"When I first came to Zwerdling Paul, Mike took me aside and had a long talk with me about how it would not be easy to work with him.  He told me that he can be abrupt and sometimes would blurt things out that he didn't mean.  Mike was right.  But, he also told me that I would work on exciting and challenging cases and I would learn a tremendous amount.  Mike was also right on that account.  That conversation remains fresh in my mind today because he was so insightful about himself and it was that conversation that allowed me to learn an incredible amount about being a lawyer in just 10 years.  Mike was only abrupt because his mind worked so quickly.  He could walk into any matter, analyze the case in minutes and be able to construct the winning argument on the spot.  I was awed to see him work.  But the most valuable thing I learned from Mike was his undying optimism.  In Mike's mind, he never lost a case.  Any time we would get a decision where we didn't get the result we wanted, Mike was quickly analyzing the case to figure out what sentence would help us in the future.  And the fact is, he really could take a case we lost and turn it around to help our clients in the future.  Like Auer, in the Supreme Court, which anyone else would look at as a loss.  Mike viewed that case as establishing that the Courts had to defer to the Department of Labor and used it exhaustively and successfully to argue that the DOL's FLSA opinion letters controlled when the case law went against us. And in that way, we won Auer.  It is an incredible and rare gift he had.  And it is the same optimism that kept him fighting this awful disease much longer than most of us could.  I thank you Mike for sharing that gift with me.  Carla"