HUMANS OF UVA LAW

“To build toward the future requires nothing more and nothing less than that we rededicate ourselves to the original, animating purpose of UVA — to serve. If everyone involved with UVA — students, faculty, staff and alumni — understands that this is our ultimate aim and their primary obligation, I have no doubt that we will be the leading public university, and one of the very best overall, in 2030 — and for good reason.”

“Looking down the hallway and knowing these people are going to follow and do more than even the people who were there before them, I just live in awe of that. I live in absolute awe.”

“I also am energized by the UVA Law students. I have received an incredibly warm welcome from so many students of all backgrounds and interests. I already have begun to engage with students who will attend this fall and who want to study education law. Helping to shape the future leaders of our nation is a privilege that I feel so blessed to enjoy. In my courses, I aim to create social engineers that will create a more just and equitable nation. My students are a large part of how I contribute to our society and the world.”

“My biggest passion has always been the environment. I did environmental engineering as an undergrad, but around my junior or senior year, I began to realize I could make a bigger difference through law and policy than through engineering itself. So I came to law school to do environmental law. ... Ultimately I just want to help create a more sustainable society.”

“I had kind of a roundabout path to law school. In college I was a music and business major. I thought I wanted to go into the music industry. As I was looking more into the industry, I realized the areas that I was most excited about were the laws. It was music that introduced my passion for the law. I realized there were a lot more ways the law could be used than just getting someone a record deal.”

“Six years ago I thought I’d be in med school. Three years ago I thought I’d be a prosecutor. And now I’ve found a different field that I’m really excited about. I don’t know where I’ll be in the next 10 years, but I’m just hopeful that I’ll have the same passion for whatever it is that I’m doing. ... My dad told me when I started college that careers are long and you shouldn’t worry about where you’re going to end up. A good career is going to take many turns, and you should look for open doors. I think going to law school was a great way to follow that, because a law degree just opens so many doors.”

“My first year was challenging, but in a good way. My biggest take away from 1L year? Start outlining sooner! Just kidding. I’d say take care of yourself. Whether that’s eating healthy and going to the gym, or making time to binge-watch your favorite Netflix show every now and then, make the time to take care of yourself, to keep yourself in the right headspace. Building time for that is just as important as building in time for studying.”

“My family is really excited to have the first lawyer in the family. … My grandma is a Jamaican immigrant. She moved to Canada with nothing and then moved to New York and had to build a life. My mom is also an immigrant. Moved to New York as a child. Her teacher told her she needed to learn how to speak proper English if she ever wanted to be anything. My dad is from Selma, Alabama. His mom was marching on Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday when she was pregnant with him. … It’s amazing to see the culmination of all these people’s efforts, before I was even here. People were paving the path for me to exist in a world where I can graduate from a top-10 law school and go work in a New York law firm. I don’t know if my family imagined this for me, but I’m really happy they could see it happen.”

“We were pretty determined after that and worked really hard sending congressional delegations and diplomats. I spent about a year on that project. By the time I left, there were less than 40 kids, from over 430, who were waiting to go home.”

“I became a tour guide for Admissions back in February. I’ve shadowed a few tours, but I haven’t given my first official one yet. ... I would love to give someone that tour that makes them realize UVA is their home — just like I realized on my tour when I first came here.”

“I can’t think of anybody who inspires me more each day. When I first entered law school, my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. When she first was diagnosed, there was no fear in her eyes. She was like, ‘OK, this is going to happen. It’s going to suck, but I’m going to get through it.’ She never lost hope. My mother is and will always be my biggest inspiration.”

“I try to push myself to be brave when I feel hesitant about things and just do it anyways. So I as a 1L — not knowing many upperclassmen or people at the Law School — went and rapped by myself in front of the entire Law School and faculty. A lot of people said it was their favorite part of the show.”

“I’d consider myself a Supreme Court nerd. Last year I listened to the audio for every single Supreme Court argument. Every single one. Seventy cases in all, so about 70 hours in audio. It’s maybe a little psychotic, but I really enjoyed it. I listen while I’m do groceries or cleaning my house or doing other chores. … I think it’s a wonderful way to learn. You get to hear cutting-edge issues and listen to great advocacy. I know a few other 3Ls who do it, too, and chatting about what we heard is always fun. A lot of people would call me nuts, and I can’t say they’re wrong.”

“I feel like I’ve changed so much in the last three years. I really just grew up here. With law school, I found out what I valued and what mattered to me. The type of person I want to be.”

“Someone once asked me to name something I both fear and love — that’s how I’d describe the ocean. It’s terrifying, this giant body of water that is extremely powerful. Not knowing what’s hundreds of feet below you. … But knowing that you can explore part of it is really exciting. It’s exciting to know you’re part of something so huge and important. Being down there is relaxing, like a weight being lifted off of you.”

‘Under the Curve’ might be the funniest skit in the show. It’s sung to the theme of ‘Under the Sea’ from ‘The Little Mermaid.’ The two student performers are dressed in full lobster get-ups. The costumes make their arms all stuck up in the air, so they have to get in these weird contorted positions just to reach the microphones.”

“We lost a very close family friend due to complications from diabetes. I was frustrated we weren’t able to help her. My brother was already working on a different predictive shopping startup, and as a pre-med student at the time I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to wait to have the impact that I want to have.’ So I jumped in headfirst and convinced him to help me build our startup. We started a medical device company that used machine learning algorithms to figure out how certain variables affect blood sugar. After getting our first company off the ground, we wanted to solve some of the higher-level, psychosocial elements that were feeding into chronic disease management, and so my brother and I started another company. I thought if we could tackle some of the issues with diabetes, we could really make a significant amount of change. While running our companies, we realized a lot of our business problems were actually legal problems masquerading as business problems. I thought maybe I could add the most value being on the legal side. After my brother and I wound down the second company, he decided to go to med school, and I decided to go to law school.”