In a New York Minute: Four Moritz Grads Living in the Big Apple
New York City is well-known as the city that never sleeps. What occupies its residents at night is as varied as what fuels them during the day. While many fear getting lost among a city of eight million people, four recent Moritz graduates have successfully carved their own niches there.
Andrew and Jessica Weaver (’02 & ’03, respectively) met at Moritz while he was a second-year student and she was in her first year. An Ohio native, Andrew first began working at Cleary Gottlieb in New York during the summer after his second year. Following that, he spent one year clerking on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and then moved to New York to begin working as a second-year associate at Cleary Gottlieb, with a focus on litigation.
A Michigan native, Jessica Aerni followed a different legal path, having come to OSU after studying forensic psychology and profiling. That experience inspired her to pursue a career in criminal prosecution.
She worked in the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office from her second year through graduation, and she says that the knowledge she gained in Ohio provided her with an excellent foundation for her current position as a district attorney in Queens. Specifically, she explains that, “Professor Krivoshey prepared me to be a New York City prosecutor” because he constantly presented hypothetical challenges similar to those she now faces daily.
Both Andrew and Jessica agree that their schedules are demanding, but they say that they have “fallen in love with the city.” Andrew finds practicing in New York to be an amazing experience because of the “complexity, the stakes and the players involved in litigation,” and Jessica enjoys her work because of the variety of people and cases she encounters. As a couple, they spend their leisure time seeing shows on Broadway, such as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and taking in exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim.
Another Ohio native, Mike Mooney ’05, came to the city after graduating from Moritz. Though he started his legal career with a corporate focus at Cleary Gottlieb, he recently became in-house counsel at Citco, the largest hedge fund administrator in the world.
Mike moved into the hedge fund industry because it intrigued him, and because it provided a more predictable work schedule than firm life. He was drawn to working with hedge funds because “you get to work with them from the start, and as the markets change, the industry evolves with it. It is a pretty fluid industry, and [hedge funds are] growing immensely in terms of the amount of assets being invested.” He appreciates the experiences he’s had in New York and says, “I would encourage everyone to explore different job markets,” because it’s great to have options before settling on a particular place or career.
What Anne French Thidemann ’03 loves most about living in New York with her husband and child is the diversity of the people and neighborhoods that surround her. Anne is a Cleveland native who always wanted to litigate, and she first came to the city as a summer associate with Cleary Gottlieb. She currently practices general litigation with the firm, which she enjoys because, “It runs the gamut, covering everything from international arbitration to securities enforcement to contract disputes.”
As the mother of a 2½-year-old, Anne successfully balances work and family. She says, “In this environment, the Blackberry is great, because you don’t necessarily have to be in the office,” which allows her to spend time with her family. She leads a very active lifestyle and lives near a park, which she and her family frequent. “There’s constant activity,” she says of the city, “but it’s very accessible. It is what you make of it.”
Students wishing to follow in the footsteps of these Moritz alumni may
participate in the college's first New York job fair on August 10. For
details and fast-approaching deadlines, consult the Career Services Symplicity
website.
