First and foremost, I love learning about how the law touches people’s lives. Every case you read revolves around a person’s legal problem. Through these problems, you get to travel in space and time and see what matters to them. You get to see the problems they faced and the rights they fought to enforce. It is a window to another world that, because of the pervasiveness of the law, we get to learn about. The law is a collection of stories made by people resolving their problems. I really enjoy learning about others through my study of law.
The law is vast. In the first year of law school, all KU Law 1Ls will take the same foundational courses such as property, criminal law and torts. Before taking this class, I had no idea what a tort was, and now I do. I love that! It has been a wonderful experience to see and think about things I never would have before. I would compare it to the deepest depths of the ocean. We all know it exists, but to someone not involved with the law, or ocean for that matter, it is a complete mystery. It feels as if my world is growing as I learn more about our legal system.
Law school is hard. Doable but challenging. I like that. If climbing mountains or being vegan were easy, I suspect people wouldn’t really talk about those things all that much. I like being challenged. I enjoy the massive amounts of reading, complex application of common law and memorizing a lot of rules. I firmly believe that in the absence of growth, we waste away. Law school forces me to use my brain. To learn and apply. I am growing as a person as I work towards my law degree.
Lastly, it’s all about location! Lawrence is fantastic. It’s a thriving college town with a wonderful downtown. Mass Street is a ton of fun, with enough restaurants and bars to last about eight months. That is about how long it took my wife and I to try them all. There are a lot of great food options and zero traffic. You can get to anywhere in town in 15 minutes. Not to mention, it’s a crisp 45-minute drive from the bustling metropolis of Kansas City. To put it simply, life is good!
— Brandon Rossman is a 1L KU Law Student Ambassador from Yorba Linda, California