MEET NICK
Full Name → Nicolás “Nick” Allen Duval
Age → 33
Birthday → December 24, 1991
Order & Type → second, solo
Gender & Pronouns → cis man, he/him
Sexuality → bisexual
Occupation → lawyer, senior associate & co-owner at Duval Law
THEIR STORY
Being obviously half-Mexican in small town Pennsylvania was one thing, but add in private schools, cotillion classes, and society events, and it was no wonder the whispers stayed with Nick all the way through high school – always “Nick,” never “Nicolás,” the Spanish spelling and pronunciation already enough to raise eyebrows. He struggled with anxiety and had trouble focusing, but he stubbornly refused to let his parents down, to bring their family under even more scrutiny. He learned to cope: breathing exercises, spreadsheets, carefully controlled study conditions, and a smile so bright no one would ever look too closely. It could have made him run, leaving Ashford Valley permanently for the big city, but Nick decided he’d rather change the rules himself.
A thousand tiny microaggressions from people who should have been his friends and peers lit a fire in him, and Nick decided the best use of his privilege was to fight back. He got into Columbia early acceptance, and promptly majored in International Studies with a minor in Spanish, with an eye toward the LSATs and law school. A civil rights lawyer with the right education, right resources, and the right attitude could fight back against the system, and leave it better than when he started.
Along with law school came a shiny new ADHD diagnosis – something which should have been obvious, but apparently went unnoticed until the pressures of an L1 course load threatened the careful coping mechanisms he’d developed over the years. Once he had a name for what he was dealing with and the proper medication and support structure, he doubled down, graduating law school with a contingent offer from a prestigious firm in Philadelphia and passing the bar on his first try. He cut his teeth on civil litigation, immigration and custody lawsuits, and worked his way up from junior associate to lead counsel. The pace was grueling, however, and Nick ended up back in Ashford Valley just to avoid burnout, finally in a position to make a difference — he just had to figure out what that looked like.
A call from an old friend gave Nick the opportunity he’d been looking for — the chance to make waves and rebuild a formerly influential local law firm into something that could make a difference. The challenge of salvaging the client base and tarnished reputation appealed to him and put him in a position to really shake things up in terms of representation and visibility in the legal community. He focused his efforts on community outreach, client retention, and diversifying the types of legal cases they could handle, and before long, his name was on the door of one of the most trusted law firms in the area.
Due to his upbringing, Nick is stubborn, passionate, and knows how to turn on the charm — but he’s also a little bit goofy, with a dry, offbeat sense of humor and a tendency to tease the people he’s closest to. He’s wildly intelligent, something he inherited from his mother, but with some very specific blind spots that make him a bit oblivious at times: namely, he’s terrible at self-care, has a crippling coffee addiction, and occasionally gets so focused on what’s right in front of him that he misses social cues (Jury’s still out on whether his quirks are annoying or endearing.)
