“Lean into what you came to law school for.” This tidbit of advice was given to me in my first week of law school by Assistant Dean of Career Services Stacey Blakeman. It has now become a guiding principle for me.
I came to law school with the clear intention of making a difference by becoming a civil rights litigator. I spent my time after college working at the Missouri State Public Defender’s office and had long been interested in criminal justice and civil rights advocacy.
In the flurry and excitement of starting law school, I started to feel lost in all the possible career paths that were presented to us. Hearing my friends’ and classmates’ ideas and plans for their future made me wonder if I really knew what I wanted. When presented with a series of career panels to attend, I asked Dean Blakeman if I should attend the criminal defense panel since I already knew that I was interested in the field. That’s when she told me to “lean in” and do the things that I came to law school to do. So, I attended the panel, caught up with an old coworker who was on the panel and remembered the passion that drove me to apply to law school in the first place.
I am now only weeks away from finishing my first year of law school, and I am still guided by Dean Blakeman’s advice. I have made sure to attend speaker events and student organization meetings that are aligned with my passions. And every time that I have, I feel that same drive that led me to apply to and attend KU Law. Now, I allow myself to learn and explore other fields of the law without judgment, and I lean on my passion to guide me where I need to be.
To any future law student reading this, I hope you too lean into the reason that brought you here in the first place. You might feel overwhelmed by the possibilities, just like I did, and that’s okay! I hope that you take a deep breath and remember why you worked hard to get here in the first place. And then lean in.
– Mia Colanero is a 1L KU Law Student Ambassador from Overland Park, Kansas