About Michael Y. Park
Michael Y. Park is a freelance journalist whose work has been published in New York, The New York Times, People and LIFE. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from New York University.
Articles written by Michael Y. Park
The Real McKoy
The odds were always stacked against Vaughn L. McKoy. He grew up in gang-ridden Paterson. His family was plagued by drugs and tragedy. He attended the beleaguered high school that was the basis for the film Lean on Me. So how did he rise to the position of director of the state Division of Criminal Justice by the age of 34? “He’s got ‘it,’ whatever ‘it’ is,” explains Henry Klingeman, who worked with McKoy at the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of New …
Skippy Weinstein's Second Chance
Stephen Weinstein looks and acts like the reasonably cool rabbi at a bar mitzvah. The 67-year-old is quick with a smile, a slap on the back, a self-effacing quip. And everyone calls him Skippy. Which makes it hard to believe that some people shudder at the sight of him. To the prosecutors and corporate attorneys he faces in court, he’s not the gregarious presence known to most. He’s a pit bull. Ask Chuck Socha, of Denver-based Socha, Perczak, Setter & Anderson. Socha is …
The Man Who Would Be D.A.
Seth Williams got 46 percent of the votes in a primary against an incumbent considered untouchable. He vows to do better next timeYou could say R. Seth Williams’ career as a lawyer, politician and shaker of institutions was well under way by the time he was in kindergarten. “He was 5 years old, and he was having a disagreement with me about something — his favorite hat was his Phillies baseball cap with the ‘P’ on it, and he had that on — and he looked right up at me and said, ‘You know, Mommy, kids have rights too,’” laughs Imelda Williams, Seth’s mother. “And I said, ‘That boy is going to be in …
The Reluctant Pioneer
Audrey Talley cultivates her own gardenThough history is filled with flamboyant, larger-than-life characters whose every move is chronicled, exaggerated and made into legend, it’s a given among historians that the true, fundamental changes in the world are the ones made quietly by unsung heroes. With typical modesty, Audrey Talley begs off being included even in that latter category. But her accomplishments suggest otherwise. The Philadelphia securities lawyer has been breaking down barriers ever since she was a young …
The Guy on the White Horse
Bruce Godschalk was 27 years old and working as a landscaper when detectives came to his parents’ Radnor Township, Pa., house and asked to speak to him. “My mother told them I was visiting with a friend, so they found me at my friend’s house and said they just wanted me to go to the police station so they could ask me a few questions,” says Godschalk, now 45. He went with them and never came back. Within hours, Godschalk, whose rap sheet had consisted of possession of a …
The Goliath Slayer
Need a lawyer to take on the medical industry, the NFL or some other massive entity? Alan Milstein is your manAlan Milstein — the lawyer who broke new ground when he sued the University of Pennsylvania over its medical research standards, who may redefine when a young football player is allowed to go pro, who is helping to forge new law in the frontier field of medical ethics — that Alan Milstein would rather talk about classic rock. “Primarily Dylan,” he says. “Seventy-five percent of what I listen to is Dylan. Also some Dead, some Springsteen, but largely Dylan.” Having just …
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