Page 9 - Feb2019_BarJournal

Hugh E. McKay
and his mother

Hugh E. mckay

Firm/Company: Porter Wright
Title: Partner-in-Charge
CMBA Join Date: 1982
undergrad: Brown University B.S. 1978
Law School: University of Pennsylvania J.D. 1981
Bob Pleines Susan Beech yoUr moST EmBarraSSIng

Firm/Company: Gallagher Sharp LLP Firm/Company: CMBA ProfESSIonal momEnT?
Title: Associate Attorney Title: Facility Planning & Special Events Coordinator As a young lawyer, I got a call late one evening
from an ill partner to go to Toledo first thing in
CMBA Join Date: 2018 CMBA Start Date: 2018
undergrad: Ohio University undergrad: Albion College B.A. in Economics the morning to cover a deposition in a case with
numerous defendants. I rushed out the door from
Law School: Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Graduate School: Cleveland State University – MBA
home and arrived just at the start time, entering
WHaT Do yoU Do for fUn? If yoU WErE noT In yoUr cUrrEnT a large conference room where nine renowned
Go for hikes or runs in the Metroparks and play some ProfESSIon, WHaT WoUlD yoUr senior lawyers sat. They were going around the
pick up basketball at the rec center. ProfESSIon BE? room stating their names and who they represented.
I’d love to be a writer. I have ideas for a couple of When they got to me, I said “Hugh McKay and
DEScrIBE an IDEal SUnDay. novels and one of these days I need to get them [pause] I don’t know who my client is.”
“The” ideal Sunday is Superbowl Sunday – with the out of my head and on to paper.
Browns victorious of course. yoUr moST mEmoraBlE
HoW DID yoU mEET yoUr SPoUSE? cmBa momEnT?
WHaT cITy/nEIgHBorHooD Do I met my husband on Mackinac Island, Michigan, Coaching LeBron James — on how to use cue cards
yoU lIvE In, anD WHaT Do yoU lIkE where we were both working summer jobs. He for the video we were making as we launched
aBoUT IT? has family who live on Mackinac year-round so we The 3Rs, and having LeBron say “Naww — just tell
Independence: a friendly community with easy access visit often. It’s my favorite place in the world. me about the program and get rid of the cue cards.”
to Cleveland’s interstates, great restaurants, Ohio & Erie
Canal Reservation. DEScrIBE an IDEal SUnDay. WHy DID yoU BEcomE a laWyEr?
An early run in the Metropark, chocolate My dad, and hero, Ellis McKay, who was the greatest
WHaT’S yoUr favorITE Book? croissants and coffee from Blackbird Bakery, a lawyer and most inspiring person I’ve ever known.
The Prize by Daniel Yergin matinee with friends, a home-cooked dinner with
my husband and daughters, and finally, a fire in our WHaT’S THE BEST ParT of BEIng
WHaT’S on yoUr BUckET lIST? backyard with a nice glass of red wine. a laWyEr?
Go for a swim in the Devil’s Pool at Victoria Falls Getting to know and dealing with (or trying to)
WHaT cITy/nEIgHBorHooD Do every imaginable type of person and personality,
yoU lIvE In, anD WHaT Do yoU lIkE e.g. the person I deposed who had inherited an
aBoUT IT? enormous amount of money and wanted to build
I live in the West Park neighborhood of Cleveland. a 60,000 square foot “dream home.” My client was
Our house sits on the Rocky River Reservation so seeking to limit her to a 40,000 square foot house.
we spend a great deal of time walking, running, and When I asked in the deposition why a 40,000
biking in the valley. We are so lucky to have our square foot house couldn’t be a dream home, she
amazing Metropark system literally in our backyard. sobbed and said, “I don’t suppose you have three
young children!”
onE fUn facT aBoUT yoU?
I can solve a Rubik’s Cube. onE fUn facT aBoUT yoU?
I got into Brown university with mediocre high
Bob Pleines school grades and board scores on the “strength” of
an essay I wrote as a joke in less than two minutes,
to appease my mother who was urging me to just
go ahead and apply. For my essay, I free-associated
three-word sentences i.e. “I like Bob Dylan,” “I like
the Browns,” “I like Bewitched,” “I like fishing”... until I
filled the page, mailed it in (literally), and two weeks
later the Dean of Admissions called my college
counselor to say it was the best essay they received
out of 13,000 essays.
Susan Beech

fEBrUary 2019 CLEVELAnd METROPOLITAn BAR JOURnAL | 9