John Hoover Snyder

I grew up in Ephrata, Washington, and graduated from Wenatchee High School. For nine terrific summers, I performed in a traveling circus known as the Wenatchee Youth Circus, where I was a high wire walker, trapeze artist, juggler, unicyclist, and trampolinist.

I left Washington State in 1995 to attend Brown University, where I majored in history and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1999. I also joined a very cool co-ed fraternity called Zeta Delta Xi and remain very close to my brothers to this day.

I then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 2002. I spent a year in Scranton, Pennsylvania as a law clerk, then moved to New York City and began my private law practice with a large law firm. My practice primarily focuses on securities litigation, antitrust, and general business disputes, although my pro bono work allows me to pursue election law issues and general representation of artists and arts organizations. (My blog entries also afford me the opportunity to write about whatever I want.)

In October 2006, I married Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, who I met at Brown (and who was my pledge master at Zete). Together we are building a happy life together and learning from one another each day.

My seven plus years in New England have led me to become an adopted fan of the Red Sox and Patriots, and my heart still belongs in New England.

My mother lives in San Francisco and my father lives in Thailand. I have three sisters, Mary (who lives in Seattle now, but who travels constantly as a nurse practicing third world public health), Emily (who lives outside Seattle and owns her own beauty salon), and Katy (who lives outside Seattle and teaches middle school). I am very proud of my sisters and the happiness they have all found in life.