Tribute to John Pickering

I had the great fortune to work with John Pickering during my own stint as a young associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. One of my first projects at the firm was to assist John in writing an amicus brief in the landmark right-to-die case involving Nancy Cruzan. Learning to draft a Supreme Court brief from such a master advocate was a memorable experience. Of course, John taught me a great deal about first-rate brief writing, but much more significantly, he illustrated by example the possibility and importance of marrying reason with passion, and of dedicating one's energy and talents to causes that speak to the heart.