WHAT ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS CITY MANAGER?
I'm the City Manager for the City of Hartford and I was appointed by the City Council. It's somewhat of a ceremonial title although it depends of course on the individual and how strongly they influence policy making. In addition to implementing the policies voted on by the city council, I make sure the day to day operations of the city are taken care of. We have about fourteen operating departments from police to fire to health, an information service department as well as others. My job is to make sure that those departments are operating and that the services they provide are available for the people.

IS THERE A TYPICAL DAY? IF SO, WHAT IS IT LIKE?
A typical day is almost never typical. Just to describe it broadly- a lot of phone calls and a lot, a lot, a lot, of meetings. Everyone wants to meet with you about something. Most of the requests I don't grant personally, I refer them to whatever department is involved in the particular area they have concerns in unless they have concerns which require my attention. A lot of interruptions, you need to be prepared to deal with interruptions and emergencies as well as constant, almost daily contact with the politicians working on various issues. That requires for you to often times to drop everything you're doing and to address their issues. Some days it ends early and some days it never ends.

WHAT ARE THE ASPECTS OF YOUR JOB YOU LIKE THE MOST? THE LEAST?
The aspect of my job that I absolutely like the most is really being able to get out and work directly with the citizens of Hartford. I enjoy hearing first hand what their issues are, hopefully addressing their concerns and really just being able to make decisions that directly affect them, hopefully good decisions, although there are always people who will question those decisions which is the bad part of the job. This can be a very thankless job, you can't please everyone and no matter what you do there will always be someone out there who questions your decisions. And as I mentioned, the City Manager is appointed by the City Council and so it is a very political process and working for ten politicians can be very stressful at times.

COULD YOU BRIEFLY DESCRIBE YOUR CAREER PATH?
I graduated from Trinity and went straight to law school and in my last year of law school I worked for the City of Hartford for the legal staff of Hartford. I actually started working here sixteen years ago. I became the City Manager about six years ago. There was an issue with the City Manager at the time and the city council and mayor did not have a replacement at the time so I happened to know the Mayor and he asked me if I would fill in on an interim basis.

WHAT WAS YOUR MAJOR AT TRINITY?
I started out as a Pre-med and Psychology major, but in my Sophomore year when I was faced with taking Organic Chemistry I decided to drop the pre-med major and continue with Psychology, so I graduated with a BS in Psychology. I actually didn't really think about a career in law until my final months at Trinity when the Dean of Students at the time encouraged me to apply to law school as well as graduate school. So I was really was open-minded and I took the LSATs and actually did really well and so I decided to apply.

HOW DID YOU FIND LAW SCHOOL TO BE IN COMPARISON TO TRINITY?
Trinity was a good foundation for the discipline. I think the Liberal Arts helped prepare me, and actually I found law school to be fairly easy; not that the work load was less than in college, certainly there was a lot of reading. I found that based on the foundation that I had, it made it easier for me to understand some of the issues and apply some of the things I learned at Trinity and to succeed at the things I had to do at law school.

HOW DID YOU COME ACROSS A JOB WITH THE CITY?
I actually started working here my last year of law school. I came on as a legal intern the summer before my last year at law school. I had pretty much finished most of my required classes and was working during my last year. I was able to compact my schedule so that I had class on only two days and could work.

WHAT KIND OF WORK DID YOU DO AS A LEGAL INTERN?
Pretty much legal research, sometimes actually writing the briefs they needed for trial. So a lot of real hands-on kind of experience. It really made it real for me to be able to apply the skills from my classes to what I was doing.

WHAT WAS YOUR DAY LIKE AS AN INTERN?
As an intern, I was assigned to specific attorneys and we were assigned to various areas. For example, one of the areas I was assigned to was in the Corporation Counsel, they provide advice and counsel to all of the elected public officials, to the City Manager staff, department heads and others. When someone asked for an opinion, it's the Corporation Counsel's job to state what the law is and what their advice is. I did a lot of legal opinions, a lot of administrative things, working directly with the Mayor, the City Manager, doing a lot of research and also preparing motions and legal reports.

In addition to the legal opinions, I also worked with attorneys who did a lot of litigation in different areas and as part of litigation you have to write motions. As a legal intern, you can be sponsored by an attorney in your third year of law school to actually go into court and argue minor motions. So I had to get my certification to go into court and argue motions. I gained a lot of very practical skills.

DID THAT INTERNSHIP LEAD TO YOUR POSITION HERE?
When it came time for me to graduate and decide what I wanted to do I was offered the opportunity to stay on here and I accepted. I didn't plan on staying as long as I have but there was an opportunity for me to advance and it's been a good career.

Most people would not find themselves in this position the way I did. Most people actually decide on this as a career path. I would say most City Managers have advanced degrees in other administration. So that would be the traditional career path in management for a government entity or other entities. A lot of professional careers that go through public administration- hospitals, other institutions- look for people with that background in administration. So that would be something that I would strongly suggest for someone looking for such a career in Management.

However, I also happen to believe that when you have that background in law you can apply that legal background to just about anything. You cannot go wrong deciding that you want to go to law school or that you want to be a lawyer. Whether you decide to practice law or you decide that you'd rather do something else, people really consider the fact that when you go through law school, and you pass the Bar, and you make it out, that you have some very strong writing and research skills to apply.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR UNDERGRADUATES WHO ARE INTERESTED IN LAW SCHOOL OR PURSUING A CAREER IN LAW?
I would say it is important, to be a lawyer, that you have very strong writing skills so that what ever course it is that you take make sure you get a lot of opportunity to apply yourself in writing. Reading is extremely important as well, because when you get to law school, and I imagine that graduate school is the same, not only is there a lot of reading, there's a lot of reading in a very short amount of time. So you need to be a good reader, you need to be a comprehensive reader. You have to be able to read a lot in a short period of time and retain it.

HOW WOULD SOMEONE COME ACROSS A POSITION AS AN INTERN IN THE CITY DEPARTMENTS?
The Corporation Councils office routinely hires interns for the summer. So if someone was interested in a position in the Corporation Councils office, if they were in law school, or if they're contemplating a career in law- they've applied, they've gotten into law school, they just haven't started- the Council has taken some starter interns. They don't have as much need for interns who have not started law school yet since those individuals don't yet have the skills that are necessary, but for someone interested in an internship there are positions available. The positions are mainly during the summer for those who stay on campus, or for those who are actually Hartford residents. We have an application process that begins in the early spring when we advertise in the paper or at schools. I think we actually advertise at Trinity that we have positions available- and there are any host of different areas available. So it really depends on what your interest is, expressing that interest, and coming in and completing the necessary applications.

IS THERE ANY ADVICE FOR TRINITY STUDENTS THAT YOU HAVE?
Without getting into specifics regarding which kind of courses, I would really focus on those that provide you with the practical skills and knowledge that you're going to take with you, such as those that focus on reading and writing and the application of various concepts and principles. I wouldn't say that the theories themselves are as important as the way that you apply them. I know that to go to law school you're supposed to be a political science major. I never took a political science course in my life. I'm sure they have some application for some things in law school, but I don't know that it really gives you such a leg up because, really, the emphasis in law school is in sort of 'unlearning' the way you learned when you were a student in college. They want to re-teach you to think as a lawyer, which is very different from how you think as a college student. From time to time some of the theories you came across in college or the courses from college might be useful because you recognize something you're learning about or 'Okay, I heard about this', but still it's not such a huge advantage. So I would say to focus on the courses that give you the practical skills.

ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD?
Government is a good career path. I know in college everyone has stars in their eyes and wants to go out and make a lot of money and maybe they don't look at government as the career path where you make a lot of money. Perhaps you don't when you look at some of the jobs you might find in the private sector, but I think it's a good, fulfilling career path, I have no regrets. I think everybody has an obligation to give something back to the people and this is a good way to do that. I would encourage people not to just turn away from a career in government. It is very rewarding.