This New York Lawyer Is The Go-To Guy For The NBA — And BlackBerry Is the Go-To Smartphone For Him
A partner in the New York office of Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, Alex Spiro has a long history in the legal field. Though his practice is primarily focused on white-collar crime, he represents and works with clients all across the globe. With a love of sports stemming from his time as a high-school basketball player, Spiro also represents and advises a number of prominent NBA athletes.
He has also worked at Harvard’s McLean Hospital. He still serves on the faculty of Harvard’s Trial Advocacy program, where he hosts lectures on a broad range of legal topics. He has received numerous awards over the course of his career, including the Albert Imlah writing award, the ACC Northeast Ethics Lawyering Award, the NYLJ Rising Star Award, and the 2018 Law360 Rising Star Award for White Collar.
I met Alex through Chris Copeland, who is also a mutual friend. Alex has advised Chris in the past, and the two of them often discuss both athletics and BlackBerry with one another. Recently, I reached out to Alex to talk about both his career and how the brand plays into it.
Daley: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Spiro: I’m a lawyer by trade, and I do several different things. First and foremost is litigation, I try and investigate cases in many different areas, I also teach at Harvard Law School, and work frequently with organizations that seek to improve the US criminal justice system.
What inspired my passion for law initially can be traced back to my first real job. I worked in a hospital system, and I started advocating on behalf of the folks there. I realized that I liked to fight for positions and for people — I liked to work with the system to help people. That was the moment I first decided to attend law school.
Daley: What was it that first attracted you to the BlackBerry brand?
Spiro: It’s hard to say. I can remember back when cell phones first came onto the market, and I was always mocked because I had a flip phone. At some point, I moved from that device to a BlackBerry, and I was hooked. Their keyboards are excellent, and the functionality has always been exactly what I needed from a smartphone.
I’ve been with the brand ever since, and my phone and career have been inseparable.
My BlackBerry is my most important physical possession. I don’t go anywhere without it, and it serves as my eyes, ears, keyboard, calendar, and connection to both clients and colleagues. No one has even come close to persuading me to leave.
Daley: How long have you been using BlackBerry devices?
Spiro: I would say a decade ago, easily.
Daley: What device are you currently using?
Spiro: Currently, I’m on the KEYone, but I’ll be switching to the KEY2 soon.
Daley: How does the KEYone measure up to other smartphones?
Spiro: One of the NBA guys gave me the model before this one. I was using that, and I really liked it — it was definitely an upgrade from what I’d had before. Then the gentleman who helps me out with all things technological told me I had to try the KEYone. He was right.
The battery life is perfect for someone who doesn’t stop talking on the phone. I use it to meet and correspond with clients all the time. Like I said, it’s essentially my right hand.
Daley: How do you typically use your BlackBerry? Walk us through a day in your life.
Spiro: Really, from the moment I wake up, it’s in my hand. I’m not somebody who carries a watch or a laptop with them, and I don’t really own a calendar. My smartphone serves as all of those, and it helps me organize and navigate a day of multitasking and handling cases in many jurisdictions and countries.
I’ve got a lot of email accounts open and a lot of things going on all at once. That’s the key to the KEYone. It helps me stay on top of everything.
Reliability is one of the most important drivers for me. If there’s a problem with my phone for even a moment, it slows down my day like nothing else could.
I don’t really buy things like ties and watches. I don’t see any need for them. My BlackBerry is my one material possession that I hold above all others.
Daley: Do you have any advice for anyone who’s thinking of purchasing a BlackBerry?
Spiro: I think as a society, we spend too much time looking at a screen and not enough time communicating. With the BlackBerry, with the keyboard, you can really communicate with everybody through email and other means much more effectively. No mistakes, all business all the time — and that’s a great thing.
One last thing I’ll mention is that it may seem like everybody’s got an iPhone now, but if you look behind the curtain, it’s a different story altogether. In almost every meeting with prominent people from athletes and entertainers to fund managers and CEO’s, you always see the trusted BlackBerry.
I still regularly see powerful and influential people who have stuck with their trusted BlackBerry smartphone.
#NBA #Basketball #BlackBerryMobile #KEYone #KEY2 #AnIconReborn #TeamBlackBerry #Android
Original Article by Cedric Daley (Source)
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