“Arguably the reason I went to law school was because Prof. Gaudino confirmed that I had a way of organizing thoughts, which he himself had given me the guide in class to do. There was a classmate who answered a question and he tried to give a couple of reasons and I could just tell from Prof. Gaudino’s reaction that this was a good way. And there came a time when Prof. Gaudino asked me to answer a question and I said, “I think there are three reasons.” And he leaned forward, he actually was usually leaning forward, and he went, “Oh, goodie, oh, goodie.” So I got this feedback. I proceeded through my reasons and subsequently have used that procedure so many times in life it’s probably getting old now. Lawyers are supposed to be able to organize their thoughts and frankly to have lots of them, to have a reason A and a reason B and a reason C and sometimes a D and an F. So yes I’ve used that method many times.

–Peter Nelson '76, based in Los Angeles, is one of the nation's leading entertainment lawyers, perhaps best known for helping New Zealand director Peter Jackson create his series of "Lord of the Rings" films