Nick Walrath, attorney and MIT grad with brilliant future, among victims of Oakland fire

Nick Walrath earlier this year Nick Walrath earlier this year Photo: Lexi Abrams-Bourke Photo: Lexi Abrams-Bourke Image 1 of / 49 Caption Close Nick Walrath, attorney and MIT grad with brilliant future, among victims of Oakland fire 1 / 49 Back to Gallery

After completing highly sought-after clerkships at the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, attorney Nick Walrath had his choice of law firms to join in the city.

When he signed with the litigation boutique Durie Tangri LLP, “His credentials were as good as anyone you could hope to meet,” said founding partner Ragesh Tangri.

Walrath planned to specialize in intellectual property litigation, dealing with patents and copyrights, and do as much pro bono work as he could. He started in November, and he was digging into his first case load when he went out last Friday night to pursue another interest — the music scene in Oakland, where he lived.

Walrath’s bicycle was found chained outside the Ghost Ship warehouse, and his death in a fire there that killed 36 people was confirmed Thursday by his mother, Deb Walrath, a Pittsburgh lawyer. He was 31.

“He was a lawyer but he was so much more,” she said. “He was fiercely curious, charming and graceful. He was the person that his younger sisters and their friends all looked up to. He was the coolest kid in the room who never acted like he was cool.”

Tangri said, “He was a very warm caring person who made a deep impression on all of us in a short amount of time.”

Walrath grew up in Point Breeze, an old neighborhood on the east end of Pittsburgh, and attended Taylor Allderdice High School, where he played soccer and lacrosse and was valedictorian in 2003. He pursued a lifelong interest in science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a double major in physics and philosophy and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2007.

After a year pursuing his PhD in atomic physics at the University of Colorado, he switched interests and earned his JD at New York University School of Law, where he was on the Law Review.

“He was committed to social justice,” said his mother. While working at a consulting firm in New York he met Lexi Abrams-Bourke, and they moved together to Oakland in 2013.

A clerk’s job at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is among the most prestigious positions in the country. But Walrath also wanted to come west because “he liked to explore new places, especially places that had a vibrant art and music scene,” said his mother.

Walrath and Abrams-Bourke briefly moved to San Francisco before returning to Oakland, to a house near Temescal. His younger sisters, Liza and Kate, had also relocated to Oakland, and they regularly got together for Sunday dinner at their big brother’s house.

After working a year at the appellate level, Walrath wanted to round out his education as a clerk in district court. In 2015, he went to work under Judge Jon Tigar, who soon considered Walrath a close friend..

“For all his intellectual gifts, better still were his personal qualities,” Judge Tigar wrote in a note to the court. “Nick was warm, generous, funny, and unassuming. He made everything look easy, but he took his greatest pleasures from the successes of others.”

Late Friday night, Walrath sent a text to Abrams-Bourke. “Fire. I love you,” it read.

“Above all he was kind to every person he came into contact with,” said his mother. “He radiated warmth and was without an ounce of rancor.”

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art