My name is Tabatha Branch, and for more than twenty-ve years I practiced law as a

plaintiff's attorney in State and Federal cour t. I represented people, not companies. My

clients were teachers and truck drivers and nurses and grandparents, everyday folks who

had been treated badly and did not know where to turn.

I loved helping people. That is the plain truth of it. There is no feeling quite like taking

someone who walked into your oce beaten down and confused and watching them

walk out standing a little taller because somebody nally took their side. That is what kept

me going through long days and stubborn cases.

Most of my work centered on vehicles. Cars and trucks are the second biggest purchase

most families ever make, right after a house, and they are also the purchase where people

are most vulnerable. You walk onto a lot, you are tired, you are hopeful, and you are

dealing with a salesperson who does this every single day. The deck is stacked before

you even sit down.

I wanted to protect the consumer. That was the whole of it. The law gave me tools to do

that, and I used them. But over the years I came to understand that the tools only help if

people know they exist and know how to pick them up.