U.'s top lawyer has unique legal past

The University's new top lawyer has a most unusual distinction on his resume -- the experience of grilling a Supreme Court nominee. Peter Erichsen -- who assumed the newly-created post of vice president and general counsel of the University and the Health System in December -- had that opportunity in 1994, after President Clinton nominated Judge Stephen Breyer for the high court. At the time, Erichsen, 41, was working for the Justice Department, where he was in charge of investigating potential nominees for federal judgeships and helping prepare them for Senate confirmation hearings. For Breyer, then the chief judge of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, Erichsen impersonated a senator, questioning Breyer in the rigorous style that has become common for presidential nominees. "It's always kind of an awkward thing, because there you are interrogating this distinguished legal scholar and very important federal judge," Erichsen said. "You never know quite whether you're annoying him." Erichsen, in his first foray into higher-education law, oversees both of Penn's legal offices and serves as the chief legal adviser to University President Judith Rodin and Health System Chief Executive Officer William Kelley. Penn hired him to enhance communication between the University's and Health System's legal offices, as well as to oversee long-term legal planning. Erichsen said he didn't go to Harvard Law School in the hope of actually becoming a lawyer. Indeed, he remembers thinking that such an education would be a good way to get into journalism. "It's kind of a wacky reason for going to law school," Erichsen admitted. "But I somehow lost track of that original idea." After graduating from Harvard in 1981, Erichsen went to work for the Boston law firm of Ropes & Gray. He would remain with the firm for 12 years. His four years in Washington began when Clinton appointed Eleanor Acheson, a friend and colleague of Erichsen's from his days at Ropes & Gray, as an assistant attorney general. She asked Erichsen to come to Washington as her deputy. "It was something I always wanted to do," Erichsen said of his government work. "I've always been interested in government and politics, and I wasn't sure an opportunity like this would come along again." During his tenure in Washington, Erichsen served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department before moving to the White House General Counsel's Office. In both jobs, Erichsen helped coordinate the Clinton administration's federal judicial nominations, including District Court, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court positions. Erichsen left the Justice Department for the White House in January 1996. While there, he worked with Congress' judicial committees and individual senators who wanted judges from their state nominated for federal positions. He also had the chance to observe firsthand the president's changing fortunes during the election year. "At the beginning of '96, things looked very uncertain," he said, referring to Clinton's initially low poll numbers for the November election. "But as the year went along, we became much more optimistic." By the end of 1997, though, Erichsen said he began to tire of his duties. He started looking for another job elsewhere in the government or in the private sector. When the position at Penn became available, he jumped at the opportunity because it offered the opportunity to practice several different types of law and to work for "an institution that has an educational and charitable mission," Erichsen said. "I was hugely interested in it," he added. "As much fun as I had at the White House and the government in general, it was absolutely clear to me that it was the right thing to do." Erichsen said he is still in the process of "learning as much as I can" about Penn. "The key to providing good legal advice is understanding your client," Erichsen said, explaining that he will begin working on long-range legal planning after he becomes more familiar with the University. And even after 17 years of practicing law, Erichsen said he still enjoys it immensely. "I really like being a lawyer," he noted. "I feel very fortunate to have hit upon something I like doing."