• http://elj.byu.edu

Unfortunately, we had to strip out the easy-to-update database interface and switch back to flat files thanks to university policy.

Legal Experience

Technical Experience

I am experienced in both API and GUI design.

I come from a family of eight--two parents, two brothers, and three sisters. My siblings are spread throughout the country in an almost mirroring pattern centered on the town where we grew up--Austin, Texas.

I earned a J.D. at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU in 2007. I focused on Intellectual Property, Antitrust, and Telecommunications. I didn't even know that I wanted to study law until, the year before I started law school, I took the LSAT on a whim and aced it. But then I looked at people who have really cool jobs or who I really respected, and most of them had law degrees. So I thought "why not me?"

I should probably include the two years (1996-1998) I spent away from school in Sydney, Australia as part of my education, since I learned a lot about life and myself. I was a missionary, and learned Vietnamese (learn being a very relative word) so I could work with Vietnamese immigrants.

So I guess that's it on the education. Unless maybe I go back and get a PhD in computer science (artificial intelligence, cognitive modeling, systems modeling) or an MFA in Creative Writing. I'd love to be a student forever! (My wife starts hitting me whenever I say that).

I performed various consulting jobs while earning a law degree. I also had a few legal internships in D.C. (telecommunicatiosn firm), Salt Lake (IP firm), and San Jose (software patents). You can read more about my professional history and ambitions on my Consulting page.

Prior to law school, among other jobs, I wrote technical documents for Brigham Young University, performed tech support and maintenance at the University of Texas' Advanced Research Laboratories, and finally settled down at Corda Technologies, where I wrote documentation, ran training seminars, nagged developers about product design, and wrote a lot of code.

My favorite job ever, by the way, was the sno-cone machine I worked at during summers as a teenager. Mmmm, ice and sugar.

I am pretty enthusiastic about sports. I played Ultimate Frisbee competitively in the past, and still (when I have time) try to play Ultimate Frisbee, basketball, and volleyball in my free time. I am a major fan of Texas Rangers' baseball. I also follow San Antonio Spurs basketball, cycling, and soccer.

I am a moderate computer geek. I often find myself knee-deep in projects like (re)writing websites, hacking my router, installing custom ROMs on my phone (and my wife's phone, much to her chagrin), tinkering with my home theater server/PCs/devices, building computers, and so forth. I am also very interested in the latest developments in science, with a particular interest in astronomy and space exploration.

I have, in the past, been very enthusiastic about writing, especially poetry. My interest has waned over the years, for reasons too complex to explain here. I've put some of my writings on this web site, so humor me and click here to read them.

I enjoy singing in choirs at church. I find myself listening to a wide variety of genres, including classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, rock, world, and so forth. I have a special place in my heart for early 90's alternative rock and folk (e.g. Smashing Pumpkins, Tori Amos).

I no longer care enough my reputation as a writer to admit that my TV/movie interests include Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Unbreakable. My sense of humor follows the lines of Newsradio, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Modern Family, and the Office. I'm developing a bit of a fetish with foreign films and the BBC. My short list of favorite writers include Steinbeck, Hemingway, Li-Young Lee, T.S. Eliot, and Shakespeare.

Between my B.S. in Computer Science from Brigham Young University, freelance web projects (such as the site you are viewing), and my work with Corda Technologies, I have developed an extensive skill set, proving time and time again my adaptability to new technologies.

I am admitted to the California State Bar and registered to practice before United States Patent & Trademark Office. I earned my Juris Doctorate from the J. Reuben Clark Law School in 2007.

From my experiences editing journals, writing patents, and producing award-winning documentation for Corda Technologies, I developed proficiency in Framemaker, Word, and Webworks, with some experience in Robohelp.