Peter V. Lacouture – 50th Reunion Essay

Peter V. Lacouture

75 Summit Road

Exeter, RI 02822

placouture@rc.com

401-338-7302

Spouse(s): Margaret (Marnie) Palmer Lacouture (1966)

Child(ren): Katharine (Kate) (1967), Andy (1970), Peter K. (1974), Gretchen (1978)

Grandchild(ren): Henry Adams (1999), George Adams (2002), Jacob (Jake) Lacouture (2004), Angus Adams (2005), Mirelle Lacouture (2006), Kaspar (Kaz) Kosegarten (2015), Rainer Kosegarten (2017)

Education: Yale, BA, 1969; U. VA School of Law, LL.B., 1972

Career: Practiced law in Providence with Tillinghast, Collins & Graham (1972-1994), Peabody & Brown and Nixon Peabody (1994-2008), and Robinson & Cole, LLP (2008-present)

Avocations: Environment & nature, photography, politics, volunteer firefighter

College: Branford

I made a number of friends during our freshman year at Yale, including Wright Hall/Branford denizens Phil Case, the late Rick Goldman, John McQuade, and Ken Brown and sailors Coit and Tankoos. However, unlike most of our classmates who spent the next three years expanding and deepening their Yale friendships, I married my wife, Marnie, during the summer after our freshman year. She was and continues to be my best friend.

During my first year in law school (at U.VA.), I sat down for lunch one day with a third-year student. The discussion turned, not surprisingly, to jobs. He asked me where I wanted to live and practice, and I said I was leaning towards a small New England town such as Newburyport, Massachusetts. He encouraged me and urged me to ignore the “big city” pressure to look for a job in DC or NYC. In the summer of 1971 I clerked for a law firm in Providence and returned after graduation in 1972. I guess Providence was my compromise between DC and Newburyport.

I doubt that in the spring of 1969 I would have had much of an idea of what a “life well lived” would be. Now I know. Forty years ago we moved from Providence to a 250-year-old farmhouse on 45 acres in Exeter, Rhode Island. I am 28 miles (35 minutes) from my office where I have a challenging public utility practice. A former partner at Nixon Peabody introduced me to the ABA’s Public Utility section in 2002. Subsequently, I edited the section’s annual report (now “Recent Developments”) for 12 years and am now (2017–2018) chair of the section (renamed the Infrastructure and Regulated Industries Section several years ago).

Living in a small town has opened volunteer and other opportunities. I am the president and deputy chief of our volunteer fire company (Exeter #2) and have incorporated the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association and the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society. In 1984 I represented a group of parents and children who sued our local school committee for cutting the school budget. We were successful in Superior Court and won in the Rhode Island Supreme Court (one of a number of cases I have argued before our Supreme Court). In 1992 I was elected town moderator and am now in my 13th term.

As challenging and rewarding as my professional life has been, the most important ingredient of my life well lived is family. Marnie and I have four children (our oldest, Kate, is Yale, ’89) and, by the time you read this, eight grandchildren (only one granddaughter!). Our one regret is the fact that our son Andy, who is now 48, had a serious automobile accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury during his senior year in high school. Andy lived with us for 15 years after his accident and now lives in a group home. He works at an art studio five days a week and has become an accomplished artist. We are thankful for his survival and accomplishments but often wonder “what if.”