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.
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