After Larry Crane-Moscowitz earned his degree in economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, he accepted a job as an analyst with Goldman Sachs, assigned to a team that managed the firm’s liquidity and collateral around the globe. “We managed the firm’s funding on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “I thought I would work at GS for the foreseeable future. Graduate school really wasn’t on my mind.”
Two years later, Crane-Moscowitz found himself reviewing contracts related to the development of a new banking entity with Goldman’s legal team, enjoying this work “far more than my other projects.” That insight led him to apply to law school.
He chose Vanderbilt because of its strong Law and Business Certificate Program, but he was also intrigued by its Nashville location and encouraged by the offer of a scholarship and the reasonable cost of living. “I visited in May and really fell in love with the school,” he said. “I had an opportunity to talk with Professor [Randall] Thomas about the Law and Business Program and with Professor [Tracey] George, who has been a tremendous source of guidance throughout my first and second year. They were, and continue to be, great sounding boards.”
Based on his experiences working at a complex investment bank like Goldman Sachs, Crane-Moscowitz originally thought he would focus on corporate transactions. But he discovered an interest in litigation both in the classroom and outside of it. “I loved my first-year Civil Procedure class with Professor [Ingrid] Wuerth—she did a fantastic job,” he said. “Then I spent the summer working at the Securities and Exchange Commission in enforcement. Now I’m excited about the potential of doing corporate litigation.”
Crane-Moscowitz also teamed up with Alex Vey ’16—“one of the smartest people I’ve ever met”—to win both the 1L Mock Trial competition in spring 2014 and the Bass Berry & Sims Moot Court competition, which began in fall 2014 with 69 teams. Three federal appellate judges—Raymond Lohier of the Second Circuit, Stephanie Thacker of the Fourth Circuit, and John Rogers of the Sixth Circuit—presided over the final round. “Vanderbilt does a good job of teaching students how to apply law to facts,” Crane-Moscowitz said.
As a 3L, Crane-Moscowitz shared the role of senior managing editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law with colleague Travis Gray, against whom he competed in the Moot Court final round. “I appreciate the diversity of academic and intellectual thought here,” he said. “Students here range from very conservative to very liberal, but the culture of sharing ideas instead of talking past each other is very robust. We have a robust Federalist Society, a robust American Constitutional Society and a strong Legal Aid Society, and all of those groups interact. That collegial atmosphere cuts down on the stress level. I’ve met some really great people here who will be friends for life.”
At commencement, Crane-Moscowitz was honored with the Junius Allison Award, which recognizes a graduate who has made significant contributions to the work of Vanderbilt Legal Aid Society. During summer 2015, he worked for White & Case in New York, a position for which he interviewed at the New York job fair co-sponsored by Vanderbilt’s Career Services department, and he has joined the firm as an associate. His article, “…[E]cept for All the Others”: A Compromise Proposal for Correcting the Incentives of Credit Rating Agencies in the Wake of the Dodd-Frank Act,” has been published in the New York State Bar Association Business Law Journal.
