STOCKTON – Blaine Cox is leveraging his legal expertise and the skills he’s learned in the Army National Guard to support clients as the newest associate at Herum Crabtree Suntag in Stockton.
“Helping businesses navigate through the legal field is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Cox told the Northern California Record.
While in his undergraduate program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he studied business administration. That’s where he started to build his expertise in land use and business transaction law. In between undergraduate school and law school, he pursued his other calling by attending the U.S. Army Infantry Basic Officer Leaders Course and the U.S. Army Pathfinder School.
He went on to attend Santa Clara University School of Law, where he earned the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence in the Study of Torts. The summer before his senior year, he spent three months working as a summer associate at Herum Crabtree Suntag.
The atmosphere and the work were a good fit. He returned to the firm in November after graduating with a Juris Doctor degree and passing the bar exam.
Cox had secured the job he always wanted, but he was not ready to leave the National Guard behind. Some attorneys sit on nonprofit boards or take on extra pro bono work, but Cox has found a different way to serve. He is a second lieutenant in the infantry branch of the California Army National Guard. The work he does for the Army is very different from his day job as an attorney, but Cox thinks that they complement each other well.
“Being an infantry officer is about leadership and getting people to work together, which I think translates well into the legal profession,” Cox said. “I have to work with so many different kinds of people in National Guard; it helps me work with different people from all around the state when I’m doing legal services for clients.”
Herum Crabtree Suntag works with businesses in the region and across the state on land use, water, real estate and complex business litigation among other areas of business law. They often interact with government agencies and planning commissions. Cox says that his experience working with the guard coupled with his business background makes him uniquely suited to help his clients.
His practice areas include public agencies; land use planning, development and litigation; and business, tax agriculture and commercial law. He said that one of the most valuable services he provides for his clients is good business and government relations. His experience with the Army National Guard has gone a long way toward building his skills in that area.
A few months into his job at the firm, Cox still thinks it’s a good fit for him.
“I see myself staying and working with the firm for a long time,” he said.
Cox is a member of the Stanislaus County Bar Association.