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> STUDENT LIFE
SOUTHWESTERN STUDENTS INTERESTING PERSPECTIVES
hundreds of different colleges and universities, in fields from art to science. Many have entered law school more than a year after college and are veterans of careers ranging from medicine to entertainment, accounting to zoology. They have wide and varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds. They speak dozens of languages fluently. One of the major reasons that students choose Southwestern is because they see the value in the varied perspectives and life experiences their fellow students bring to the table. The following profiles feature a few of our recent students from all four of our J.D. programs.
T
JOANNA ALLEN DAY PROGRAM
for it and finds, “Persuading someone that what you want is what they want as well, and that it is what’s best for everyone – and to be able to do it nicely – is the best feeling.”
J
Joanna’s pathway to a legal education has been paved with ambition and achievement. She has three bachelors’ degrees from the University of Missouri- Columbia in Journalism-Advertising, Political Science and Spanish. She spent a year during her undergraduate education studying in Spain and speaks fluent Spanish. After graduating, she worked in international marketing for the
Mexican department store Famsa, and then served as a government interpreter for the United States Department of Justice.
During her first year at Southwestern, Joanna found the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) mentor program to be helpful as she acclimated. Inspired by her experience, she went on to serve as BLSA’s Vice President of Academic Affairs. Joanna is also very grateful for the guidance of her professors, particularly Associate Dean Nyree Gray who she says “has been pivotal to everything I’ve done in law school.”
It was Dean Gray who, along with Professor Cristina Knolton, established the Negotiation Honors Program at Southwestern, and seeing Joanna’s talent in that area, enlisted her during its development. Previously, with BLSA Negotiation teammate Brent Tilley, Joanna defeated more than 20 teams from across the country to win the 2009 Bunche International Negotiation Competition during the National BLSA Convention. She says the key to their big win was “listening. You have to actively listen to the other side and develop solutions that work for everyone.” Joanna was appointed to the inaugural Board of Southwestern’s Negotiation Honors Program.
Joanna’s law school experience has also provided her with other opportunities, including working as the only 1L summer associate at Gilbert, Kelly, Crowley & Jennett LLP, where she researched, wrote, assisted with the discovery process and shadowed attorneys in court. She spent another summer studying art, criminal, comparative and international law in France and human rights law in Costa Rica. All of the travel has influenced her future plans. “I hope to eventually work internationally, perhaps in a developing country,” she says. “I love working with people, I love the law, and I want to do as much as I possibly can to make a difference.”<
oanna Allen never thought that she could be a peacekeeper until she became involved in negotiation. She quickly realized she had an aptitude
INTRIGUING BACKGROUNDS,
here really is no such thing as a typical Southwestern student. Students here hail from across the country and around the world. Their age range spans decades. They have completed undergraduate degrees at
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