Osler's Razor

On Wednesdays, I am profiling the members of my law school class. I'm finding them to be a remarkable lot!

When I got to law school, one of my first friends was Mike Schwartz. We hit it off right away, and ended up sharing an apartment during second year and an amazing beach house our third year. It's been a great friendship.

Mike came to Yale Law straight from Penn State. Even without the leavening of a few years of work, he was the most polished, professional guy I knew. Among other things, he taught me how to talk on the phone. This came about when he watched me take a call:

{Phone rings, I pick it up}

Me: "What?"

{I glare at the phone as I listen to someone talk}

Me: "Fine. Bye." (hangs up phone).

Mike pointed out that I might want to insert a little more conversation into the call, and answer by saying something other than "What?" He was right! I'm a little better now.

Our second year, we lived at 69 Edwards Street with Jon Nuechterlein, around the corner from the "Tall Boys," a group that included Brett Kavanaugh. It was a great year-- among other things, Mike introduced me to his hometown of Philadelphia and we enjoyed the requisite side-trip to Atlantic City. There was a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun.

Then, third year, we lived in an incredible house by the beach in Madison, Connecticut with Nancy Field and Barr Linton. It was really nirvana-- a beautiful place with great people. On Friday nights, we would have dinner parties that rolled into the early morning hours. It would have been good to stay there a couple more years.

But we had to go, what with graduation and all. Mike and I both took District Court clerkships in Philly, and shared a row house on Spruce Street in Society Hill. It was another great collaboration, and Mike was generous in showing me the ways of his town.

After that, I returned to Detroit. Like me, Mike went to a big firm and then to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The difference is that he was better than me at both. As a prosecutor, he came to specialize in difficult corruption cases-- and if you want to prosecute corruption, Philly is a good place to go! When I was teaching at Baylor he sent me one of his indictments, from the case against a city councilman. It was massive, compelling, and taut; really a thing of beauty if you are into indictments (and I am).

Eventually, Mike decamped to Pepper Hamilton, a big Philadelphia firm, where he is a partner and co-chair of the litigation section. Occasionally, I will run into a lawyer from Philadelphia, and ask if they know Mike. They always, always do, too. He is like that, and it is a great thing.

So if you call me, and I'm halfway polite, you can thank Mike. The best friends we get are the ones who make us better.