Member Spotlight – ‘The go to guy’ – why Torben Welch is always up for a new challenge, whenever, wherever…
Besides his family, Torben Welch has two great passions: the law and soccer (football).
With both, he drew inspiration from heroes he admired, but predictably only one of those passions has given him a career spanning two decades. This has taken Torben from his native Denver to Utah via legal networks stretching across the US, Europe, and Asia.
When he was a toddler, Torben decided he’d like to play for English premier league giants Arsenal FC and even the England national team. Through his sports-mad father, he fell in love with Arsenal and particularly its star player, Dennis Bergkamp. He still has the posters to prove it.
Meanwhile, as a teenager he was captivated by Atticus Finch, the quietly determined lawyer in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, played by Gregory Peck in the movie. It was while watching ‘Mockingbird’ that Torben realised he wanted to be a lawyer so, “I could be like Atticus and help people”.
Both passions followed him through school and college before he finally graduated from law school in 2002, albeit as a soccer-mad lawyer.
“Law became more interesting to me after reading and then watching ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,” Torben recalls. “After I saw the movie, I knew I wanted to do law. I wanted to be Atticus, or better, Gregory Peck.
“I started taking debate classes in high school and I’ve always been interested in reading documents to understand the meaning of things from different perspectives. Law became the perfect career for me early on.”
After graduating, Torben’s first job out of law school was to work as construction defect litigator: “All they did was practise construction defect litigation. That was it! For three years I was a litigator. It wasn’t what I really wanted to do, but it helped me understand about writing and understanding contracts from both sides.”
Fascinated by all aspects of the law, it soon became clear litigation wouldn’t be enough. Torben became the ‘go to’ guy in the office: “If people didn’t understand a particular job or issue, they’d pass it to Torben,” he laughs. “I like being thrown in the fire because you learn quickly on the job.