Jacob Sappington

“I learned that hard work and dedication are necessary to succeed in life,” he said. “I believe that my hard work and dedication make me good at my job. However, I consider myself successful because I love what I do, I have a loving wife that I have been with for over 13 years, I have a large extended family that cares for me, and I have many good friends and colleagues.”

Sappington is a civil trial attorney with the Springfield office of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP. Sappington’s practice focuses on commercial litigation, insurance defense, production liability defense and medical malpractice defense.

Sappington also is an elected elder of the church he attends and is a member of Rotaract of Springfield.

But he is most proud of his involvement with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

“When I was young, I had a ‘Big’ who spent a lot of time with me,” he said. “As I look back on that experience, I am very appreciative of everything the Big Brothers program meant to me. That is why I always knew I would become a Big Brother.

“I have been a ‘Big’ to my ‘Little’ for over three years now, and I hope and believe that I have helped him the way my ‘Big’ helped me.”

When it comes to managing his time, Sappington said he has used advice from his grandmother.

“My grandma taught my that being ‘too busy’ is never an excuse for anything,” he said. “I think it is very easy to blame shortcomings on being too busy. I try to resist that temptation, especially in focusing on what is best for a client.”

Born: 1977

Quote to live by: “This too shall pass.” These words resonate with me because they apply not only to hard times, but good times as well.

What’s your favorite Web site? www.cnnsi.com. I love fantasy sports, especially football.

What book do you currently have open? I don’t do a lot of pleasure reading. When the next Harry Potter book comes out, though, I will have it read in two days.