By Erin Reid P’01,’05

Tom Prochnow ’85 traces a direct line from the reading, writing, and curiosity he developed at Hotchkiss to his career as chief intellectual property attorney for NHL Enterprises, L.P. Recently retired, he now serves as a mediator and expert witness while working on his first novel.

He arrived at Hotchkiss from Lake Forest, IL. “One of my favorite teachers at Lake Forest Country Day School, John Virden ’64, P’89,’91, left to teach at Hotchkiss. Since I’d been carpooling with the Virdens for years, I knew if I went to Hotchkiss, I’d have a home away from home!” He also had family connections to the School. His uncles, Johnston Boyden ’55 and Thomas Boyden ’58, P’90, attended Hotchkiss, as well as his sister, Laura Prochnow Phillips ’89, and his cousin, John Boyden ’90.

His senior English class with Blair Torrey ’50 left a deep impression. Prochnow often thinks back on the great literature he read on campus, particularly Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth. “As I’ve gotten older, that poem has grown even more meaningful. Even though we were too young to appreciate it fully, embedding it in our brains as teenagers would reward us later, once we gained perspective on our time in Hotchkiss’s spectacular natural setting.”

Tim Katzman introduced him to American Studies, which became his major in college. He also discovered a new passion in Lakeville. “I was bitten by the distance running bug as a lower mid, and I've been running ever since. I got third place in the alumni fun run at last summer’s Hotchkiss reunion! (Full disclosure: there were only five participants.)”

Prochnow says his own hockey career “fizzled out at age 10,” but his first experience watching hockey in person at Schmidt Rink left a huge impression. “I loved it! My time at Hotchkiss coincided with the winding down of the New York Islanders dynasty and the start of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty, and we closely followed the NHL season. I vividly remember the tennis ball hockey games we played in the Tinker double of Frank Goodyear '85 and Joe O'Brien '85. The idiosyncratic rink size put stick handling skills at a premium!”

He graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with a degree in American history and literature. He then decided on law school. “I think it was partly a process of elimination and partly an appreciation of the many different directions that a career in law could take me. I felt it would be a good fit for the reading and writing skills I’d honed at Hotchkiss and in college.”

During the summer after his first year at Yale Law School, Prochnow interned in New York for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, a nonprofit that connects lawyers with low-income artists who require assistance with arts-related legal issues. “My job was to get information from artists seeking assistance and help conduct intake interviews with those artists whose legal problems rose to the level of requiring assistance from a volunteer attorney. This was my first exposure to copyright and trademark law, and I really enjoyed how it connected my interests in literature, music, and the visual arts with practical legal issues.”

The internship ultimately led him to Debevoise & Plimpton, a New York law firm that had a wide range of strong practice areas, including a prominent copyright and trademark practice. One of the founders was Eli Whitney Debevoise, Hotchkiss Class of 1917. “I spent nearly seven years there, working on copyright and trademark matters for many clients, including the NFL, the NBA, and the NHL. Eventually, the NHL asked if I would be interested in acting as a ‘lawyer on loan,’ working part-time as an in-house counsel for copyright and trademark matters. After six months, the gig turned into a full-time job.”

It was a dream job for someone interested in the areas of the law where he specialized. “I technically worked for NHL Enterprises, L.P., the licensing and marketing arm of the NHL, which handles intellectual property matters for the League and all 32 NHL member clubs. That included trademark and copyright disputes, enforcement against bootleggers selling counterfeit merchandise, and providing copyright and trademark advice to league and team executives. The NHL’s business grew enormously in the 25 years that I was there. When I retired at the end of 2024, I found it very gratifying to have been involved during such a transformative period in the NHL’s century-long history.”

Prochnow found that his largest challenges were also his most rewarding, involving the development of and obtaining legal clearances for new NHL team identities. “I was the lead in-house lawyer for the clearances of the identities of the Winnipeg Jets, the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Seattle Kraken, including their names, logos, and uniform designs.”

After retirement, he welcomed the opportunity to work on the novel that had been percolating in his mind for years. “The main character is a woman who experiences a health crisis that sends her on a journey to Africa searching for a cure and possible redemption, where she meets a mysterious man. Spoiler alert: it doesn't turn out well for either of them.” One of his background sources and inspirations is The Tree Where Man Was Born by Peter Matthiessen, Hotchkiss Class of 1945.

He is also a certified mediator in the MediateArt Program at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, helping mediate art-related disputes involving visual artists, writers, painters, and musicians. “Having participated in successful mediations during my NHL career, my experiences translate well into the arts world as a neutral mediator. It also gives me the opportunity to return full circle to Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, which gave me my first legal job. I’ve also signed on as an executive consultant with Eleven Canterbury, an agency representing a global network of executive leaders who serve in various consultancy roles, including as expert witnesses in litigations and other disputes.”

Looking back on his time in Lakeville, Prochnow says, “Hotchkiss taught me to read and write effectively and cultivated in me intellectual curiosity, an interest in trying new things, and a personal appreciation of the natural environment. I still love getting lost in the maze of trails through the Hotchkiss woods. As Thoreau wrote, ‘Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.’”