By Debra Bruno
2017年5月1日
With members in all 50 states and more than 80 countries, the D.C. 酒吧正在开始一个常规功能来介绍组成我们社区的人. Read about your peers, their lives, and their work around the world.
Michael Allen, 54, senior corporate counsel at Nordstrom, Inc., 他有一个错综复杂的生活故事——他是一个家庭男人，和他妹妹的孩子们关系密切, a lawyer who chose the law after an 主显节 in Jamaica, 他还是一个政治迷，有勇气辞掉工作，为他信任的候选人工作. D.C. 酒吧 talked with Allen to explore how this life of family connections, 意外的惊喜, and impulsive choices got him where he is today.
How did you choose a career in law?
I have an older sister who, when I was in college, 在做了一名哲学教授之后，他决定去哈佛法学院. 我是非洲裔美国人，在我姐姐成为靠谱的滚球平台之前，我从未见过靠谱的滚球平台。. I grew up in a small town in Georgia. None of the dads and moms were lawyers. 我姐姐在教书，后来她在国家人文基金会找到了一份工作.
When Reagan was elected, he cut the budget for NEH. 她不得不重新评估她的生活和事业，并决定去法学院. 她认为她可以把哲学和法律结合起来，这就是她最终所做的. She got a great job at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York.
How did philosophy work into that?
For the first two or three years of her legal career, she was just a grind-it-out associate at a big law firm. There was no philosophy in her life. 我想这让她很困扰，所以她最后离开了，回去教书. 后来，她开设了法律和哲学相结合的课程，并在乔治敦大学任教.
And where do you 来 in?
我当时住在亚特兰大，我想我要去读商学院. I was admitted into the University of Georgia’s MBA Program, but a month before I was to start, I took a trip to Jamaica and I had an 主显节. Something said, “Don’t go to business school; go to law school.”
An 主显节?
It might have been the Vitamin D. 我真的漂浮在木筏上，阳光照在我的脸上，一切都很平静. I didn’t have a care in the world. Life was great. I guess when I slowed down and focused on me, 有什么东西击中了我，告诉我要追随自己的激情:政治和法律. 我回到亚特兰大，打电话给我妹妹说:“我想上法学院.” We both agreed that D.C. was the place to be.
What did you do in D.C.?
我参加了乔治敦法律中心的晚间课程，继续工作. For the first year, I worked as a bookkeeper for the law school. I like libraries, so then I got a job at the Georgetown law library. When I was applying, I had decided that I wanted to be来 a law librarian, marrying my passion for law and politics with my love of libraries.
What was your next step?
During my second year of law school, in the middle of the night, 我妹妹发现她要领养她想收养的孩子了. 突然, this busy law professor and her husband, who is a partner at a law firm, had a three-month-old child they weren’t ready for. 他们需要一个保姆，所以，作为支付我学费的交换，他们雇佣了我. I would babysit during the day. 她从乔治敦回来，我就把孩子递给她，然后匆匆赶往乔治敦.
So, you got a sense of what life with a baby was like?
我有了这样的想法——我想我可以在我侄子睡觉的时候学习. But when he took a nap, I was so exhausted I had to take a nap. 即便如此，这可能是我经历过的最好的事情之一.
Was your sister at Georgetown when you graduated?
It was one of the greatest days of my life. On my graduation day, she was on the stage to hand me my diploma.
Where is your sister now?
安妮塔·艾伦现在在宾夕法尼亚大学担任副教务长. 我一定要和她和她的家人一起过感恩节或圣诞节.
How long were you a nanny?
For about a year and a half. 后来我姐姐能够控制她的日程安排，慢慢地，我又回到了找一份白天的工作.
What was the day job?
Working for the D.C. 酒吧. I worked for the Ethics Committee as a law clerk for two attorneys. 这太棒了，它让我放弃了成为法律图书管理员的愿望. I wanted to be来 an ethics and professional responsibility lawyer. I became the executive editor of the Georgetown Journal of 法律道德.
And your path changed again?
Then it became the lure of money. One day I was walking through the halls of Georgetown Law, 我遇到了一位大学时的老朋友，他是D州一家靠谱的滚球平台事务所的助理.C. She said, “Why don’t you try to be来 a summer associate?“我成了安德森基尔的暑期助理，这家公司在华盛顿有一个很棒的办公室.C. 我专注于保险诉讼，这让我开始学习诉讼.
Eventually you moved over to the U.S. Department of Justice.
They were hiring environmental litigators at the time. 我当时在做保险案件，潜在的问题是超级基金案件, so I knew a lot about Superfund and environmental cleanups.
So, this took you on a new path?
我决定成为一名环境靠谱的滚球平台，并有机会前往美国.S. 环境al Protection Agency as a staff attorney. 这也让我第一次感受到了成为一名内部靠谱的滚球平台的感觉. I knew, though, that I didn’t want to be a litigator.
那么?
我想更多地关注商业方面，制定战略. 在环境保护署，我被分配到国际部，处理条约和许多有关美国环境保护署的工作.S.-Mexico border. 我还在路易斯安那州和密西西比州等地做了一些环境正义的工作, 帮助保护一些在大型工厂阴影下的小镇, living in polluted air and water.
What happened after Al Gore lost the 2000 election?
I decided to go back into private practice. I became a senior associate at P&L盖茨 LLP, now called K&L盖茨. There was no real rhyme or reason at that time in my life. I was still going with my gut as to where I wanted to be. I knew, though, that I didn’t want to be a litigator. 后来，我看到了一家名为Nextel的小型电信公司的内部职位. 他们正在寻找一名环境靠谱的滚球平台来帮助他们解决有关铁塔和电信基础设施建设的问题. 后来他们被Sprint收购，我成了Sprint的内部靠谱的滚球平台.
You’ve had some involvement in politics. How did that happen?
I heard about this guy named 酒吧ack Obama. I had heard his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, 我想, “This is the real deal, I want to work for this guy.于是，在2007年，我辞去了工作，打算免费为他工作. 但后来我听到了希拉里·克林顿的演讲，我被震撼了，完全被震撼了. 这是我听过的最聪明的人，比她丈夫还聪明. 我在那一刻决定，我的政治立场与希拉里更加一致, so I volunteered my services through 2007-08. I lived off my savings.
After Clinton lost to Obama, what did you do?
I thought, “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to get a job.” I saw that Microsoft was looking for an environmental lawyer. To accept their offer, I had to move to Seattle. So, after 20 years of living in D.C., I jumped on a plane and moved to Seattle. 我这样做了四年，但我又开始为奥巴马的连任竞选工作. I was living off my savings—I’m not married and I have no kids. I packed up my stuff and moved to Tampa, where the Obama Florida campaign headquarters were, and worked on issues such as voter suppression and enforcement.
And after Obama was reelected?
我回到西雅图后，一个朋友告诉我，诺德斯特龙公司有一个内部法律职位. 我什么都做一点——监管工作、合规、合同.
你在诺德斯特龙的内部职位与其他内部职位有何不同?
We are a tiny, tiny legal department, which is great. 这是一份非常令人满意的工作，我们在零售领域做得非常好, even though it’s a tough industry.
诺德斯特龙(Nordstrom)将伊万卡·特朗普(Ivanka Trump)的商品下架，引发了靠谱的滚球平台. Were you involved in that?
I was just watching it. 但在我参加的一些会议上，我们谈到了与伊万卡和她的团队进行非常艰难的对话, which came down to the numbers. 很不幸，有些人认为我们是在表明政治立场. Maybe the boycott had something to do with those numbers, 但对我们来说, [Ivanka’s] things weren’t selling. 我的很多朋友都在店里购物，感觉自己是抵抗运动的一部分!
