David Sawyier

David Sawyier rowed at St. Mark’s School in Southboro, Massachusetts, and then for Harvard, where he graduated in 1972 with a degree in classics, and earned Phi Beta Kappa honors his junior year. He also rowed for the Riverside Boat Club and Union Boat Club. In addition to his Olympic appearance Sawyier competed in the eights at the 1971 European Championships.

After graduating from Harvard, Sawyier studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and then earned a law degree from Harvard Law School. He later clerked for Judge George MacKinnon on the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC before joining the firm of Sidley Austin in Chicago. With Sidley Austin, Sawyier founded the firm’s private investment funds practice in the late 1980’s, and subsequently expanded it to both coasts and later to Europe and Asia.