Beyond the Law
There are two things about me that deeply inform my approach to the law but don't necessarily jump off my professional biography page. First, I am a New Englander. I was born and raised in Rhode Island. I went to law school in Boston and spent my first seven years of practice there. Why does this matter? Perspective. I know what it's like to represent companies in places where it has long been comparatively difficult to be an employer. And after I moved to the St. Louis area – Edwardsville, IL, to be exact – I applied that experience when learning the ins and outs of Missouri and Illinois employment laws. I feel that this perspective allows me to approach problems in a fresh and different way.
Second, I am a musician. I started playing instruments in middle school, switched to singing a few years later, and haven't stopped performing. I studied voice while in college and law school and was fortunate to sing with some excellent ensembles in Boston. Then, within a month after relocating to Illinois in 2008, I joined the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. The opportunity to sing on the same stage as one of the world's great orchestras has been variously humbling, intimidating, and exhilarating.
But more than simply providing a counterbalance to the demands of work, music requires discipline, collaboration, creativity, and, above all, an ability to listen. I believe that these traits, honed over many years, influence my practice and inform my interactions with both clients and colleagues.
In 2013, I was privileged to perform with the symphony and chorus at Carnegie Hall in a concert that the New York Times counted as one of the year's 10 best. (Pictured in background.)
