For most of my career, I have been a journalist reporting and writing about legal affairs, as a staff writer of The New Yorker, a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, and author of six books. I came to Yale as a journalist on the faculty of Yale Law School to launch and lead Legal Affairs magazine, the first general-interest magazine about the law and lawyers. For the past 26 years, I have also taught at Yale, at the law school, in the English and Political Science Departments, and as Davenport's writing tutor. Early in my journalism career, I wrote a profile about a tap dancer named Sandman Sims whose motto was, "See one, do one, pass it on." That's my aim as a teacher and a tutor and as a Davenport fellow. I get inspiration for that commitment from wide sources -- family, friendship, biking, reading, Long Island Sound, past and current colleagues, and many Yale students.
I received my Bachelor of Arts at Harvard College in 1972 and my JD from Harvard Law School in 1976.
