Spring 2003 • Issue 9, page 14

Profile: Peter W. Ito

By Rense, Kirk*

Peter W. Ito heads the West Coast bankruptcy practice of Foley & Lardner, a national law firm with more than 1,000 attorneys. During his 15 years of practicing in the San Diego area, Mr. Ito has worked primarily in bankruptcy, financial restructuring, creditors' rights and structured finance. In addition, Mr. Ito has significant experience in representing and counseling directors and officers of troubled companies, securitizations, and in provisional and post-judgment remedies. California Receivership News asked Mr. Ito to provide a biographic sketch for our first Receivership Professional Profile.

I was born in Denver, Colorado in June 1963, where I was adopted by Sueo and Taeko Ito. I have one sister, Emilie. I am most proud of my parents and their accomplishments. Both are second generation Japanese Americans. I am so fortunate to have been adopted by my parents — the principles and values that I learned from them permeate every facet of my life.

My father was born in Hawaii in 1919, where he started working in the sugar cane fields at the age of 7. He earned a degree in agriculture at the University of Hawaii, taught agriculture at that institution, and then served during World War II as an officer with the Military Intelligence Service. After the war, he served as an interpreter in many war crimes trials, including the trial of General Yamashita, the infamous “Tiger of Manila.” After leaving the service, my father attended dental school and, upon graduation, joined his three brothers in their dental practice in Denver, Colorado.

My mother was born and raised in San Francisco. As a teenager, she was interned along with 112,000 other Americans of Japanese ancestry, spending four long years at a relocation camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. She returned to San Francisco after the war, staying there until she mar+ried my dad and moved to Colorado, where they still reside.

My life has been pretty boring in comparison. I spent my entire life in Colorado until I left to attend law school. I was active in sports as a kid — I participated in little league football, was an avid skier like my dad, who holds the rank of Rokudan (Sixth Degree Black Belt), I participated in Judo. I started Judo at about the age of 8 and continued until I was about 22. I won numerous Colorado state championships during that time, and competed in multiple national championships. I trained with the Olympic judo team at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for 18 months leading up to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. I was in very good shape at that point in my life (unlike my current physical condition). I also have fond memories of fishing with my dad on the rivers of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, playing golf with my dad and family vacations. These are all things that I now do with my own family.

I earned a B.A. in political science from the University of Colorado in 1986, working as an intern with the Office of the General Counsel for the University during my last two undergraduate years. During that time, I became friends with one of the attorneys in the office, who recommended that I apply to Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri. I visited the school, met with the professors and ultimately ended up going to school there. It was a wonderful experience. Washington University is the oldest private school west of the Mississippi, has an outstanding reputation and is located on a beautiful hilltop campus overlooking urban Forest Park, which is second in size only to New York’s Central Park.

I developed life-long friends while at law school, one of whom is David Becker, one of my law school professors who I consider a mentor and close friend. David initially guided me to a career in bankruptcy. During my second year of law school, he suggested I intern with one of his former students, Barry Schermer, then a bankruptcy judge in St. Louis and now the Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. I took David’s advice and spent the summer with Judge Schermer. After my internship, Judge Schermer assisted me in obtaining a one-year appointment as a law clerk for the Honorable Louise DeCarl Adler, bankruptcy judge in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California.

My wife and I moved to San Diego upon my graduation from law school, where we have now lived for 14 years. After my clerkship, I joined the bankruptcy department at an old line San Diego law firm known as Jennings, Engstrand & Henrikson. Ross Pyle, a former Chief Judge of the bankruptcy court, headed the group of eight bankruptcy attorneys. Nearly three years later, the bankruptcy lawyers left to form a boutique bankruptcy firm — Pyle Sims Duncan & Stevenson, where I worked as a partner until leaving to join Baker & McKenzie about four years later. In March of this year, after nearly five years with Baker & McKenzie, I left to join the San Diego office of Foley & Lardner. I head the West Coast bankruptcy practice for Foley.

In May, my wife Ashley and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. We have been together for 24 years. We have two beautiful girls, Kristin (8) and Megan (6), both of whom attend La Jolla Country Day School. Kristin is in the third grade and enjoys music, art and math. She plays the piano and occasionally does print advertising. She has appeared in a Guess Jeans advertisement for Vogue Magazine, a layout in Child Magazine and did a national commercial last Spring with actor George Hamilton for Old Navy. She is featured on the website for Gapkids.com. Megan is in kindergarten. Like her sister, Megan plays the piano. She plays softball and is interested in playing soccer.

As a family, we enjoy skiing and travel. Last year we took a two-week trip to Japan with my parents — a once-in-a lifetime experience. We started in Tokyo and worked our way south, eventually finishing our trip in Kumamoto, where my parents’ relatives still reside. It was great to meet our relatives and to experience Japan with my parents. During part of our trip, we stayed two nights at a traditional Japanese Inn called a Ryokan. Thankfully, my parents speak fluent Japanese as no one who worked at the inn spoke English. The food was awesome and the culture incredible.

Before the trip we all committed to not eating any Western food — no McDonald’s, no Kentucky Fried Chicken! Surprisingly, we lived up to our commitment. Kristin and Megan did a terrific job; they were great travelers and ate Japanese food the entire time. Their favorite was udon noodles. After a couple of scotches with relatives I tried “Bashimi,” which is raw horse meat, a specialty in Kumamoto.

I am goal-oriented — I have set and continue to set both personal and business related goals. One of my personal goals is to find ways to thank my parents for their support and the values that they taught me. Another is to give my girls the same opportunities that my parents provided for me.