Watching her parents navigate the maze of special-education and disability services to help her autistic brother inspired Pepperdine Law 3L Amanda Michelle Sanchez to become an attorney: She wanted to give a voice in the courtroom to people who didn’t have one. Sanchez now plans to become a prosecutor, a job that will let her try cases — which she loves — while helping victims of crime find justice.
Prad A. Georges, a 3L in the JD-MBA program at the University of Akron School of Law, has come full circle personally and professionally. In his former career as a therapist, he saw that he could give his clients better lives if he were able to help improve local economies. Now he says he has the law and business skills to do that.
Much of the legal career of Lucy S. McGough, dean of Appalachian School of Law, has pivoted on her being in the right place at the right time with people who believed in her talents: her own choice to pursue a legal degree, for example, as well as her acceptance at Emory University School of Law.
Scott Sasser’s service in the U.S. Marine Corps became the key to finding a school that would prepare him for a career as a California attorney. Now a 3L, Sasser chose Pepperdine University School of Law because of the sense of community he found there, its nationally renowned dispute-resolution center and the full scholarship offered to veterans through government-assisted Yellow Ribbon financing.
Annette Clark, dean of the Seattle University School of Law, understands more than most the importance of a good fit in careers and law schools. Growing up in a “medical family,” she opted for a career in law only after her own experiences in medical school school convinced her that she didn’t have the aptitude to excel as a doctor.
As Fernanda Beraldi tells the story, it was her career as in-house counsel at aircraft-maker Embraer SA that led her to Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, where she’s earning an LL.M. degree. Beraldi, who knew she wanted a master’s degree in U.S. law, had narrowed her search to Chicago and Michigan but was so impressed with the skills of MckInney Law alumni when she was negotiating a plane sale in Indianapolis that she decided to check out their school.