Christopher Perkowski

Bio

Christopher Perkowski, 1999
Everything can turn on where you put the comma or which adjective you choose.
Tell Us About Your Career.
I’m an attorney with the Tax Credit Finance & Syndication group at Nixon Peabody LLP.
Basically, my job is to help structure transactions that leverage tax credits to get projects like charter schools, health care facilities, and commercial/mixed-use developments up and running in low-income communities.
I like to say that it’s one of the few practices in a big law firm that lets you work for the good guys.

Education

My official concentration as an undergrad was fiction, but pretty early on I took Intro to Creative Writing with Jennifer Atkinson, and I realized I wanted to be a poet.

Transition to Law

The truth is that law school’s not too bad if you’re a careful reader and can write well.

Skills and Background

As an English major at Mason I learned to engage with literature, to read it carefully, to understand the traditions and see how writers embrace or resist them, and to form persuasive arguments about what it all might mean.
The practice of law requires the exact same skills, so it was an almost effortless transition for me.

Job Satisfaction

The best thing about my job is that I get to play a role in funding projects that have a positive impact on communities that really need the help.
And though I hesitate to admit this, I also really enjoy drafting legal documents, which have their own bizarre rules and conventions.

Writing and Legal Language

There are also moments when I’m translating a business point into legalese that allow me to flex my creative muscles a bit, and everything can turn on where you put the comma or which adjective you choose.
It’s like writing poetry, without all that beauty and brevity.