Christopher Palermo at the Sequoia Stamp Club convention.
Christopher Palermo (’86) has been a writer since the age of eight. Long inspired by his arthouse films and the realism behind them, he chose to follow his own passion. Communications After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree and between high school and graduate school where he served as editor-in-chief three times, Palermo’s path was clear. It was to become a lawyer.
During his time at LMU, Palermo had his eye on the Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Loyolan. In the spring of 1983, he joined the entertainment department as a reporter.
He worked closely with editor-in-chief Christina Welsh (’85) during her tenure. The two laughed as they recalled their midnight fight over the lyrics to the 1983 Of The Police hit “Every Breath You Take.”
“Chris is a very witty, very bright, very funny guy. It was a lot of fun,” said Welsh. “Sometimes I remember him publishing his articles under different names. [Trevor Adams] Because he wrote so many things.
In pursuing the position of Editor-in-Chief, Palermo began to expand his leadership within Loyolan. Specifically, it focused on how to achieve goals to improve the section. “I started laying the foundation [to improve my section] By trying to work with others on different kinds of stories,” he shared.
During this time, Loyolan’s entertainment section was active in Los Angeles, regularly receiving invitations to film premieres, album debuts, and concerts. Entertainment As his editor, Palermo interviewed the “Breakfast Club” cast: Jett Nelson, Paul McCartney, and Melissa Gilbert. Although he remained grateful for these opportunities, he knew he had to share them to prove his leadership.
In addition to directing the entertainment section, Palermo was heavily involved in reviewing theater productions on campus. After hearing from a student who worked on the main stage production that the harsh reviews reinforced certain lessons, he recalled a valuable lesson. “I had to process it and think about whether we did the right thing,” Palermo explained. I don’t think it’s time to get brutally raw like professional journalism does.”
At the end of his junior year, Palermo became editor-in-chief.
“I was excited for him when he became an editor because he works hard and I think he deserves it. We were very open to going public,” Welsh explained.
During his tenure, the newsroom was a converted coach’s box inside the gymnasium, with tall glass windows overlooking the basketball court. and was preparing. Production began on Friday afternoon and during this period it was very common for him to work 48 hours straight from Friday afternoon until Monday morning pickup. “When I was editor-in-chief, it was customary to put the papers to bed at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday nights. [seeing] Because the proof pickup was at 5am on Monday morning. There were six or seven times I worked all night on Sundays to meet it. On Monday I went home and slept all day,” Palermo said. This effort was made in an era before computers and desktops where his publishing took place. The staff had a typesetting machine to create the typeset images and a dedicated apprentice to retype everything into the machine.
After college, Palermo studied law at the University of California, Hastings School of Law in San Francisco, eventually graduating in 1989. While at Hastings, he entered his third and final newsroom at the school’s student publications and (rather appropriately) achieved a third reign. as editor-in-chief. Palermo then moved to Washington, DC, seeking work experience and a position in intellectual property law.
The career change wasn’t entirely unexpected. Palermo minored in computer science while at his LMU. Not only did he inform his interview as a law student entering the world of technology, but it also attracted a great deal of interest from law firms. Moreover, at that time, most lawyers had an electrical engineering education from the days before his 60’s. But Palermo represented a new era for lawyers.
“The patent and trademark firm hired me because of my background in computer science,” Palermo said.
Through it all, we know that Palermo remains a self-advocate and is generally averse to taking big risks. He then made the decision to quit and took six weeks off work. This big decision turned out to be incredibly liberating.
“Six weeks without income was terrifying and I think it was liberating to think about where to go next,” explained Palermo.
Luckily, he found a private practice job in just six weeks. The clinic was then bought by a larger company, so he chose to make the big choice again. In 1999, he co-founded his Hickman Palermo Becker Bingham LLP with three of his other attorneys and ran the company for 20 years.
Palermo left the newsroom for the last time in 1989, but said his time leading Loyola was monumental in preparing him to become a company leader, boss and colleague. “My years at Loyola were essential in learning how to work in stressful situations under the pressure of weekly deadlines, with people from different backgrounds and with very strong opinions. ‘ said Palermo.
As a leader, Palermo prioritizes high standards of quality, but within that expectation he responds and defines success on an individual level. , likes to amplify them, understand what their weaknesses are, and try to help them move the problem away from their weaknesses. Please.”
Establishing his own law firm in 1999 wasn’t the only source of personal growth at the time. Palermo recognized that his 35th birthday was monumental to his personal identity. “Until he was about 35, he didn’t really know who he was or what he wanted to do,” he explained. “People gain self-awareness about their talents and limitations at different ages.”
In 2020, after working for his own law firm for 20 years, he joined Baker Botts as a partner, specializing in international patent drafting and filing. “This is one of the top 100 him. [firms] It’s a tough place to work because it’s a completely different experience than running your own company. ”
In her personal life, Palermo has explored many hobbies, including gardening, olive farming, travelling, football, horseback riding, and modeling. Most recently, he hosted his dinner party and served his three courses, which recreated recipes from Michelin-starred restaurants he visited.
Palermo hasn’t stopped writing either. Whenever he can find time, he writes short fiction and poetry. Recently he embarked on a collaboration with Steve Younger (’84). Steve Younger has been one of his best friends ever since they first met and lived together at LMU. Younger and Palermo began working on a script for his action drama Adult with international political intrigue. This is reminiscent of the arthouse films he came to study at his LMU. This is the breadth and scope of his Christopher Palermo, who has worked three times in the newsroom and is an expert in his science of computers in the legal field.
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