黛布拉·布鲁诺
2017年5月1日
美国民主党在全美50个州和80多个国家都有成员.C. 酒吧 is beginning a regular feature to profile the people who make up our community. 阅读你的同龄人，他们的生活，他们在世界各地的工作.
迈克尔·艾伦，54岁，诺德斯特龙公司的高级企业顾问., has an intricate life story—he’s a family man with close ties to his sister’s children, 一位在牙买加顿悟后选择从事法律工作的澳博app, and a political junkie who had the courage to quit jobs and work for candidates he believed in. D.C. 酒吧与Allen聊了聊，探讨这种生活是如何与家庭联系在一起的, 意外的惊喜, 冲动的选择让他走到今天.
你是如何选择从事法律职业的?
我有个姐姐, 当我上大学的时候, decided to go to law school— Harvard—after a career of being a philosophy professor. I’m African American and I had never met a lawyer before [until my sister became one]. 我在乔治亚州的一个小镇上长大. 这些父母都不是澳博app. My sister was teaching and then she got a job working for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
当里根当选时，他削减了新健康政策的预算. She had to reevaluate her life and career and decided to go to law school. She thought she could marry philosophy and the law, which is what she ended up doing. 她在克拉瓦斯找到了一份好工作，斯温 & 纽约摩尔澳博app事务所.
哲学是如何起作用的呢?
在她澳博app生涯的头两三年里, 她只是一家大澳博app事务所的一名吃苦耐劳的助理. 她的生活中没有哲学. I think that bothered her, so she ended up leaving and went back to teaching. Later, she created courses that married law and philosophy and went to teach at Georgetown.
你在哪里? 来 in?
I was living in Atlanta 我想 I was going to go to business school. 我被乔治亚大学的MBA项目录取了, 但离我开始工作还有一个月, 我去了趟牙买加，突然顿悟了. Something said, “Don’t go to business school; go to law school.”
An 主显节?
可能是维生素D. I was literally floating on a raft, and it was so peaceful with the sun beaming down on my face. 我在这个世界上无忧无虑. 生活很美好. 我想当我放慢脚步，专注于自己的时候, something hit me and told me to follow my passion: politics and the law. I got back to Atlanta and called my sister and said, “I want to go to law school.“我们都同意D.C. 是该去的地方吗.
你在D做了什么.C.?
I got into the evening program at Georgetown Law Center and continued to work. 第一年，我在法学院当簿记员. 我喜欢图书馆，所以我在乔治城法律图书馆找了份工作. 当我申请的时候, 我已经决定要成为一名法律图书管理员, 把我对法律和政治的热爱与我对图书馆的热爱结合起来.
你的下一步是什么?
在我法学院的第二年, 在半夜, my sister found out she was about to get the child she wanted to adopt. 突然, 这个忙碌的法学教授和她的丈夫, 谁是澳博app事务所的合伙人, 有一个三个月大的孩子，他们还没有准备好. They needed a nanny, so, in exchange for paying my tuition, they hired me. 白天我会照看孩子. She would 来 home from Georgetown, and I’d hand her the baby and rush off to Georgetown.
所以，你知道有孩子的生活是什么样的了?
I had this notion—I thought I could study during the day while my nephew slept. 但是当他午睡的时候，我太累了，我不得不午睡. Even so, it was probably one of the best things I have ever gone through.
你毕业的时候你姐姐在乔治敦大学吗?
那是我一生中最美好的日子之一. 在我毕业的那天，她站在台上递给我毕业证书.
你妹妹现在在哪儿?
Anita Allen is at the University of Pennsylvania now, the vice provost for faculty. I do make a point to spend either Thanksgiving or Christmas with her and her family.
你做保姆多久了?
大概有一年半了. Then my sister was able to get her schedule under control and that slowly transitioned me back to finding a day job.
白天的工作是什么?
为D工作.C. 酒吧. 我曾在道德委员会担任两名澳博app的法律助理. It was wonderful, and it led me to abandon my desire to be a law librarian. 我想成为一名有道德和职业责任的澳博app. 我成为了执行主编 乔治敦法律伦理杂志.
你的道路又改变了?
然后它变成了金钱的诱惑. 一天，我走在乔治城法学院的大厅里, and I bumped into an old college friend who was an associate at a law firm in D.C. 她说:“你为什么不试着成为一名暑期助理呢?” I became a summer associate at Anderson Kill, which had a great office in D.C. I focused on insurance coverage litigation, and that got me involved in learning about litigation.
最后你搬到了美国.S. 律政司.
他们当时正在雇佣环境诉讼澳博app. I was doing insurance coverage cases and the underlying issues were Superfund cases, 所以我对超级基金和环境清理了解很多.
所以，这让你走上了一条新的道路?
I decided I wanted to be an environmental lawyer and I got the opportunity to jump to the U.S. 作为环境保护局的专职澳博app. That also gave me the first sense of what it would feel like to be an in-house lawyer. 但我知道，我不想成为一名诉讼澳博app.
那么?
I wanted to be more on the business side of things, shaping strategies. At the EPA, I was assigned to the International Division, doing treaties and a lot of work at the U.S.墨西哥边境. I was also able to do some environmental justice work in places like Louisiana and Mississippi, helping protect some of the small towns in the shadow of huge industrial plants, 生活在被污染的空气和水中.
戈尔输掉2000年大选后发生了什么?
我决定重新开私人诊所. 我成为了P&盖茨有限责任公司，现在被称为K&L盖茨. 在那个时候，我的生活中没有真正的韵律和道理. 我仍然跟着我的直觉走，去我想去的地方. 但我知道，我不想成为一名诉讼澳博app. Then I saw a position in-house at a small telecommunications company called Nextel. They were looking for an environmental lawyer to help them with issues surrounding the build-out of towers and telecom infrastructure. Then they were bought by Sprint and I became a Sprint in-house lawyer.
你参与了一些政治活动. 这是怎么发生的?
我听说过一个叫巴拉克·奥巴马的人. 我听过他在2004年民主党全国代表大会上的演讲, 我想, “这是真正的交易, 我想为这家伙工作.” So, in 2007, I quit my job with the intent to work for him for free. But then I heard a speech by Hillary Clinton, and I was blown away, absolutely blown away. 这是我听过的最聪明的人，比她丈夫还聪明. I decided at that moment that my politics were more in line with Hillary, 所以我在2007-08年志愿服务. 我靠我的积蓄生活.
克林顿输给奥巴马后，你做了什么?
我想，“天哪，我得找份工作.“我看到微软正在招聘一名环境澳博app. 为了接受他们的提议，我不得不搬到西雅图. 在D住了20年之后.C.我跳上飞机，搬到了西雅图. I did that for four years, but I got the itch again and worked for Obama’s reelection campaign. 我靠自己的积蓄生活——我没有结婚，也没有孩子. 我收拾好东西搬到了坦帕, 奥巴马佛罗里达竞选总部在哪里, 并致力于选民压制和执法等问题.
在奥巴马再次当选之后?
I came back to Seattle and a friend told me about an in-house legal position at Nordstrom. I do a little bit of everything—regulatory work, compliance, contracts.
How is your in-house role at Nordstrom different from your other in-house positions?
我们是一个很小很小的法律部门，这很好. It’s a very satisfying job and we’re doing wonderful things in the retail space, 尽管这是一个艰难的行业.
Nordstrom made news when the company removed Ivanka Trump merchandise from its shelves. 你参与了吗?
我只是在看. But I’ve been in meetings where we’ve talked about having very difficult conversations with Ivanka and her team, 最后归结到数字上. It’s unfortunate that some folks thought we were taking a political position. 也许抵制运动与这些数字有关, 但对我们来说, (伊万卡的)东西卖不出去. A lot of my friends were shopping at the store feeling they were part of the resistance!
