & Wilmer in Salt Lake City. “It lends perspective. I’m able to relate to people in ways that build common ground. “

Longstaff lived in Saudi Arabia until she was 18, and she still considers it her “home base.” The oil industry there—for which her parents worked—attracted people from around the globe. “I had Canadian, Chinese, white, South African, Asian, Filipino friends,” she says. “The experience really shifted my worldview.”

That upbringing, mingled with an innate intellectual curiosity, led Longstaff to pursue a decade of intense academic study in languages and Middle Eastern subjects after relocating to Utah, where her father is from and her parents got their start. At the University of Utah, she delved into history, international studies, and Middle Eastern studies, while learning Arabic. She then earned a master’s at Harvard, and learned Urdu, before deciding to law school, where she added two more languages to her repertoire—Hindi and Turkish. The J.D. was originally to advance her trajectory outside the law, particularly the nonprofit sector. “I really didn’t know I wanted to be a lawyer until I already was in a lot of ways,” she says.

The pivotal experience arrived after law school, during her clerkship with a senior judge at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, an experience that changed her idea of a lawyer’s role in society. The system’s ability to process and resolve issues fascinated her. Subsequent clerkships, including one with Utah Supreme Court Justice Diana Hagen—who was then at the Utah Court of Appeals—solidified her interest in litigation. “Those experiences informed my interest in finding innovative ways to navigate the system,” she says.

Longstaff didn’t set out to be a business litigator. “Utah is not the biggest legal market, so it’s something I fell into,” she says. “What’s kept me here is that there are so many different types of businesses out there at different levels: startups to companies that have been around for 50, 60, 70 years, and the law applies the same to all of them. What I find so unifying is whoever you are, whatever player you are, there are legal principles that apply to your context. It’s fun to navigate those conversations and strategize.”

She primarily represents business clients across diverse industries including health care, insurance, and real estate development. Perhaps most fulfilling for Longstaff is the learning curve. “I think my studies in language, not just formally, but by being intellectually curious as a hobby, helps me understand not only the industries that my clients operate in, but the specifics of their case,” she says. “I’ll never be an expert in their industry. But my job is to figure out how to translate what they’re telling me, whether it’s some complex real estate construction deal that fell through and there’re all these technical defects that we’re arguing about, so I can make it translate to the court. I find puzzling through an issue in this way really engaging.”

Beyond her commercial caseload, Longstaff handles Constitutional claims pro bono, helping pro se litigants bring a wide variety of claims. “What’s been challenging about pro bono cases at large is you really need to learn,” she says. “I know how to do civil litigation, but I might not know the nuances of some of the claims that we’re asserting because I deal with businesses, not individuals. I personally want to do good for [my pro bono clients] because these individuals feel like the justice system hasn’t served them. It’s high stakes in terms of making sure that this person is represented. In addition to developing acute legal skills, pro bono work is an opportunity to practice empathy and see things from someone else’s perspective. Being able to view things in a different light makes you a better, more creative problem-solver.”

As president-elect of the Utah Minority Bar Association, Longstaff is focused on diversifying the profession. She’s working to award scholarships to law students from diverse backgrounds, continuing a legacy of “leaders who have set the tone and created pathways for people from diverse backgrounds to access the legal profession,” she says. “I want to carry that mantle forward.”

And in her local community, she serves on the Parks, Trails and Open Space committee in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. The committee is dedicated to maintaining and enhancing the city’s outdoor spaces. “I’m a joiner,” she says. “If you’re not involved with people and your community, you’re not learning about their experiences, their concerns, and you can’t work together. If you want to be a leader, you have to be a joiner.”