Polsinelli’s growth and success is the direct result of our talented and dedicated current and former attorneys. Whether you passed through our doors recently or years ago, we invite you to stay connected with your former colleagues and friends through our Alumni Network.

The Polsinelli Alumni Network offers alumni access to newsletters, e-alerts and invitations to upcoming webinars and CLEs. Our objective is to provide you with valued resources and opportunities and to keep you in the know about firm ongoings. 

Whether you are a recent or longtime alum, your contributions are present at the firm. Thank you for sharing your talents with us during your time at Polsinelli.

Josh Maxfield, General Counsel, Garmin

Q: What is your favorite Polsinelli memory?

A: I have so many great memories of my time at Polsinelli, so it's hard to pick just one. One I think about a lot is a flight I took with Jim Polsinelli on a little plane we chartered to Hays, Kansas for a client's board meeting.

We flew directly through a major storm and hit the scariest turbulence I have ever experienced. Our luggage was bouncing up and down from floor to ceiling, and we were holding on for dear life.

I passed the time by thinking to myself, "If the worst happened, there would be a front-page article in the Kansas City Star given Jim's prominence in the community, and at the very end of the article, after several paragraphs describing Jim's illustrious career and community involvement, it would mention as an aside that a pilot and another (unnamed) passenger were also aboard." I shared that with Jim, and I remember him smiling his wonderful smile with the twinkle in his eyes that we all know so well.

Q: What lesson from your time at the firm has stayed with you throughout your career?

A: Probably the most impactful lesson I learned is the importance of trying to thoroughly understand your client's business, opportunities and challenges, culture, values and appetite for risk. Lawyers who provide legal advice with those things in mind provide superior service compared to those who do not. I learned that in particular from lawyers like Jim Polsinelli and Frank Ross, who excelled at becoming closely integrated with the businesses of their clients.

This lesson has helped me throughout my time at Garmin, because I knew right from the moment I joined that I needed to work hard to understand our very diversified (and always evolving) business, opportunities, challenges, culture and values. By understanding those things, I am better positioned to plug in as a valued business partner. Incidentally, it also makes the job more fun.

Q: What excites you about your current role?

A: I joined Garmin as a junior lawyer nearly 20 years ago, and I've had several roles over that time. In 2024, our long-time General Counsel retired, and I was appointed as his replacement. Serving as General Counsel for a company like Garmin is a real honor and privilege. I am most excited about leading our growing in-house team of talented lawyers and professionals around the world. We have very little turnover on our team, and I have enjoyed watching the lawyers and professionals we hired years ago grow and develop to become very capable and confident leaders themselves.

Q: What surprised you about going in-house?

A: Being an in-house lawyer is very different than being a lawyer at a law firm. When I was with Polsinelli, I was in the Corporate practice group and worked on things like mergers and acquisitions, entity formations, capital raising, etc. Anything else went to other lawyers at the firm who specialized in those areas. In-house lawyers are much more generalized and tend to take on all kinds of issues, matters and projects whether they have deep expertise in the given area of law or not.

That took me some time to adjust to, because at times, I wasn't sure that I was qualified to be giving certain advice. Over time, I've learned that becoming an in-house lawyer means you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable, roll up your sleeves, learn as much as you can about whatever comes across your desk, give the best advice you can and move on to the next thing. While this was daunting at first, it is now something I enjoy most about my job; no two days are ever the same.

Q: What do you enjoy doing outside the office?

A: The thing I most enjoy is being outside with people I care about, doing things like golfing, hiking, skiing or simply enjoying a meal and some banter on a patio or deck.