As a youngster growing up in Colorado, Jeff Holmstead wanted to be a professional basketball player. It wasn't until his freshman year in college that he figured out his 5'5" frame was not exactly pro caliber.
But as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, Holmstead discovered he also loved the challenges of academic life. He realized that his talents in the classroom would have to be his ticket to success.Now as an associate counsel to the president of the United States, the Hon. Jeffrey R. Holmstead hasn't grown an inch, but he certainly walks tall.
"I'm having great fun in this job," Holmstead said, "I can't imagine ever having another job that is as interesting as this one is - it's full of new and interesting issues all the time and it's a job that gives you the opportunity to affect many people."
Holmstead said he essentially works in a small law firm that represents the president. "We are the only part of the government that really has the president as our single client.
"Our major responsibilities are to protect the powers of the presidency, primarily against encroachment by the legislative branch, and to leave the office of the presidency stronger than it was when he arrived."
Holmstead also said his office deals with ethics questions. "My boss Boyden Gray, along with being counsel to the president, is the chief ethics officer of the government." Under Boyden, Holmstead and four colleagues handle questions of ethics or propriety.
The office also works in the selection of judges for nomination. It was heavily involved in recommending Judge David Souter, now a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Judge Clarence Thomas.
With his background in economics and law, Holmstead said he spends most of his time on separation of powers issues and on regulatory matters.
At age 31, Holmstead is the youngster in his office, and one of the youngest commissioned officers in the government.
According to Holmstead, getting his job was a combination of credentials and luck.
"I was sitting at my desk one day and out of the blue got a call from a man who is a highly regarded lawyer that worked in the Reagan administration," Holmstead explained. "He said they were looking for another young lawyer to work in the White House counsel's office."
But it was Holmstead's credentials that gave him the necessary credibility.
During his senior year at BYU, Holmstead was a Rhodes Scholar finalist wondering what he was going to do after graduation. He had to decide between business school and law school.
"I knew the Rhodes Scholarship was a long shot, but that's what I really wanted," Holmstead said, "and I knew if that didn't work out I could spend a year studying developmental economics in Mexico or Argentina."
When neither of those worked out, Holmstead opted for law school.
"In the end I'm not sure what tipped the balance but I always enjoyed the academic life and the life of dealing with thoughts and ideas," said Holmstead. "Law school seemed to offer that more than business school."
After graduating first in his class from BYU with a degree in economics and English, Holmstead was off to Yale Law School.
While at Yale, Holmstead said he was constantly encouraged to challenge ideas and issues, something he wished he had experienced more at BYU.
"I thought at BYU it was my job to learn everything the teachers taught me and everything in my textbooks," he explained, "but I never felt like I was encouraged to challenge ideas."
According to Holmstead, challenging ideas was a way of life at Yale, even if it meant challenging the faculty members. "It became clear very quickly that that was part of our education."
It was also at Yale that Holmstead discovered that his liberal thinking at BYU was actually quite conservative among his new peers.
"I thought I was pretty liberal on things but at Yale I saw some of the things that `liberals' wanted to do with the law and government and it didn't make any sense to me," Holmstead said. "So for the first time, I had to really think about why I believed the way I did and I had to be able to form rational arguments about why I believed that way."
Holmstead said he is glad he had the opportunity to attend Yale, but as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he said he missed the spiritual influence of the LDS Church at BYU.
Upon graduating from Yale in 1987, Holmstead became a clerk for federal Judge Douglas Ginsburg. While clerking for Ginsburg, the judge was nominated for the Supreme Court but withdrew his nomination after admitting to smoking marijuana during the 1960's and 1970's.
Holmstead explained that because he worked for a federal judge who was highly regarded during the Reagan administration, people remembered him. That contributed to his attainment of the White House post.
"I think the way things work is we deal with some fairly sensitive issues so they look for people they think they can trust," Holmstead said. "They ask for suggestions and names, I was contacted along with four or five other people."
After clerking, Holmstead joined the Washington office of a large law New York law firm. He hadn't worked in that job more than a couple of years when the phone call came that led him to the White House.
"I wasn't unhappy with private practice and was not looking to leave," Holmstead said, "but being where I am now, I see more interesting issues in a week than I saw in a year in private practice."
The only complaint Holmstead has about his position now is the lack of time he has for himself, his wife Lisa and Emily, their 18-month-old daughter. And besides his regular work schedule, Holmstead serves as a bishop for a Spanish Ward of the LDS Church in Washington D.C.
"I'm having great fun but I wish I could have this much fun for maybe two or three hours less everyday," Holmstead confessed.
"I'm not sure how much longer I can last, the work just doesn't end."
When he does leave this position, Holmstead said he will eventually go back to private practice, unless another interesting job opens up in the government.
"If the right thing came along I would take it," he said, "because getting any one of these jobs takes a little bit of luck - besides, I will probably never be as politically connected as I am now."
With what little spare time he has, Holmstead and his wife spend fixing up their home, an old Victorian row house on Capital Hill. He doesn't spend much time with sports anymore, but when he can, he still loves to play basketball, and pretend that he's a pro.