By David O’Boyle
January 8, 2018
With members in all 50 states and more than 80 countries, the D.C. Bar is beginning a regular feature to profile the people who make up our community. Read about your peers, their lives, and their work around the world.
Bike Law attorney Timmy Finch is anything but hesitant when confronting challenges. 他的典型反应是“是的，而且。 . . .” as he gets to work exploring where the road will take him.
他曾经在D做过自行车送信员吗.C. delivering packages for the city’s movers and shakers? 是的，他还在一家自行车配件厂工作. And later toured the country as a professional improv actor. 起诉针对妇女的暴力犯罪.
Today Finch represents clients injured in bike crashes and advocates for cyclist-friendly traffic laws.
就在大学毕业前不久, Finch recalled seeing a group of bike messengers near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. “I thought that being a bike messenger looked like an amazing experience. 那些家伙——他们是自由的.”
银泉镇本地人, Maryland, Finch spent his childhood days riding his bike through downtown D.C. 以及周围的郊区. 他熟悉D的街道.C. well. 在大学毕业后找工作的时候, 芬奇找了一份骑自行车送信的工作, 为企业运送文件. Finch says that becoming a bike messenger returned him to a “feeling of fearlessness and excitement.”
在全国各地来回奔波, Finch continued as a bike messenger in the cities he lived in, in addition to working in a factory that produced bike parts and racks, and writing.
In Charleston, South Carolina, 芬奇尝试过即兴喜剧, forming a group with two friends called The Have Nots! The group toured the country, performing on college campuses.
“We had a van, and we toured like a band tours,” says Finch.
The group started a theater in Charleston, called Theatre 99, and enjoyed success for a decade. But the rising popularity of the city led to increased rents, and the group lost its lease. 在找新剧院的时候, Finch says, 他“开始思考未来, 这引起了我的注意, 而表演的生活方式是伟大的, it’s also fragile.”
36岁的芬奇想要一份稳定可靠的事业. “I thought maybe I could get into the business of building bikes or even being a carpenter. 但如果我不能再做这些工作了怎么办?”
芬奇知道如果他的身体垮了, 他还会有头脑, so he “invested in his mind” by choosing to pursue a law degree at the Charleston School of Law.
“我没有任何具体的计划. I just went to law school to see where it would take me,” says Finch. “我知道一个法律学位不会关上任何大门.”
After graduating, he took a job as a prosecutor for the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office where he primarily tried cases involving violent crimes against women. Finch says these cases showed him “how incredibly normal I am.” When he thought about his own life—his travels across the country, his time as a bike messenger—he would see the terrible things that people were doing and think, “我只是一个过得去的普通人.”
Finch spent just shy of five years at the Solicitor’s Office before he was approached by Peter Wilborn, founder of Bike Law, to join the network of independent law firms and lawyers who focus on representing and advocating for cyclists.
而他热爱自己的检察官工作, Finch couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work as a personal injury attorney representing clients he was familiar with, who had lifestyles and backgrounds similar to his own. Finch says that joining Bike Law allows him to combine his law degree and his passion for cycling to help other cyclists.
Finch and Wilborn are expanding their practice into D.C.该公司计划在2018年初开设办事处.
Finch wants to use his work at Bike Law to change the perception of cyclists and help the cycling community be treated more fairly by the legal system, 尤其是在发生事故之后. 他说，他看到太多朋友被车撞了, and was hit himself while working as a bike messenger in the District.
“我正从杜邦环岛骑车回乔治城, 有个人在我前面左转了, 非法掉头,” says Finch. “我撞了他的车，把它掀翻了. 它弄坏了我的自行车，也把我弄得一团糟.”
Finch says he tried to stop the driver by standing in front of his car, 但是司机开始开车离开了, forcing Finch to jump onto the car’s hood and off again to avoid being run over.
芬奇去拿事故报告的时候, the police told him they found no one at fault for the accident, 他还把司机吓坏了. 我问，为什么司机怕我? 他是害怕我会流血到他身上吗?”
His experience, and the experiences of his friends, have always struck Finch as unfair. “You realize that for some people, biking isn’t for recreation; it’s how they have to get around.“通过他在Bike Law的工作, Finch says he is embracing the opportunity to advocate for cyclists’ rights, especially for people who rely on their bike to get to work, to run errands, 或者去学校接孩子.
Without proper protections, both on the road and in the legal system, cycling can be risky. “这成了生死攸关的问题，”芬奇说. “And a life-and-death matter when nobody is on your side is terrifying. This is an opportunity to be on those people’s side, and I like that a lot.”
