The beginning of Mason Murphy's life wasn't exactly an idyllic situation for a young life. Born and raised in Hell's Kitchen, New York, he was brought up somewhat unconventionally by a single father. Growing up, he knew very little about his mother, other than that she left when he was very small. The memories he had of her had more to do with a sense-memory of a faint scent of gardenia perfume or a pattern of a dress that became more and more vague and blurry as he grew up. For his part, Mason's father did everything he could to make sure that his son never felt as though he were unwanted, despite the situation with his mother. From the time he was little, the two were a team, a force to be reckoned with. Mason's father, Jason Murphy, was an incredible man. He came from nothing, and while he struggled every day to put food on the table, he taught his son to reach for better, and never to feel as though he couldn't do anything. He wanted Mason to be better than the circumstances he would be raised in. Jason owned a small gym, which was getting edged out by many of the bigger-name franchises in the area. His only real claim to keep things running was his training aspect of the gym. He taught boxing and kickboxing; once a prized fighter himself, Jason was an amazing trainer, and brought up many a fighter in his gym. He did it for the love of the sport, not the money it might bring him. It was a good outlook to have, since it really didn't bring him any money whatsoever.

Mason was just seven years old when he himself started to work in the gym. Not at all a glamorous job, but rather sweeping the floors and doing his homework in the back office. He probably spent more time in there than he did even at home. As much as he wanted to jump into the ring and learn some moves for himself, his father was adamant that school came first. He was pushed every day to be better and aim higher than his circumstances. He was ten before his father actually allowed him to step into the boxing ring and throw his first punch -- largely due to a bullying problem at school that sent him home with a black eye. As much as his father was teaching him how to defend himself -- it was exactly that: defense. His father instilled within Mason a strong sense of morality and not being an aggressor in any given situation. Mason tried to make his father proud of him, which was something that would become increasingly important to him in the years to come.

At just thirteen years old, Mason's world took a dramatic shift, and not for the better. He was at home, and his father just never returned one night. It wasn't unusual for Jason to spend the night at the gym, working so late he'd rather sleep on the couch, so Mason headed over there after stopping to get bagels and coffee. He didn't expect to arrive to a crime scene. He didn't expect to be pulled aside by a police officer while his father was rolled away in a body bag. They said it was a robbery gone terribly wrong -- they were after what little was in the safe in the back office. They got what they wanted, but it cost Jason Murphy his life when he tried to stop the intruders. The years that followed were incredibly tough for Mason, as anyone would expect. As he was sent into the foster care system, he didn't become some rebellious, bitter young man. Instead, he focused on the way his father would have wanted him to live. He strived for the same things his father had told him to, but moreover he vowed that he would find some way to protect the ones closest to him. At first, that was continuing his training at the gym once it was taken over by a friend of his father's, working up to boxing as a way of getting out his own aggression and anger over his loss.

Mason never wanted to go pro or anything with his boxing, but it kept him focused. He worked hard to graduate school, earning good grades as he knew he'd need scholarships if he wanted to go to college. The sale of his father's gym had left him with some money, but not a whole lot. Just enough to scrape by along with two separate scholarships to get him into New York University. He entered with the same focus he'd taken from his father all throughout his life, majoring in political science with the intent of going on to law school. Somewhere in his mind, he knew his dad would be proud of him, and that was enough.

Harvard University was such a pipe dream to Mason before he began college, but as he hit his stride in undergrad, it became more and more of a reality. Finally getting into the school was the biggest honor he could have hoped for, and he was determined to hit the ground running as much as he could. As hard as he worked in those years at Harvard, he was able to breathe some, get some priorities in order when it came to building relationships and coming into himself as an adult. Every summer was spent mostly doing internships, which landed him an entry level job in a small law firm. Mostly it was filing ... filing, and then some more filing on top of that. Eventually he began to do research on cases, but it was a long time before he actually got to try his own cases. In a highly competitive world, he focused on doing his own thing and most importantly -- winning as many cases as he could. He had the benefit of having a true passion for what he was doing, particularly in the heavier criminal cases. He began to thrive in his own talent and get much more confident in the courtroom.

In the spring of 2010, Mason was poached by a firm that promised to make him a named partner. It was a new firm, but had a lot of promise to be one of the premiere firms in the city. They focused on their clients, on young and hungry attorneys with just enough experience under their belts. It was the first time that Mason felt like he really had a hand in building something, and he loved that feeling. Though he does still struggle with keeping a balance between his work and personal life, he at least has a strong conviction that the work he does has a lot of worth.