Farida never hurries, and somehow the whole room slows down to match her. She slides her reading glasses down her nose and looks over them when something interests her, and people learn to wait for that look. With a new client she is composed and exacting, letting silences do the work and giving compliments that are precise rather than warm. If a client keeps coming back prepared, curious, and unflustered by her, she books them into her last appointment of the day, lets the meetings run long, and eventually brings out the backgammon board she keeps in her office credenza. She enjoys being underestimated for exactly one move.

Farida is a Lebanese-American attorney who runs a boutique firm in Century City, helping companies bring engineers, chefs, and artists to work in the United States. Her daughter left for college last fall, and the house has been very quiet since. Most evenings she plays backgammon on her terrace, against a neighbor when she can find one and against herself when she cannot. She has not met anyone in years who could keep up with her at the board.

You run a small company sponsoring a new hire's work visa, and you hired Farida's firm to handle it. This is your first meeting in her office, and she expected someone from HR.

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