I guess my career path has been fairly traditional for lawyers of our generation. After graduation I took a job at the Illinois Attorney General's office in Chicago. Along with Vince Brolley and two non-lawyer friends, I lived above the Four Forthings Tavern in Lincoln Park, while Vince and I studied for the bar. Notwithstanding our address, we both passed the bar (perhaps due to Vince's insistence that we consume substantial quantities of raw sardines, which he called "brain food"). Vince went on to practice in LaSalle County and I became an Assistant Attorney General of Illinois. Over the next almost four years, I had a terrific job which allowed me to try a wide variety of criminal and civil cases and argue a significant number of appeals. This was fantastic experience for a young lawyer interested in spending a career in the courtroom and sufficient to get me a job offer from Winston & Strawn — a firm that had rejected me in campus interviews during law school.
I joined classmates Tom Bearrows and Mike Robinson as an associate at Winston and the firm made me partner in 1989. I had the good fortune to be involved in a number of high-profile criminal and civil cases and build a pretty good client base. I served on our executive committee and helped Winston grow both in the United States and overseas. Along the way I was able to continue with public service by serving as counsel to the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board and as an Assistant Independent Counsel. I also taught as an adjunct at Northwestern, Loyola, and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, co-authored the treatise Corporate Internal Investigations, and wrote a number of articles on advocacy, corporate criminal liability, and related topics.
About three years ago, I received a phone call from a friend who was working as a head hunter in New York. I had never interviewed for another job while I was with Winston but he caught me on the right day. One thing lead to another and I ended up joining Shearman & Sterling, a global firm with a Wall Street driven practice which was looking to build its litigation presence. My practice continues to focus on general business litigation and white collar criminal defense. I mostly split my time between New York and Chicago but my practice takes me many places. Last year I tried two cases in Chicago and two in New York.
I still live in Chicago with my wife, Mary, and our four children — the oldest of whom is about to head off to college. My principal extra-curricular activities are serving on the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee, the Board of Governors of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, and the executive committee of the New York Inn of Court. I also chair the board of non-profit, Gilda's Club Chicago, and am co-author and editor of a forthcoming book, Your Witness: Lessons on Cross-Examination and Life from Great Chicago Trial Lawyers.
My one other significant extracurricular is serving on the Board of Visitors of the College of Law. It is an experience I wish all of you could share because it has opened my eyes to what an amazing place it is. Our tremendously talented and driven dean, Heidi Hurd, is determined to take the College of Law to the next level of academic excellence and foster a sense of community among students, faculty, and alumni which will rival or surpass that of any public law school. Please go to Champaign or check out the website and see how she is succeeding. I consider it an honor to serve on the Board and be a small part of this wonderful transformation.
As a "double Illini", I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the University of Illinois. I grew up in a home of modest means and neither of my parents went to college. My experience at Illinois was truly transformative. Like all of us, I am fortunate to have been blessed with some God-given native intelligence and drive, but the education, discipline, and prestige conferred upon me based upon earning my law degree at Illinois has made a substantial difference in my life. Illinois was "the best law school I could afford," but I have come to appreciate it as much more than that. It is the foundation upon which my professional accomplishments — and the rewards, pleasure, and excitement that have accompanied them — have been built.
I hope my pledge of $ 35,000 over three years will help some other individual experience the tremendous rewards that can be had through a law degree from Illinois.
