In the an Investor Profile
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In the An Investor Profile Peter Moore is a partner in the Denver office of Polsinelli Shughart PC, a national law firm with 16 office locations stretching from Washington DC to Phoenix, Arizona. Peter focuses his practice on commercial and real estate transactions and also sits on and is legal counsel to the Chamber Board of Directors. The following is a candid interview with Peter. Chamber: So Peter, you grew up in Chamber: Why was he a hero to you? Niagara Falls. What was that like? Moore: He was the caretaker of the Moore: I was born in Niagara Falls, family. I appreciated his dedication to Ontario, but my family moved to the family. Buffalo shortly afterwards. We lived in Chamber: How much older was he? Buffalo through my first grade, then in the Philadelphia area through middle Moore: 12 years older. Growing up, school, and then we just turned around I spent an awful lot of time with him. and moved back to Buffalo. I was When I got to be 15 or 16, he started not quite an army brat, but my father teaching me how to work on cars and by was a consulting engineer, and the the time I was 17, I was building cars. experiences were similar. Chamber: That’s a hobby of yours, Chamber: Did you enjoy the nomadic isn’t it? lifestyle? Moore: Yes. I’ve always had older cars. Moore: I did. I went to three different My first car was a 1967 Cadillac Calais. high schools and had the pleasure of Chamber: If money were no object, repeating some of the same courses what kind of car would you be driving because some of the courses in the right now? three high schools were offered in Moore: A 1956 Bentley R or a 1954 different sequences. Mercedes 300SL gull wing. Chamber: Did that give you more Chamber: What was your first job? time to pursue other things other than academics because you already had the Moore: In high school, I worked in a answers? couple of warehouses, drove a forklift, and unloaded boxcars. Moore: Although I did well in high school, I didn’t study very much. I’m Chamber: What do you remember most amazed by the homework my kids have from that job? today. I didn’t really have much homework and, if I did, I really don’t Moore: I learned new words such as “palletizing.” I’m not sure if that’s recall it. Given that, I had lots of time for fun. King’s English, but that’s what we did. I remember unloading hundred Chamber: What was your youth like? pound sacks of cement when I weighed only about 150 pounds. I also remember working in an ice cream warehouse and the warehouse was Moore: Happy, fairly large family, a lot of traveling, and strong ten degrees below zero. I remember that when you’d sweat, your face connections with my brothers. My older brother essentially served as my would freeze. father figure. Chamber: What was the most valuable lesson you learned from your Chamber: Did you have any heroes growing up? forklift experience? Moore: My oldest brother, Frank. Moore: Better get out of high school and into a good school because (Con’t. on page 33) Fall 2010 — www.bestchamber.com — 27 Smart energy solutions as unique as your home. (Con’t. from page 27) that’s not the place for me. I recognized that it was a dead end. There were men there, 40 or 50 years old, who’d been in the warehouse for 30 years. I was making $2.70 an hour, which was minimum wage at the time, and they were making $3.35 and they’d done this for years. Chamber: So Georgetown, what was that like for you? Moore: Coming SOLAR ELECTRIC n SOLAR WATER HEATING from a pretty blue ENERGY AUDITS n A/C & HEATING www.sre3.com collar environment, INSULATION n LIGHTING (303) 562-2752 it was a totally different world. I was a scholarship kid, so I was very lucky. I focused on Home to more than 100,000 residents international relations and international and 5,000 businesses, Centennial economics. The School of Foreign Service is a pretty small school within is at the center of innovation. Georgetown, only about 250 - 300 kids per class with no more than 1200 for all four years. Half the kids were from foreign countries. Chamber: Was foreign language part of that experience? From aerospace and defense Moore: Part of the degree requirement was to pass the State to next generation information Department foreign language test. My language was German. I ended up getting a fellowship to a German university because of that. technology and Chamber: So that’s how you got the Heidelberg? The Streets at SouthGlenn, Moore: Yes. It was a fellowship offered by the German Academic the City and its businesses Exchange Service or, in German, the DAAD. are transforming the future. Chamber: What was it like when you went to Heidelberg going from blue collar kind of background, lifting palettes and forklifts and then you’re in Europe? Moore: I was in a university setting that dated back to 1386 in a beautiful medieval town that was spared damage during both world wars. It was an international program, mostly European kids. I was the only American in the program. There were only about 35 students in the program, mostly Eastern Europeans, Finns, French and English. Of ce of Economic Development Chamber: How long did you spend over there all together? 13133 E Arapahoe Road | Centennial Colorado 80112 Moore: I was there less than a year of a 2 - year program. I knew www.CentennialColorado.com before I started that I would run out of money and couldn’t complete (303) 325-8000 the program. The DAAD paid my tuition and my room, but I didn’t have (Con’t. on page 52) Fall 2010 — www.bestchamber.com — 33 I study I write I excel I discover (Con’t. from page 33) Achieve your the money for my board or anything else. I couldn’t borrow money and couldn’t obtain papers to work. Knowing this, before leaving, I applied to educational goals a number of graduate and law schools and had options when I returned. Real-world experiences, hands-on learning Chamber: Why did you choose law as a profession? Over 40 undergrad and grad programs Moore: I thought it fit my skills. My brother, Rick, In the heart of downtown Denver was an academic. I was accepted to a graduate Easy access to the Auraria campus by light rail program at the University of Virginia and planned to be an academic like him, but while in Heidelberg, I decided to become a lawyer. I came to the University of Denver because I had a scholarship. Chamber: What did you think of Colorado in general? clas.cudenver.edu/goals Moore: It has changed a lot. I came in 1978 when Denver was in the midst of reconstruction and a good part of the downtown area had been demolished. Many of the buildings downtown that now exist were in the process of being built. Law school was a very good experience for me and Denver quickly green. became my home. Chamber: What’s the best part about being a lawyer? Moore: Helping people solve problems and the satisfaction of earning the trust of clients. Chamber: The Worst? Moore: Probably the pace of the practice... which has increased considerably since I started practicing in 1981. I originally started with a medium-sized Denver law firm and now am with a national law firm that has offices around the country. Although it’s a totally different business environment, the essence of the practice is the same. The winds are changing. Chamber: Why did you select Polsinelli Shughart? Farnsworth can help. Moore: I originally joined the 200-lawyer firm of Shughart Thomson & Kilroy based on my friendship with Steve Long, who was the managing partner of STK’s Denver office. At the time, I was a partner in a 15- lawyer boutique firm. Several of my partners were planning on retiring, and a few lawyers were going in house. The firm became too small to meet my practice needs. I spoke to Steve about the opportunity. Soon after I joined, I learned Shughart Thompson was in the midst of a merger www.f-w.com conversation. That’s how I became a member of Polsinelli Shughart. www.greennavigation.com Chamber: What was your initial motivation for joining the Chamber? Commissioning I LEED® I Engineering I Architecture I Surveying (Con’t. on next page) March 2009 - windmill.indd 1 3/3/2009 12:15:19 PM (Con’t. from previous page) Moore: My initial motivation was to become more involved in the community. My law firm is very involved in the community. This is one of the factors that attracted me to the firm. After I joined the firm, my partners, Gene Commander and Howard Gelt, suggested that I become involved with the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. I met with John Brackney and told him I’d like to join. Since then, I’ve been involved in Chamber events at least once a week, sometimes twice a week. Chamber: Why do you continue to be a member of the Chamber? Moore: I found myself telling my wife after each meeting about all of the interesting ideas, high energy, and collaborative attitudes that I was finding. I’ve been involved in other chambers, as well as the Colorado Bar Association, Denver Rotary, etc.