“Jump In And Mix It Up”: Being A Disruptive Change Manager

This is the second interview with Joseph C. Zengerle III. His first interview is titled “Not Necessarily the Approved Solution: Having the Instincts to Get the Job Done.” Joseph Zengerle graduated from West Point in 1964. He served as both an Infantry Officer and a Military Intelligence Officer in Germany and Vietnam. He left the military in 1969, and decided to attend law school with his wife, Lynda. After graduation, he served as a law clerk for Judge Carl McGowan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and for Chief Justice Warren Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court. He returned to private practice before being appointed Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, and Installations. He then served as a partner in the firm of Bingham McCutchen before becoming the executive director for the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. His final position was on the faculty at the George Mason University School of Law, where he founded the Clinic for Legal Assistance to Servicemembers (CLAS). In this interview, he focuses on his law career and his service in various veterans’ organizations, including his work on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and with the Disabled American Veterans. He provides insightful commentary on the personalities of several Supreme Court Justices, and describes his work as a clerk. He discusses many of the important legal cases he worked on during his career, as well as some of the causes he championed. Finally, he analyzes how his time at West Point helped prepare him for his career as a lawyer and public servant.