Nominee's civil practice was with a small, but specialized, firm

Long before President Obama thrust Sonia Sotomayor into the spotlight by nominating her for the U.S. Supreme Court, she was a corporate attorney with an interesting specialty: designer handbags. Sotomayor spent eight years at New York firm Pavia & Harcourt, where she represented Italian luxury goods retailer Fendi in its fight against knockoff handbags bearing the designer's logo.