Hillary Clinton’s choice for presidential running mate, Virginia Sen. TimKaine, is a Harvard Law grad who cut his teeth as a younglawyer fighting for fair housing issues, winning a $100 millionjury verdict against Nationwide Insurance over allegedlydiscriminatory lending practices.

Clinton and the former Virginia governor made their firstappearance together on July 23 at a rally in Miami, where Kainedescribed his past work as a “civil rights lawyer.”

“I brought dozens of lawsuits when I was in private practice,battling banks, landlords, real estate firms, insurance companiesand even local governments that had treated people unfairly,” Kainesaid to cheers.

Kaine graduated from Harvard in 1983, a decade after Clintonearned her own law degree from Yale. He took nearly a year offbefore graduating to work as a missionary in Honduras. Unlikemany in his class who vaulted into Big Law careers, Kaine joined asmall firm in Richmond, Va., now called McCandlish Holton, where hefocused largely on fair housing matters.

Discrimination alleged against Nationwide

Kaine’s most high-profile case was brought on behalf of a localnon-profit, Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME), which allegedthat Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. had discriminated againstAfrican-American neighborhoods through the practice known asredlining.

The case went to trial in 1998, after Kaine had becomeRichmond’s mayor. The jury sided with HOME and returned a $100million verdict against Nationwide. The verdict was lateroverturned by Virginia’s highest court, which sided with lawyersfor the insurer at Kirkland & Ellis.

HOME later reached a $17.5 million settlement with Nationwide,earning Kaine’s law firm $5.8 million in fees.

'I like to fight for right'

“At the time I won that case, it was the biggest jury verdict everin a civil rights case in American history,” Kaine said atSaturday’s rally. “I like to fight for right.”

Kaine left his legal career behind in 2001, the year he waselected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Now 58, he served as thestate’s governor from 2006 to 2010, and was first elected to theU.S. Senate in 2012.

Venable partner Lawrence Roberts, based in the Tysons Corner,Va. office, has worked closely with Kaine throughout his politicalcareer, holding posts as campaign chairman for Kaine’s gubernatorial and Senateruns.

James Hamilton, a Washington, D.C.-based criminal and civillitigation partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, handled the vetting process for Clinton’s vicepresidential candidates.