Q: Tell us a little about your career since graduating from the College of Law.
A: After law school, I worked in private practice on plaintiff consumer class action cases for about five years. Recently, I moved in-house to Avant, a technology and financial services startup, focusing mostly on regulatory work.
Q: What led you to pursue a law degree, and how did you end up deciding to go to Illinois?
A: I decided to pursue a law degree after a journalism class in my undergraduate studies – also at the University of Illinois. It was taught like a law school class and opened my eyes to how the law shaped so many aspects of journalism. Deciding to attend law school at the University of Illinois was easy! Not only did I attend the University of Illinois for my undergraduate degree, I was also very involved with law-related activities at the school. I participated in Phi Alpha Delta, the pre-law club, and really liked the students and faculty at the College of Law that I talked to.
Q: What are some of your favorite law school memories, or what really stands out about your experience here?
A: Trial team with Professor Beckett gave me some of my best memories. It had such unique ways of teaching us how to handle ourselves during a trial. Once, I literally got on the ground and held a friend’s legs to keep him from wandering around too much during cross examination!
Q: What types of extracurriculars were you involved in at Illinois?
A: I was the webmaster for the Women’s Law Society in addition to playing on a Beer League Darts team, playing law school softball, basketball, and competing on Trial Team.
Q: How did you decide what your career path would look like coming out of law school?
A: I knew that I wanted to pursue litigation after law school, and an internship with the Attorney General’s office in Urbana solidified that decision. An alum recommended me for the position in the area of consumer class action, and that is how I got my first job in litigation.
Q: Any words of advice for current Illinois law students, or something you wish you’d done differently while you were a student here?
A: Take full advantage of all of the resources at the College of Law. Don’t take the Career Services team for granted – I relied on them heavily and they were able to help me so much while I was in law school.
Q: Any fun plans for the holidays?
A: I’ll be going home to Champaign-Urbana for the holidays and driving past the College of Law with my fiancée (also a College of Law alum). I also plan on taking advantage of all the fun events happening in Chicago over the holiday season – ZooLights at the Lincoln Park Zoo, ice skating at Millennium Park, and going to the Christkindlmarket.