Howard Gunn specializes in personal injury, Social Security disability and consumer litigation primarily on behalf of low-income and indigent clients. In his first job after graduating from law school, he worked for North Mississippi Rural Legal Services providing free legal assistance to people who couldn t afford to pay for a lawyer. My uncle was a mentor to me when I was younger, and he encouraged me to start out my legal career working for a firm that helped less-fortunate people, Gunn says. After spending five years at North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, Gunn started his own private practice in 1983 where he adopted the same mentality. Gunn works most of his cases on a contingency-fee basis he only gets paid if he wins the case for the client. So deciding which cases to take is critical. You have to look at the detailed facts of each case and compare them to the law to decide if the case has merit or not, he says. Young lawyers sometimes feel like they have to take every case that comes their way, but with experience you learn to spot the cases without merit and stay away from them, Gunn adds. In fact, Gunn has become so adept at choosing which cases to work on that he helps secure favorable outcomes for his clients about 90 percent of the time.