For Me, It’s All About the Story

I’ve always been drawn to people’s stories. So when my 8th-grade English teacher asked us to write a paper about what we wanted to be when we grew up, I said newspaper reporter. And so began my journalism career. From humble beginnings at my junior high newspaper (really just a few photocopied pages of typing paper, but you have to start somewhere), through high school and college papers, and a few years reporting and editing as a professional journalist, I learned to ask people questions. More importantly, I learned to hear their answers and to tell their stories. 

That didn’t change when I got my law degree. Over the course of more than 25 years practicing law, I have always remembered that my clients entrust me with stories about some of the most important events in their lives. Stories like the excitement of starting a new business or expanding it with new ideas, and the anxiety that sinks in when that business is under threat.

Mostly I’m sharing those stories in lawsuits. Telling judges, opposing lawyers, mediators, and jurors about the business my client built, the importance to them of honoring contracts, respecting property, or protecting copyrights, trademarks, or trade secrets. But sometimes, I help my clients build those businesses, negotiate fair contracts, or find solutions to disputes without having to go to court.

For about 25 years, I have also volunteered my time to be a lawyer for kids, representing children in child protection cases as a volunteer with Children’s Law Center of Minnesota. In 2014 and again in 2024, this work earned Rubric Legal the Children’s Law Center’s Distinguished Service Award. It was one of the finest moments of my career.

The way our stories are interconnected – in what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called “an inescapable network of mutuality” – drew me to divinity school. I earned my Masters of Divinity from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in early 2025, and am Unitarian Universalist minister. The lessons I learned about compassion, mutuality, and grace are woven (I hope) into my work as an attorney.

After early years of moving around the East Coast while my dad served in the Navy, my family settled in central Wisconsin, where my parents still live. Today I live with my wife, Amy, in Minneapolis, where I spend my free time running the occasional marathon, reading comic books (now that I’m a grown-up I’m supposed to call them “graphic novels”), and playing guitar in two bands you’ll never hear on the radio.

I also dabble in community theater (telling even more stories), sometimes acting, sometimes directing, and often building sets in my garage workshop. Amy shares my love of music and theater, and we frequently get to share a stage. We are also “parents” to Stanlee, our clever, cute, and training-resistant dog, and two cats, Pepper and Sprout (who do not think Stanlee is either clever or cute).

And I wear bow ties. Because 1) “bow ties are cool” (bonus points if you can tell me where that quote came from) and 2) I don’t have to worry about a bow tie getting caught in a car door.