About Me

Life

I was born in Washington, D.C., adopted seven days later, and spent most of my childhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve seen marriages, divorces, remarriages, births, bar mitzvahs, reunions, reunifications, cancer, deaths, weight loss, hair loss, and monumental loss. Luckily or unluckily, they have not all been mine.

Work

In between being born and where I am now, I have worked, in no particular order, as a lawn boy, executive director, litigation attorney, bike messenger, bag boy, file clerk, database manager, editor, house painter, Legal Aid attorney, solo law practitioner, legal humorist, and envelope licker. I have likely forgotten about a dozen more, and there’s probably good reason for them being stuck somewhere in the recesses of memory. Suffice it to say that, in July 1984, I was employee of the month at McDonald’s.

I am currently practicing law in Minnesota as the founder of Adoptee Rights Law Center. I’m also mucking around a bit with my friends at Adoptees United Inc., a really cool new thing.

Thoughts

In between playing with my kids, messing around on the internet, and paying attention to domestic chores, I manage to have some thoughts. Usually, they are a bit more strident in print than they are in person. I’m unabashedly liberal, sometimes stubborn, but generally happy-go-lucky. My views do not necessarily represent those of my eight eleven-fourteen-year-old, though they are surprisingly similar and at times usually now he is plain smarter. I can say with complete accuracy that my thoughts and opinions do not represent the thoughts of my neighbor Mike, my girlfriend in eighth grade (Hi, Debbie!), any former or current employers except when I managed to employ myself, or that of any fictional character of which I am aware, except perhaps C. Hank Peters. As a lawyer, I’ve spent a good many words explaining that my thoughts are my own.