Shireen Y. Wetmore One of the great things about being Pakistani American is that I was blessed with the richness of growing up with many of my father’s cultural influences. Some of those fit classic stereotypes. For example, I love to bargain. My passion for negotiation – in my father’s culture, both an art form and a sign of respect – serves my clients and my practice as we work together to resolve challenges and find creative solutions. But as I reflect on my cultural upbringing, in a mixed household with parents sharing very different backgrounds and belief systems, I am learning more and more how much I have been influenced by the many ways my father did not fit the mold. We may choose to challenge our culture in different ways, but every way we push is its own sign of respect for the continuity and evolution of these traditions and the ways in which we embrace shared values in changing times. My dad took a chance to come to a new country, and make a new life in America, and I would not be here without that act of both defiance and sacrifice. Nor would I be so fortunate to be a partner in a prestigious law firm without the push and the drive he instilled in me. I can’t think about my Indian and Pakistani heritage without him. And I would not want to think about my practice without the influences of that rich heritage.