Toby Butler, Class of 2007
Associate, Powell Goldstein, Atlanta
Undergraduate: DePauw University (Biology; minors in Rhetoric & Philosophy)
Toby Butler joined Powell Goldstein in Atlanta as an associate in 2007 after working as a summer associate for the firm in 2006. Toby, whose practice now focuses on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions, admits that “The reputation and rankings played perhaps the largest role when I chose Vanderbilt, but I’ve enjoyed my legal education because of the people. The students are personally motivated, and competition over grades, honors, etc., is not an underlying tension."
At Vanderbilt, Toby worked as research assistant for Professors Michael Vandenbergh and Erin O'Hara and was Senior Symposium Editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law as well as president of the Vanderbilt Law Ambassadors; editor-in-chief of the Obiter Dictum, and a member of the Vanderbilt Bar Association (VBA), the Patent & Intellectual Property Association, the Entertainment and Sports Law Society and Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity.
A former "cast member" of Disney World, he was surprised to discover that some courses he expected to be boring were interesting. “Contracts was one of the best classes I’ve ever taken," Toby recalls. "As an 8 a.m. class four days a week during my first semester of law school, the odds were stacked against it. But, while the material was deep and challenging, finding the connections between dozens of statutes seemed to be really what law school was about.”
Toby believes Vanderbilt's emphasis on the classroom experience makes a positive difference in students' experiences and their opportunities to learn. “The faculty are actually teachers," he says. "They enjoy the engagement and improvement of their students. Professors are available and, more importantly, willing to rephrase and refresh material for anyone. It’s nice to know that man or woman whose name appears on the front of your casebook is a person and can talk about more than just tort law or property -- and even smile and joke every now and then.”
