Lawrence D ("Larry") Swift:  

Life I worked my way through college as a rock and roll DJ (WGRD AM-FM station in Grand Rapids), as a welder summers in an auto parts manufacturing plant, and an afternoon news anchorman and capital correspondent (WITL AM-FM station in Lansing), which taught me far more than my broadcasting courses at Michigan State. Fortunately, I was able to take other things of interest, and some times even relevance, like political science, history and business courses. Failing to find reasonably gainful honest work, I became a lawyer (with apologies to Mark Twain for bastardizing his quip). Actually, covering the state legislators (most of whom are lawyers) convinced me that if they could get through law school, I could too. So off I went to that bastion of liberalism, Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan Law School. I loved college and law school and found there was as much (if not more) to learn from those around me than in class. If you stop to think about it, that's true of most places we fine ourselves in life. I also fell in love with Michigan Football, which remains a continuing passion of mine. I root for State, too. I am a partner in the New York office of the Atlanta based law firm of Troutman Sanders LLP, which has over 650 lawyers worldwide. My office joined them in early 2005, giving them their NYC office (which is their third largest office and gaining). I do lending work for banks and ...Expand for more