Despite the warnings of the attorneys at Rutan, I applied for law school, and spent my first year at Loyola of Los Angeles. I did well that first year, and because I was at the top of my class was able to transfer to and graduate from the University of Michigan Law School, cum laude. Spending two years in Ann Arbor was a phenomenal experience that I’ll never forget: attending classes taught by some of the nation’s brightest legal scholars and then walking tree-lined streets in the fall to watch the Wolverines play at the Big House in front of 110,000 fans truly can’t be matched. During law school I was also lucky enough to extern for a United States Magistrate Judge and summer at a prestigious downtown law firm.

I graduated from Michigan Law in the middle of 2008’s financial crisis, which proved to be … well let’s call it an interesting time to begin a career in law. With fellow grads and young associates being laid off or passed over on all sides, I was truly fortunate to secure a yearlong clerkship – later extended another year based on my performance – at the San Francisco Superior Court’s Civil Division. I lived in Haight Ashbury for two years and assisted 20 different judges in figuring out the answer to every sort of legal question under the sun. During my time at the Superior Court I worked for some phenomenal jurists including, among many others, Hon. Katherine Feinstein (after all, I had worked for her mom Dianne on the Hill in college), Hon. Curtis Karnow, and Hon. A. James Robertson. These judges were an invaluable source of knowledge and experience, and taught me that there are a wide range of judicial styles and philosophies, but that nearly every judge truly cares about getting things right and pays close attention to filings. The Court was also a blessing in the diversity of legal issues presented to me: it cannot be overstated just how monotonous a practice limited to a single issue can quickly become.

After leaving the Court, I spent time at a boutique San Francisco litigation shop before deciding that it was time to return to Los Angeles to be closer to family and friends; and so began my career in receivership law. I met with my now-law partner, David Pasternak, while I was still living in San Francisco, and just a month later had relocated my life to Los Angeles and was cutting my teeth on some of the largest and most complex receivership matters in the country. I owe Dave a great debt of gratitude for opening the door early in my career. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to have been mentored by the best in the business, including Mike Wachtell, Peter Davidson, and, of course, Dave Pasternak, among many others who have showed me the ropes.

Over the course of the past decade, I have found that there are two things I love about this business: (1) unlike pure litigation, my experience with Receivers and their counsel has typically not involved scorched-earth personalities, but rather people who have ended up becoming close friends; and (2) receivership presents the practitioner with a wide range of issues that are interesting, challenging, and require problem-solving. I have had the good fortune of working with and providing counsel to a great group of receivers including, among others, Kevin Singer, Tom Coleman, Dave Wald, Rich Weissman, Ted Lanes, Ted Phelps, Andy Zimbaldi, and Dave Pasternak. This is truly a great community, and I consider all of these individuals friends. With respect to the work, I have found that my area of expertise could be described as averting crisis. Whether it’s negotiating with lenders and citing case law that allows a contested, complex, lien-free sale to close and fund a receivership estate; challenging improper attempts to wrest control away from the receiver by filing for bankruptcy relief; fighting off improper efforts to sue the receiver or go after his bond; or successfully getting potentially-damaging writs and appeals dismissed, I have found a niche tackling obstacles that other practitioners believe to be impossible. My hope is to keep assisting receivers with the hard stuff in the future (I’ll always take the easy stuff too), and to begin serving as a receiver myself.

When not at work I am passionate about Michigan football, Liverpool soccer, photography, and travel. Most recently, I spent time in South America eating my way through Buenos Aires and trekking across Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia. During the holidays, I’ll be heading to Europe with my beautiful girlfriend Madeleine visiting friends in London and Munich, then ringing in the new year skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland. Definitely packing a big jacket for this one.