Photo by Patrick Verel
When he ascends the stage at Madison Square Garden on Monday, May 24, to accept his diploma from the Fordham School of Law, a familiar face will be there to present it to Patrick Marano: his grandfather, the Hon. Luigi R. Marano, FCRH ’42, LAW ’46, of the New York State Supreme Court.
“I’m really proud,” Marano said. “It’s been a long but enjoyable four years.”
Like his grandfather, Marano earned his degree through the law school’s prestigious evening program. When he entered the program in 2006, he already had spent five years working in the private sector at Goldman Sachs, Kaplan and Citigroup.
In his night classes, Marano learned about mergers and acquisitions, structured products, corporate governance and securities regulations. During the day, he encountered many of the same topics in Citigroup’s legal department.
He has since taken a position as an assistant vice president at Barclays Capital, where he works closely with investment bankers, traders and financial advisers to make sure they comply with securities regulations in the United States and abroad.
It is a deep-in-the-heart-of-it-all job that Marano really enjoys, and one that he has been able to discuss with his professors, many of whom came to the nightly law classes straight from firms.
“There’s student/professor respect, but there’s also professional camaraderie,” he said of the evening program.
“I’ll bring up issues that I experienced at work with a professor, especially if it’s related to the subject matter of the class. I’ll say, ‘I was working on this issue today. What do you think about this particular interpretation of this particular rule?’”
His class in European Union trade laws with Roger Goebel, the Alpin J. Cameron Professor of Law, has been particularly helpful.
“I work for a global investment bank based in the U.K., so knowing EU trade laws helps a lot,” Marano said. “There is a scholarly as well as practical application.”
Finishing four years of classes in addition to full-time employment is that much sweeter since he is already putting his degree to work, he said.
“My wife has been very patient. There are some days when the weather’s nice and you have energy and you’re just fine. Then there are some days when you’re walking home at 10 p.m. in the rain,” he said.
