Andrew Fink grew up in Ypsilanti and is an alumnus of Hillsdale College and of the University of Michigan Law School. During his 2L summer, he attended Officer Candidates School at Marine Corps Base Quantico and received a commission as a second lieutenant. Following graduation, he was on active duty as a judge advocate for three years. He left active duty as a captain in March of this year, and remains a part of the Marine Corps Reserve.
Fink met his wife Lauren when they were both undergraduates at Hillsdale, and together they have three children: Evangeline Ruth (4), Andrew Frederick (Fred) IV (2), and Dietrich Gary (8 months). He is now an associate at Fink & Valvo in Ann Arbor.
By Jo Mathis
Legal News
Residence: Augusta Township.
Currently reading: “Bonhoeffer,” by Eric Metaxas.
What is your most treasured material possession? I try not to cling to material possessions, but I really like having my wedding ring, my guitars, and keepsakes like a bottle of wine Peter Fletcher gave me, and a beanie bearing the numbers “03” that my great-grandfather (Andrew Frederick Fink) got when he graduated from Coe College in 1903.
What advice do you have for someone considering law school? Don’t go to law school unless you want to practice law. It isn’t a good way to kill time and “figure things out.”
As a Washtenaw County Fink, did you even consider becoming anything but an attorney? Yes, I almost moved to Nashville to try to be a professional guitarist.
If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you be? I might have joined the Marines as a ground officer, or I might have tried to become a policeman.
Favorite local hangouts: The Tap Room, The Bomber, Haab’s. Most of Michigan Ave in Ypsi, I guess.
Your proudest moment as a lawyer? My first, when my dad moved my admission to the bar and my Uncle Karl swore me in, while much of my family, including my mother, my siblings, my lawyer cousins, and my Uncle Andy (Andrew Frederick Fink II), observed.
Your worst moment as a lawyer? I lost an administrative separation hearing as a defense attorney. My client was a good kid and I didn’t think he deserved to be kicked out of the military with an other-than-honorable characterization.
What is your happiest childhood memory? When I was 10, I won a bike from Ypsi Cycle in a raffle at the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival. That’s about as happy as a kid can get.
Where were you when you got the good news? I knew they were going to announce the winner at the end of the festival at the dock stage in Riverside Park, so I was sitting with some of my friends upstream and straining to hear the contest winners’ names called. When the announcer said my name I started running around trying to figure out where to go to claim the bike. I was a little disappointed that what I got wasn’t really a bike but a voucher at the bike shop. I wound up with a green Diamondback mountain bike, which is currently on loan to my Uncle Karl.
If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would that be? Austin Jackson, the Tigers’ centerfielder.
Why Jackson? When I was a boy, my dream job was to patrol centerfield at Tiger Stadium. I didn’t really play baseball much, but by the time I was about 10 or 11, the Tigers were my favorite team in any sport. It didn’t make much sense for me to fall in love with the Tigers—they were atrocious during all of my adolescent years. But I liked the idea of being a centerfielder because of the “440” sign in dead center at Tiger Stadium, the flag pole sitting there in play, the sharp triangular shape of the outfield, and because the position is a beautiful combination of flashiness and elegance.
What’s the most awe-inspiring place you have visited? Yellowstone National Park.
What would you say to your 16-year-old self? I wouldn’t talk to that grouch.
Why so glum? If teenage Andrew had a reason to be such a grouch, maybe it would have been worth trying to talk to him about it. But he didn’t—he was just a grouch. When we had a vacation at Disneyworld (another raffle win—this one by my brother Sam at an EMU football game) and everyone bought Mickey and Minnie gear, I bought a hat and a shirt with pictures of Grumpy on them.
What is guaranteed to make you laugh? The Marx Brothers, of course.
Must-see TV: The only things on TV I try very hard to watch are sporting events (especially Michigan football and basketball, the Detroit pro teams, and auto-racing), but Lauren and I have also worked our way through most of Masterpiece Theatre’s Agatha Christie’s Poirot series.
What word do you overuse? “Basically,” “actually,” and many other adverbs.
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