Service, community draw 3L to rural practice
With commencement just around the corner and a promising career on the horizon, 3L Hannah Brass is already living up to the promise of her last name. After graduation, the former ranch hand and rural Kansas native will head back to western Kansas to start her post-graduate career as the first woman attorney in Barber County. She will practice in Medicine Lodge, a town with just over 2,000 residents.
“I am looking forward to practicing law in a rural area,” Brass said. “I grew up in this part of the country, and I have seen firsthand the need that rural communities have for access to quality legal representation.”
Her small-section classmates and small-section professor, Laura Hines, have helped Brass juggle the challenges of law school and extracurricular involvement. She clerked for Chief Judge J. Thomas Marten of the U.S. District Court in Wichita, assisting with draft orders and legal research and observing criminal proceedings, then interned in the criminal division of the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office.
“The internship provided unbelievable hands-on training and trial experience,” Brass said. “I had the opportunity to learn through doing — working alongside talented and experienced attorneys.”
Brass credits her internship and time as editor-in-chief of the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy as her two most influential law school experiences.
“At the Law Journal, I had the opportunity to work with talented peers to produce a high-quality publication,” Brass said. “It was challenging but worth the time and effort.”
Brass looks forward to blazing new trails in Barber County.
“I have had the benefit of learning from and practicing with some talented female attorneys who have passed along their wisdom and encouraged me throughout my education,” Brass said. “I am looking forward to providing this service for my friends and neighbors, as well as being part of building up strong, small communities.”
— Rachel Riggs
This post is the fourth in a series highlighting just a few exceptional members of KU Law’s Class of 2017. Check out stories about Kriston Guillot, James Houston Bales, and Matt Scarber, and stay tuned for more graduate profiles as we count down to the Hooding Ceremony on May 13.