About Nancy Rommelmann
Nancy Rommelmann writes for Reason, Bari Weiss’s The Free Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. She is the co-host of the podcast Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em and writes the Substack Make More Pie. Her most recent book is To the Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and Murder. She lives in New York City.
Articles written by Nancy Rommelmann
Boutique Buddies
Four of Oregon’s top attorneys, from different practice areas and boutique firms, have been getting together for decadesThe lobby of the Arlington Club, a private Portland organization founded in 1867, is both grand and subdued, and nearly silent on a late Monday morning in early March. On the third floor, however, laughter fills the Field & Stream Room. That laughter continues almost without cease for the next 90 minutes. “I’m a water guy,” says Ward Greene, after the waiter asks what he’ll drink. “That’s because it’s free,” says David Markowitz. Attorneys Greene and Markowitz, along with Ed …
Mission: Control
Aviation attorney Michael L. Slack, a former NASA engineer, shoots for industry reform as well as client compensation“I didn’t care about anything other than the space program—that was my world,” says Michael L. Slack from his office in Austin, recalling how he grew up in front of the television watching the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions; and how, just weeks after he graduated from high school, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. Steps Slack planned to follow in. The trip from space-struck kid to one of the nation’s top aviation litigators includes stops at NASA, Belize and an airstrip where …
When You Say “I Do,” But Now You Don’t
Family law attorney Tom Bittner tells his clients, “It’s never going to hurt me like it hurts you”The fifth floor conference room of Schulte, Anderson, Downes, Aronson & Bittner has one of the best views in Portland: a wall of windows that overlooks the Willamette River—deep teal this afternoon and running fast—and 100 miles to the east, Mt. Hood covered in snow. “The firm has some nice conferences in here,” says Tom Bittner, rolling the office chair he’s in right up to the window, like a kid getting close to the TV. Quick to mention that after 25 years of practice he is …
Trying to Set Things Right
Montana employment and labor law attorney Jean E. Faure knows about work troubleAsked to consider her accomplishments thus far—the teaching fellowship in graduate school, serving as president of the Montana Defense Trial Lawyers Association—Jean E. Faure quotes Robert Browning: “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.” That the employment and labor law attorney references the British poet and playwright is not incidental. With a master’s degree in English Literature, Faure sees the complex and dynamic relationships between fictional characters mirrored in the …
Rodeo Mentality
After a rodeo injury, Wyoming's J. Kent Rutledge decided to go to law school“Growing up on a ranch you learn very early about responsibility,” says J. Kent Rutledge. Raised on his family’s cattle ranch in southeast Wyoming, the attorney did what ranch kids do: made sure the livestock had food and water, shelter and veterinary care. “Nothing was more rewarding to me than going out on horseback and bringing cows and calves in when there was a storm and saving a baby calf that was wet and freezing cold,” he says. “Being diligent and responsible was not only …
The Higher Law
"You get people at the absolute lowest points of their lives," says Utah family law attorney Sharon A. Donovan“There was a moment I knew I wanted to be a lawyer,” says Sharon A. Donovan, a family law and alternative dispute resolution attorney in Salt Lake City. “I was a junior at the University of Utah, and my boyfriend at the time said, ‘So, what are you going to do with that poli sci degree? You should go to law school.’ And I thought: good idea!” It was a good idea both because her older brother, whom Donovan idolized, was just back from traveling in India and was considering law …
Sarah E.W. McGahee’s Pet Project
The employment attorney defends the ‘puppy mill’ lawSarah E.W. McGahee was at her desk in early January 2013 when her phone rang. It was Jesse Moore, a colleague at the Austin firm Hunton & Williams, asking if she could help represent a couple of clients: The Humane Society of the United States and the Texas Humane Legislation Network. They were filing an amicus brief in support of House Bill 1451, otherwise known as the Texas “puppy mill” law, in response to a challenge to the law’s constitutionality. In effect since 2012, the law …
The Ethicist and the Economist
Heather L. Rosing, professional liability lawyer and CFO, is bothShe works, as she has worked for 17 years, in an office two blocks from San Diego Bay. Her desk is a jumble of water bottles, papers and the computer from which she answers emails instantaneously. On the wall are framed awards citing her career as a professional liability lawyer and her firm’s chief financial officer. Her phones ring, a secretary buzzes. She also happens to be eight months pregnant with twin girls, and so tumescent one is tempted to assume baby-catching position. Some people …
When the Officer Says 'Step Out of the Car'
Jon Saia casts doubt on the results of field sobriety tests, and advocates for less convoluted OVI lawsIt’s Sunday afternoon, and Jon Saia stops by the High Beck Tavern in Columbus’ Brewery District. He wears an acid-yellow cycling jersey. If Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6:30 a.m. mean basketball before work, weekends are for rides from his home on the north side of Columbus to his office, sometimes a drink at the High Beck two blocks away. “Despite what I do, I am still most comfortable talking in a bar,” says Saia, ordering a rye, neat. A managing partner at Saia & …
Driven
Taking a ride through Divorce Land with family law attorney Susan E. CohenIt’s 7 a.m. on a Friday and Susan Cohen is eating a handful of blueberries and watching Good Morning America. “I’m a long-standing addict,” says the 57-year-old divorce attorney of the show. Whether the appeal is George Stephanopoulos’ dulcet tones, or the slice of time when she does not need to be on point for work, it’s a meditative way for Cohen to ease into the workday: the motion-filing and mediations, court dates and client meetings that come with handling complicated …
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