Legal education: A positive outlook in an uncertain time

Anthony Michael Knipp, L'12What do Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln all have in common? Among other things, they were all lawyers. These three political figures have arguably done more for social justice than anyone else in history. However, it might not have been that way had they not been legally trained. As a lawyer, Mahatma Gandhi became a highly influential political activist, leading several nonviolent campaigns to defend his people’s rights and gain independence for India. Nelson Mandela became a lawyer to equip himself with the necessary tools to fight apartheid and alleviate racial segregation in South Africa. Abraham Lincoln used his legal education to lead an entire country through the American Civil War, ending slavery and rededicating our nation to equal rights. In my opinion, legal education is an intellectual boot camp of sorts that prepares people for leadership roles beyond the confines of the courtroom. It not only teaches future lawyers the vastness of the law, but also introduces a new way of thinking and conceptualizing that enables people to discover new perspectives of our world.

In the midst of the “Great Recession,” much attention is paid to the lack of job opportunities available to law school graduates. Unfortunately, this negative focus sometimes overshadows the actual quality of training acquired in law school. Although the relentless Socratic method is not always enjoyable, I believe that legal education deserves to be viewed favorably – even more so during these harsh economic times. The true value of law school should not be judged solely on the merit of immediate job opportunities, but on the abilities we develop in training to be a lawyer. There is no other curriculum out there that can duplicate the wide range of benefits associated with learning to “think like a lawyer.” The following are a few underappreciated benefits of a legal education (with or without an immediate job offer):

You Acquire Options No Other Education Can Provide

Upon graduation, a legal education will open a wide variety of proverbial doors. Subsequent to bar passage, most law school graduates choose to become lawyers and apply their legal education to the revered practice of law. Fortunately for these people, the legal universe is immense and specialty areas of practice are practically infinite. Some may choose to open their own solo practice, whereas others have their sights set on the big firm. Some will take their legal education straight to the courtroom, while others will devote their knowledge to complex transactional matters from the comfort of their office. A lawyer’s options in the practice of law run the gamut and nothing inhibits a lawyer from exploring the terrain of every avenue. With a little determination, there is virtually no limit to what a law school graduate can achieve within the profession.

That being said, law school graduates are by no means bound to the legal profession. On the contrary, law school grads may become whatever it is they want to be. Unfortunately, legal education alone will not send you to Mars aboard NASA’s Constellation, nor will it propel you to the first round of the NBA draft. Nevertheless, a law degree will show future employers that you are an ambitious and intelligent person. Law school graduates have excelled in practically every legitimate job out there. The J.D. gives graduates a leg up in almost every career path, simply due to the skills and attributes it cultivates. At the very least, all careers value the ability to understand and comprehend the law because of the relationship between the legal system and our economy. Regardless of what career path is taken, the multiple career options available to legal graduates are a relative luxury that should not be overlooked. While job opportunities may not currently be as plentiful in comparison to past years, if you are willing to put in the time and effort, you will definitely find something.

You Develop The Ability to Gather, Analyze and Communicate Information

John Quincy Adams once said, “[T]o furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is . . . the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind.” In the Information Age, the ability to gather, analyze and communicate information is invaluable. Not coincidentally, these skills are part and parcel of modern legal education.

To most law students, an unanswered question is merely a research challenge. As more information is uploaded to the Internet everyday, the skill of online researching has become increasingly important. Information that seemed nearly impossible to obtain in the past is now only a few clicks away. Whether it be a research assignment from an employer or a heated dispute among friends, the ability to find pertinent information in a timely manner is invaluable.

Of course, to make a good decision, you not only need good information, but you must be able to analyze it. The study of law sharpens critical thinking, reasoning and analytical skills. Law students develop the ability to identify a myriad of factors that can affect an outcome and understand how they relate to each other. Law school instills in students the ability to quickly and accurately make assessments and decisions.

Finally, the last piece of the information-flow puzzle: communicating. The values of communication skills extend well beyond success in your legal career. The ability to effectively communicate a message will largely determine whether any given endeavor is successful. The value of gathering and analyzing information is quite limited if the findings cannot be clearly and concisely expressed to others. Even in personal relationships, the ability to communicate is at the very core of connecting with another person.

You Gain Confidence in Your Own Judgment

While others often try to avoid confrontation and questioning, lawyers cannot. Every lawyer knows that there is no clear answer to every question. This means that part of your job as a legal professional is learning to gain confidence in your judgment. Indeed, this is exactly what made Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln so special, because they trusted their own judgment even when up against seemingly-impossible opposition. They were able to stare adversity in the eye and fight it off with a reasoned stance. By definition, leaders must have the ability to trust his or her judgment.

I came to law school not only for the possibility of becoming a lawyer, but also to receive what I believe to be the best educational experience in the country. I will never again have the opportunity to devote every waking moment to the study of such a vast and complex system. Like Ghandi, Mandela, and Lincoln, my legal education provides me with the necessary tools to succeed and the potential to make a difference. If I choose to practice law after graduation – excellent. If I choose to use my legal education for a non-legal career path – equally great. I think the balance to being happy and successful is the ultimate goal and legal education can provide this balance in numerous ways. Legal education should be appreciated for its unique virtues, regardless of the state of our economy or the many uncertainties that lie ahead.

— Anthony Michael Knipp is a third-year law student. This piece originally appeared in the December 2010 edition of the Journal of the Kansas Bar Association.

The town that built me

Melissa Plunkett, L'11As a small girl, I would walk in circles around the giant metal cross that stood outside my church. As my parents caught up with their friends after mass, I would trace my hand across its rough surface, rusted from the weather, biding my time until I could pick out a Sunday donut. After a few trips around, I would stop, stare up at the towering rood, and slap my hand against it to listen to the echo move through its hollow center up to the sky.

In that stage of my life, I told my parents I wanted to be a hospital when I grew up. Impossibility meant nothing to me, and not a single real worry wandered my way. Life was a given, just like that cross standing tall to greet us every Sunday morning, or my brother walking home from Irving Elementary with me every Monday afternoon, or a stadium of fans cheering on the Eagles at home football games on Fridays nights. But even as a young girl, that town began to build skills in me that I would need somewhere down the line, slowly teaching me lessons about respecting others, facing challenges head on, and never giving up. Because two blocks away from that church, at a small two-story brick elementary school, I learned that sometimes just being nice to others can change their whole day when a classmate helped dust off my jeans after a spill on the playground. A few more blocks down the road at South Middle School, I learned that perseverance pays off after spending hours and hours squeaking notes out of my clarinet before I could play the song just right. And a few miles away on the volleyball and basketball court of Joplin High School, I learned that success isn’t necessarily measured in the number of wins at the end of the season, but in the way the game is played.

Years down the line, after I used those skills to persevere through the struggle that is law school, I watched my town begin to struggle its way through the biggest battle that it would ever face. Because on the night of my commencement from law school, all that was left of my church was that towering metal cross, the walls of my fifth-grade classroom splayed out to cover the site of many tether ball battles, broken blinds protruded out of the windows of the band room at old South Middle, and the gymnasium ceiling crashed down to meet that wooden court at the high school. Seeing those buildings, which always stood like bookmarks of my past, crumbled and torn apart sent a deep sorrow through me. But throughout this past summer, I’ve realized that my foundation doesn’t lie in those buildings. No, I’ve learned that it is the people of Joplin who have always been my foundation —supporting me, leading by example, and bringing me back to who I really am. And while my heart broke when I saw their hurt and heard their stories, my heart has filled with pride as I have watched them begin picking up the pieces and marching back towards normalcy.

What I’ve learned from Joplin is that integrity, charity, and resiliency shine in a time of tragedy. But as I reflect on this summer, I can see that these characteristics don’t need to be stored away for some unimaginable catastrophe. No, they are applicable in every aspect of life—every day. They are the same lessons that have pushed me through small crises, the same lessons that saved me from going crazy in law school, the same lessons I’ll use in the future for some new challenge I’m sure I’ll face. And as a fresh class heads toward its first set of finals in Green Hall and my classmates head into their new careers, I thought it might be helpful to share some of those lessons for others to use when facing their own personal challenges.

Lesson 1: When it looks impossible at first, just start working and worry about the impossibility later.

More than a few times, I have looked at a research assignment, an insane editing schedule, or just the unknown future and thought, “There is no way I can handle this.” When my brain starts to panic, I have to remind myself to just take it one step at a time and trudge through what I can at that moment.

I had to remind myself to focus on the small steps when I went home the week after the storm. To walk into a place that is so familiar, with images etched into your every fiber, and not recognize anything or even know where you are standing is more than unnerving. For the people who stood in front of their own homes and saw nothing left, that feeling multiplied into incredulity. But brick by brick, tree limb by tree limb, and board by board people literally just started picking up the pieces, not focusing on the impossibility of it all. Soon, truck after truck hauled the shattered pieces of the town away, leaving a barren scar across its face. And slowly but steadily, new nails, boards, and bricks have begun to soften the jagged edge of that scar, making the new beginning, which seemed impossible a few months ago, a closer reality.

And so, Joplin has again reminded me of a valuable lesson: When it seems impossible, just start moving, and with a little work, the finish line will soon seem much closer than first thought.

Lesson 2: You can’t always do it by yourself — you have to rely on others; they can’t always do it by themselves—you have to help.

When working through something challenging, it becomes easy to get caught up in personal battles and forget the people around you. In law school, I constantly had to remind myself to step back and see the people who could help me and the people who I could help—it’s too easy to forget that you don’t have to face all challenges by yourself.

The people of Joplin haven’t had to travel this journey by themselves either. In fact, in a place that has seen so much heartache, I’ve never seen so much generosity and love. For example, as a friend started the task of tearing rain soaked walls and ceilings out of his house, a crew of strangers showed up at his door. In a few hours, their saws and muscles had taken out every wall and ceiling in that house. When they were done, they moved down the road to the next person in need. This group was just one of hundreds. The various efforts have been organized on rebuildjoplin.org, allowing anyone to find a way to help. Many attorneys have assisted and continue to assist in Joplin, including the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys and Legal Aid of Western Missouri. All of these people and groups recognized a need and gave what they could. The outpouring of help is overwhelmingly wonderful.

Maybe the outpouring of help has been so great because the hurt is so raw and easy to identify. But a helping hand has the same impact in less drastic situations. You don’t need to wait until a tragedy strikes to offer assistance and strike a chord in someone’s heart. Every small gesture of kindness can have a huge return. And any small gesture is a blessing in the competitive environment of law school, where students can get so focused on the individual battle.

So, take a step back and look at the people around you—you can probably do something to make their life easier. And if you let them, they can probably do the same for you.

Lesson 3: No one knows exactly what they’re doing; don’t make that your excuse.

I’ve heard it from fellow law students, I’ve heard it friends, and my own thoughts have screamed it at me: “Everyone else knows what they’re doing, but I just feel like I’m stumbling along.”

You probably are stumbling along, but everyone else is probably in the same situation. The people who look like they have it all together and who end up being the most successful are most likely just putting their insecurities aside, focusing on the skills they can use, and using their resources to make up in the areas they lack. Sometimes, you just have to ignore the stumbling when work needs to be done.

Nowhere has this been more evident than in the Joplin schools. How can any school district know how to get back to teaching kids when ten of its schools suffered damage and hundreds of teachers lost their classrooms and supplies all in one day? No one knows. But in the spring, the district promised to start the school year on time. While I’m sure the path wasn’t exactly smooth, on Aug. 17, those schools opened their doors to welcome students back. And to the outside world, the school district looked like it implemented a plan that had been in place all along. Why? Because even though it might not have known exactly how to get those kids back into a school, it got to work, using the resources it had and reaching out to find the help it needed—something we can all do when faced with a new challenge.

So move forward one step at a time, help where you can, accept help when you need it, and act like your stumbling is all part of your plan. The people of Joplin have, and so far they are pushing through this tragedy.

On my last trip home, I walked around that now lonely metal cross one more time and brushed my fingers across the metal face. This time the feel of that cool metal on my hand sent an echo through me, rumbling memories to my core. This town may never look the same, and those places that have always stored my memories may never be replaced. But the values and principles that they stood for will live on in me and all the other people that this town helped to build.

— Melissa Plunkett was extremely blessed that her family suffered no damage to their home from the storm, she will forever be a Joplin Eagle, and she listened to Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me” too many times while writing this article. She is a 2011 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review and as a member of the Moot Court Council. Melissa is currently clerking for Judge Julie Robinson in Topeka, Kan. This column first appeared in the November/December 2011 issue of the Journal of the Kansas Bar Association.

Local restaurant fare makes law school more delicious

As most people who know me will attest, I like to eat – and I like it more when someone else does the cooking for me. It’s not that I don’t know how to cook, but sometimes after a long week of focusing on law, I prefer to pay someone else to do it. Luckily, Lawrence boasts a wealth of local flavor, and after two years of law school, I’ve eaten at my fair share of hometown restaurants. While each of these is a small luxury and not as cheap as a McRib, they do represent a sampling of my favorite Lawrence foods. I know that these have little to do with law school, but they sure have made my time here a little more delicious. Not to mention, I have studied at each one of these places at one time or another.

So here are five of my favorites, in no particular order.

Beef Wellington Burger
The Burger Stand @ the Casbah

A friend brought me to the Burger Stand when it was still located in the back of another restaurant in Lawrence. They’ve since moved to their own location, and the burgers were, and still are, some of the very best in Lawrence. While any of the other selections make for excellent eating, the Beef Wellington Burger with a side of truffle fries takes a high spot on my pre-execution short list. It includes specially blended beef patty, sitting upon a freshly cooked bun, covered with liver pate, fresh locally grown greens, and topped with a little puff pastry. Served infrequently, you’ll see more KU football victories than days this burger is on the menu. But for the lucky and patient, it’s well worth the experience. If you miss it, the other burgers are also very good and most are available year-round.

They also have a 62-inch TV. Seriously.

The Craig’s Italiano
23rd Street Brewery

Far easier to obtain, and sized to stretch into leftover territory, are the calzones at 23rd Street. Introduced to these monsters in my first year of law school by a former roommate, I thought he was joking when he said he used this as a way of making his parents treat him to several meals. The Craig’s Italiano is the king of these and filled with every meaty topping available. Half of one of these bad boys is enough to satisfy most, and the taste is phenomenal. Golden brown with a soft bread crust, each comes with a little dipping sauce on the side. Combined with one of their homebrewed beers, it is a filling and delicious experience – today and tomorrow.

Pizza
The Wheel

A Lawrence staple recently listed as one of the 100 most iconic college bars, The Wheel also serves pizza, though I failed in my first attempts to grab a slice. I found out later that they only make pizza at night, and on game days they only sell pizza after games. While there isn’t any real seating inside The Wheel, the pizza is quite good for late-night fare, and I don’t mind standing to get it. Not to mention they serve honey for dipping the crust in, so it’s like a mini dessert. Maybe I’m biased because I had to walk there four times to finally get pizza, but the effort matched the taste in my book. Get there late, or don’t get any at all.

Burnt Ends
Biggs BBQ

While there are several places to eat barbecue in Lawrence, I find myself coming back to Biggs for the burnt ends. You can get them as part of a platter, by the pound or – my personal favorite – as a half-appetizer between 9 and 11 p.m. Biggs’ own version of the Kansas mainstay, these smoky, chewy bits concentrate the best smoky taste into the smallest space. Served with sweet, regular or hot barbecue sauce on white bread, they make the perfect meal. Or snack. The only problem is they run out. People really seem to like these things.

The Lieutenant Dan
Java Break

Either named after a real soldier names Dan, or inspired by “Forrest Gump,” this coffee concoction is the best-selling drink at this small Lawrence study spot. While not necessarily unique in ingredients, this drink is just a solid example of a good drink done well. Caramel, vanilla and double chocolate. The chocolate is homemade, and the espresso is brewed fresh daily. Covered with whipped cream and a little extra chocolate sauce, it’s a treat you can get 24-7. But it’s half off between 7 and 9 a.m.

— Nate Behncke, 3L and Student Ambassador

Practice makes perfect: recent moot court successes highlight importance of courtroom skills

Winning moot court team

From left, Joshua Hawley, Jill Moenius, Glen Norton, Eddie Penner and James Layton.

Winning moot court team

Nathan Lindsey and Chris Omlid.

You might have heard about the recent successes of the KU Law Moot Court Council in big time competitions.

Third-year law students Nathan Lindsey and Chris Omlid won first place in the John Marshall Law School International Moot Court Competition in Information Technology & Privacy Law, beating out 23 other team from across the country and around the world. Another dynamic third-year duo, Jill Moenius and Eddie Penner is headed to nationals in New York after winning regionals. They topped 15 other schools, including Arkansas, the school that had the best team in the nation two years ago.

Their wins extended a streak of achievements for KU Law moot court, including a team that advanced to nationals earlier this year, two students placing in the top ten oralists at another international competition last year, and a team that traveled to Taipei in 2009 to compete in the international finals of European Law Students’ Association Moot Court Competition.

All law students get a taste of the moot court experience with Lawyering Skills, but continuing beyond that is optional. For those who enjoy the experience, second-year students can participate in KU’s own Moot Court Competition, and the top eight teams form KU’s Moot Court Council. The Council represents KU in various national and international competitions every year.

So what does this have to do with careers? Well, some recent KU grads who were also on the Moot Court Council have found early career success. Beau Jackson, who was part of the team that traveled to Taipei and who won best oralist in the opening rounds of the competition, now works as an associate for Adduci, Mastriani and Schaumberg LLP in Washington, D.C. Brooke Edenfield, who won sixth-place oralist in the international competition last year, is an associate at Walters Bender Strohbehn & Vaughan PC in Kansas City. And Lindsay Grise, a 2011 graduate who competed at nationals, is now an environmental/construction associate at Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City.

You can chalk this up to coincidence, but it makes sense that students who were successful in moot court are also successful lawyers, since moot court mirrors a central part of the actual profession. It might seem nerve-wracking to get up and argue a brief before a judge, but consistent practice often leads to consistent success upon graduation. Participating in moot court can help you become a better lawyer and, at the very least, give you a better grasp of the skills you’ll need in the courtroom. And if you decide to participate in the Moot Court Competition, you will get some feedback from the very best in the profession, like in 2008 when Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was the judge.

If this has convinced you that moot court is worthwhile, be sure to sign up for LAW 960 Moot Court Competition and look for a partner before the spring semester starts. For more information about the program, visit the moot court section of the KU Law website, or get in touch with Pamela Keller, the faculty adviser for the program.

Wrongfully convicted civil rights activist, exiled 40 years, speaks to Innocence Project students

Frederick Umoja with daughter, Project for Innocence staff

Alyssa Boone (second from left) is pictured with Frederick Umoja, his daughter, and Project for Innocence staff, attorney Alice White and clinical associate professor Elizabeth Cateforis.

Law professors are fond of telling their students not to “lose sight of the forest for the trees.” However, often as a law student, my here and now seems like little more than a string of reading assignments that teach me the divergent tax treatment of support, property and alimony, or how to navigate an endless maze of statutes. While I know there are greater goals for my career in the long term, I have a hard time feeling like I’m accomplishing it in the day to day.

The greater goals that brought many of us to law school are things like justice, equality, and opportunity. Justice is a big concept, but it’s alive and well in the crowded offices at the Innocence Project.

Technically, we’re the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies. I started the Project this semester, and one of my first assignments was Rev. Frederick Umoja’s case. I knew that he was wrongfully convicted, along with several other people, in Kansas about 40 years ago. He fled to Africa and has been there since, even though his daughter is in the U.S. and hasn’t seen him that entire time. After the Project helped him wipe his record clean, he enlisted the Project to help him find a way back. I’d hardly started working on his case when Beth, my supervisor, caught me outside the law school and said, “You know Mr. Umoja’s case?” I started to explain that I finally had a chance to start working on it as she said, “He’ll be in class tomorrow, so apparently he’s worked some of it out on his own.”

I was a little dumbstruck. His case had seemed so complicated and remote. Up until then, I’d been reading about a string of administrative problems that were mostly rooted in events that occurred in foreign countries. Suddenly, his story couldn’t be more real.

And the next day, there he was. Rev. Umoja showed up with his daughter, Jackie Johnson. His voice filled the room as he shared his story. He first told us about his time in Kansas. He was an activist for racial equality, but as he explained it, such activists were divided into two groups: those who proceeded with violence and those who believed there was another way. Umoja believed there was another way. However, racial tensions ran high, and many people refused to distinguish between these groups, labeling all equal rights activists as violent extremists. These same people accused Umoja and eight others in a trial full of fabricated evidence and racial prejudice.

Frederick Umoja speaksUmoja wasn’t worried because he knew he had done nothing wrong. However, he was convicted, and he lost on appeal. At this point, he looked at us and asked, “How could a nation that claims to be the epitome of justice and equality, a nation that prides itself on being a civil nation, allow this to happen?” The fact remains that our country allowed this to happen. As a result, Umoja fled to Tanzania, leaving behind a 3-year-old daughter, eventually settling in Liberia.

For 40 years, Umoja lived through brutal civil wars, counseling child militants. He sought to teach children the value of education and the path to self-awareness.

He described living in a community where bodies littered the streets. The bones became a part of the landscape, such that children would play football with the discarded skulls.

Umoja described being under attack. He was once shot at for four hours while hiding inside his home. Eventually, his attackers got in and a young boy put his AK-47 in Umoja’s mouth. As he tells it, “He asked me, ‘Why didn’t you let us in?’ and I took his AK from my mouth.” He motioned gently, moving the gun aside. “And I said, ‘Because you were shooting at me.’” The boy seemed to respect Umoja’s resistance to violence. Later that night, that same boy came back, along with others, and asked Umoja for water. The Reverend not only gave them water, but also fed them. They sat down with him, and he asked them all, “Who are you?” None of the boys knew, and Umoja began helping them find their purposes and identities. Every week, they would come by Umoja’s house and talk.

In his time there, Umoja counseled 5,000 youth combatants like those boys. Only two returned to fight. He taught at a high school that became the top high school in Liberia and worked to establish a university there. Recently, attorneys and student interns at the Innocence Project helped get Umoja clemency. His record is cleared, and he repeatedly expressed his gratitude. He is thrilled to be reunited with his daughter, Jackie Johnson.

When class was over, I got to speak with Ms. Johnson. I asked her when she and her father had first reconnected.

“A year before last June,” she said. “I didn’t know if he was dead or alive. I didn’t know anything. I’d been trying to find anything I could, but in the ’80s we didn’t have the Internet. We didn’t have cell phones. I asked my mom, but she would always say, ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older,’ and one day I was older, and she was dead. I asked my grandma where the papers were, but she had Alzheimer’s, and she couldn’t tell me.”

Johnson told me that she has barely slept since her father bought his airplane ticket, and even less since he arrived. They have stayed up until the early hours of the morning, and he has told her all about his life. She asks him for more stories until neither can keep their eyes open.

“He’s the best dad in the world,” she said. “Nobody has a dad like him. Nobody.”

When I was a senior at KU, finishing up my degree in flute performance and frantically applying to law schools, I didn’t know why I was doing it. Rev. Umoja and Ms. Johnson are why I am in law school. They are why most of us do it: because our legal education allows us to be the voice of justice in our community.

Sometimes our work becomes routine and our day-to-day tasks seem mundane. Rev. Umoja was a helpful reminder that those tasks are just trees in an impressive forest.

Alyssa Boone, 3L and Student Ambassador

Poor lawyer? A 3L finds challenges, rewards in public interest law

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” It is for this reason that I love to work in public interest law. As a 3L and the president of our Public Interest Law society, I have had great experiences at KU Law learning about the opportunities in this field. Most of all, I’ve appreciated meeting community members who lead in the practice through example. Though it can often feel like the “road less traveled” in a busy trafficway of rock-star resumes, mounting debt and competitive classmates, I hope to find a career in public interest law. I think KU has given me the tools to do just that.

KU Law students at a Habitat for Humanity build site

Jessica Lewicki (back row, third from left) is president of the KU Public Interest Law Society. The group volunteered at a Habitat for Humanity build site earlier this year.

In the field of public interest law, eager young lawyers have to jump on every opportunity they can. Through my work opportunities during my time at KU, I have had the privilege to work at the Department of Homeland Security, Kansas Court of Appeals, Army JAG Legal Services and Project for Innocence & Post-Conviction Remedies. I have researched and briefed complex legal issues concerning immigration, criminal, family and international law. My successful public interest-minded mentors have a few things in common: They love interacting with clients, participating in the courtroom and working as part of a team. Due to our tight-knit community at Green Hall, KU Law students graduate with these skills honed and practiced — an invaluable asset for new grads.

KU Law students at a Habitat for Humanity build siteWhen not at work or in the classroom, I think it is important for public interest lawyers to stay involved politically, socially and philanthropically. My public interest mentor also told me to prepare to feel uncomfortable, be ready to step out of my comfort zone and embrace the learning curve. My Kansas City Immigration Court internship pushed me to do just that. I researched and wrote about female genital mutilation in Nigeria and how it affects some African asylum-seekers and their chances for relief from deportation. In unrelated cases, I researched deportees’ options within the Mexican health care system, African religion and culture, and Latin American economics. In the JAG, I worked with cases ranging from spousal abuse to paternity determinations and AWOLs. These experiences led me to appreciate not only the power of the courtroom, but also how global issues and topics affect the everyday lives of those in our community. Even though we are a Midwestern city, we are still part of a global community helping people. I am proud to have found that connection at KU Law.

Finally, as a young public interest law student at KU, I have learned to both lead and listen to people from all walks of life. From the elderly inmates I represent in the Project for Innocence, to law school hopefuls from diverse backgrounds, to parents of mentally challenged adults in need of legal guardianship, I work with a wide variety of people. A student intrigued by public interest law will have a diverse circle of supervisors and clients at KU Law. Working on emotionally challenging topics and a variety of backgrounds and issues is both a challenge and a thrill I look forward to continuing to pursue.

Overall, the community of young public interest law attorneys I have met at KU embodies a quality-focused and community-oriented mentality. I cannot imagine a better place to begin my legal career or a better opportunity to give back to my community than through a career in public interest law.

Jessica Lewicki, 3L and Student Ambassador