Tutor Spotlight: Meet Peter, LSAT tutor

By Sam

This week we're spotlighting Peter, a member of our LSAT tutor team! Peter graduated from Columbia University as a history major, and attended the Washington and Lee Univesity School of Law. He specializes in LSAT tutoring, teaching legal writing and citation skills, and helping stuents prepare for finals and the bar exam. Interested in working with Peter? Check out Peter's tutor page here!

1) Where are you from?

I'm New York City, born and raised.

2) Where did you go to college and/or grad school, and what did you study?

I studied history and political science at Columbia University, then went to law school at Washington & Lee University in Virginia.

3) What do you do now?

I'm an attorney, specializing in business litigation and medical malpractice defense.

4) What's the most interesting/wildest thing you're doing this summer?

I'm going on a short trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where I intend to explore the country's only underwater National Park.

5) What's on your reading list?

I'm looking forward to starting Diamond Head by Cecily Wong. She's a recent Barnard graduate, and her book has been getting rave reviews from publications all over the country.

6) We’re compiling a list of “amazing feats” throughout history– basically, the intellectual equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. Can you share one of your favorite feats from your field?

I think that our Constitution is a pretty amazing feat. As governing documents go it is pretty short, and it represented a pretty radical departure from how the world understood governments to function at the time of its creation. The map of the world and how countries are governed has changed so much since the Constitution was first written, yet it survives in largely the same state as when it was drafted. I'd be fascinated to know what the drafters of the Constitution would think of our understanding and interpretation of the document today.

7) Given the choice of anyone in the world, living or dead, which 3 people would you invite to your dinner party? What do you imagine you'd talk about?

I'd like to get Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Tim Cook in a room, and try to convince them to make Google and Apple products work well together. I'd also like to pick their brains for what tech products and concepts they're most excited about... and steal their ideas for myself.

8) What’s your most embarrassing favorite movie or song? What occasion would call for it?

Top Gun is a cinematic masterpiece, and it breaks my heart that Hollywood greenlit a sequel. However, what occasion wouldn't call for an original TG viewing?

9) What’s your favorite 90s jam?

"Wannabe" by the Spice Girls is, without a doubt, one of the greatest songs ever recorded. I was supremely disappointed when they did not perform the entire song at the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony.

10) What are your favorite website(s) to browse?

This is cheating, but I would not be able to make it through the day without my RSS reader, feedly.com. I have fifty eclectic blogs (like Buffer) at my fingertips, many of which I would never encounter without it.

11) What are your favorite ways to idle?

I've got a super comfortable sectional couch that I enjoy lounging on for HGTV marathons, and I never say no to baseball and beers.

12) What are 3 alternative career/life paths you have considered (even just for fun?)

I enjoy watching various home repair/rehab shows, and I wonder what it would be like to be a carpenter or a contractor of some kind. Also, given my total lack of artistic talent, I've often wondered what it would be like to have the skill and passion to pursue something in the arts, like music, writing, or performing. It also seems as though being a major league baseball player would be pretty fun.

13) Tell us about the last amazing meal you had.

I just had french fries with pork belly strips on them. I don't know who was decadent enough to think those up, but thank you.

14) If there were one skill that you wish you had mastered, or one subject that you wish you had spent more time learning, what would it be?

I wish I knew more about economics. You can figure out a lot about the world when you know who is paying for what, and how.

15) Share 1 weird fact with us about yourself.

I can't ride a bicycle-- it wasn't necessary in Manhattan. And before you ask, yes, I know how to swim.

16) If you could be reincarnated as any living thing– what would you choose for your next 3 lives?

There is no more enviable existence than that of a middle class American family's dog. I'd welcome the life of ease, feedings, and naps.