When John started law school in New Orleans, he expected to be defending big insurance companies when he graduated. But it didn’t take long for John — or his professors — to realize that wasn’t the type of person he wanted to be.

And then, just as John was getting ready to graduate with his law degree, the economy tanked.

After bouncing around between Orlando and New Orleans for a bit — and, really, thanks to a job offer that eventually fell through — John decided to try his chances and opened Crescent City Law.

It was risky, and the first few years were hard. John lived in a basement apartment, taking cases he mostly didn’t feel passionate about. He took whatever came through the door, feeling uninspired by anything except his criminal defense cases.

Until he met Janucz.

Janucz was a Polish taxi driver who needed help with a speeding ticket. He was ecstatic to hear about John’s Polish heritage, and their connection and ensuing friendship brought cab driver after cab driver through John’s door for traffic tickets.

John had never even considered traffic tickets as something to focus his law practice on, but he soon came to realize that this work helped him give New Orleans drivers — regular New Orleans people — a fresh start.

John also began to shift his firm away from trial-heavy cases and towards another side of criminal defense — expungements.