Age: 30
After Touchstone?
Bancroft School, Princeton University, and University of Chicago Law School
Current endeavors (professional, hobbies, family life):
I’m currently a lawyer practicing appellate litigation, which means that I do a lot of legal research and write briefs. I just started at a large firm in Chicago. In the two years before I started working at the firm, I had the good luck to clerk for Judge Richard Posner on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals here in Chicago, and for Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.
In my non-law life, I am married to Graham Meyer, whom I met in college through our a cappella singing group, the Katzenjammers. Hobbies include reading, bridge, crossword puzzles, and trying not to learn what happened on various TV shows until after I’ve watched them on Netflix.
Favorite Touchstone memory:
It’s impossible to pick a favorite, but I can think of at least one funny one. When I was nine, in Chris MacDonald’s class (later Chris Lindeman), we created a town in our classroom. Everyone opened their own business in the town. Ever practical, I realized that every town needs a grocery store, so that was the business I created. Unfortunately, it was horribly unsuccessful ― no one really cared about doing something so mundane as buying pretend groceries. And everyone was too busy patronizing other businesses ― I remember, for example, that Trevor Slater’s helicopter rides business attracted tons of customers.
How did Touchstone prepare you for what you do today?
For one thing, [Touchstone] helped me develop a love of reading that has been really important in both my personal and professional lives. I still remember reading A Wrinkle in Time in Ginny’s class, and The Phantom Tollbooth in Henny’s class, and Island of the Blue Dolphins in Chris’s class ― all great books. I remember when John Bellairs came to speak to us. And I remember reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd [Agatha Christie] with, I think, Polly Pease in Chris’s class and practically fainting when we got to the end.
More broadly, Touchstone taught us how to think analytically and creatively. I don’t remember memorizing anything, but I have many memories of creating unique stories and art and plays. Even negotiating the four poles in the middle of the room at the Grange that we used for gym in the winter demanded open and thoughtful minds. Using our own minds and imaginations let us experience for ourselves what worked (for example, helicopter rides) and what didn’t (grocery store), and learn from the experience.