Stephen Chakwin was born in 1951. He is a member of the New York, Connecticut, and California (inactive) bars and those of numerous federal courts. He has practiced law as a public defender, a solo practitioner, a member of a corporate law department, a small-firm lawyer and a big-firm lawyer. He has been an advocate in many trial and appeal cases (ranging from small claims up to state supreme courts and federal courts of appeals and -- on paper -- the U.S. Supreme Court), a client (as a corporate lawyer), and a quasi-judicial adjudicator. He has appeared in courts and deposition rooms all around the United States and Canada.

He has also studied Western and Eastern mysticism and been trained as a personal and business coach. He has studied much of the literature of personal achievement and considers himself, like the rest of us, to be a work in progress. Chakwin writes essays for this web site, music criticism for American Record Guide, and legal papers for anyone with a sufficiently interesting issue and the good judgment to retain him.