Esna Mihail

Practice Focus

Esna Mihail is a Veterans disability attorney at Berry Law. Based in Montclair, Virginia, she is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. She brings an analytical, even-keeled approach to legal work, with a particular interest in reading the record, identifying gaps, and determining the strongest available path forward. Her commitment to Veterans is shaped by her experience as a military spouse and by a career that has included substantial work for Veteran-owned small businesses.

Esna believes sound strategy starts with a clear-eyed assessment. Recognizing favorable facts is important, but she places equal value on identifying what is missing and deciding how to address it. Her approach is to close gaps where possible or develop a strategy that does not depend on unresolved weaknesses. She values honest analysis over optimism that is not supported by the record, and she wants clients to know their information is being read closely and taken seriously.

Analytical Advocacy at Berry Law

The analytical side of legal practice was a central reason Esna chose her role at Berry Law. She is drawn to work that requires careful reading, evaluation, and strategic judgment. She also values the firm’s internal organization, including its focus on dedicated analysis of records and legal strategy. That emphasis aligns with the part of legal work she finds most meaningful: understanding the information available and deciding how best to move forward.

The firm’s mission was equally important. Esna wanted to join a Veteran-led organization with an established commitment to the community she seeks to serve. Her own connection to military life and Veteran-owned businesses made that focus especially compelling. At Berry Law, she brings together a preference for disciplined analysis and a personal commitment to treating each client’s matter with care.

For Esna, a case deserves serious attention because of what it means to the individual involved. Clients may seek an attorney when something in their lives is uncertain, sometimes after already being told no elsewhere. She believes that responsibility calls for both care and honesty. Her aim is to help people understand that they are not merely a file number within a larger system.

A Personal Connection to Veterans

Esna’s husband has navigated the VA process. Although he is also an attorney, he found the experience difficult and frustrating, reinforcing her understanding that Veterans law is specialized even for people with legal training. That experience helped clarify the value of having knowledgeable support when working through a complicated system.

As an immigrant, Esna also brings a personal appreciation for the freedoms that drew her to the United States. She connects those freedoms to the people who volunteered to defend them. Serving Veterans is a way to put her own professional skills toward giving something back. Her work for Veteran-owned small businesses and her experience as a military spouse have made that commitment a recurring part of her professional and personal life.

She believes Veterans need someone who understands the system and will be honest with them about it. That conviction links her analytical approach with her client-service philosophy: careful attention to the record, realistic assessment, and respect for the person seeking help.

Education and Professional Involvement

Esna earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of Bucharest in 2009 and graduated from The George Washington University Law School in 2017. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and is a member of the Military Spouse JD Network. Her education, professional experience, and connection to military families inform her work in Veterans disability at Berry Law.

Esna lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, their two children, and two very demanding cats. She grew up in Romania, speaks Romanian, Spanish, and French, and spent several years living overseas as a military spouse.