Alumni Profile: Richard Blankstein ’60
Degree(s): BS Psychology, UW–Madison; LLB, Harvard Law School
Current Occupation: Retired Law Firm Partner
What are some of the benefits of your psychology degree?
I apply what I learned about Rogerian Therapy in interviewing and teaching law students how to interview new clients. My course in experimental statistics, and my student job running data at the UW Primate Lab helped me evaluate data in both my legal career and as a hospital trustee on a committee responsible for approving human experiments involving patients.
How did you find your way to your current profession?
I decided late in my junior year at UW that I was not going to pursue graduate study in psychology, and an elderly relative, who had practiced law for many years in government and in private practice, encouraged me to try law school.
What advice would you give to students graduating with a psychology degree?
Don’t feel locked into anything just because of the title to your major. I have practiced with, and taught, attorneys and law students whose college majors ranged from physics to economics, and from religion to mathematics.
If interested, please list an identity or group membership of which you are particularly proud:
Board Chair of Lasell University, and others