Twenty graduates in the LSU Law Class of 2022 have been selected for induction into The Order of the Coif, the highest honor a law student can receive.
Membership into the honorary law fraternity is strictly limited to the top 10% of each graduating class of law students. Of the more than 200 American Bar Association accredited law schools in the country, LSU Law is one of just 86 with a chapter in The Order of the Coif.
“We are extremely proud of each and every one of the 200 graduates in the LSU Law Class of 2022 because all of them worked incredibly hard and made great sacrifices to earn a law degree, which is the most difficult postgraduate degree that one can attain,” said LSU Law Interim Dean Lee Ann Wheelis Lockridge. “Our graduates who have earned membership into The Order of the Coif in addition to their law degrees are most deserving of special recognition. This high honor reflects their unparalleled commitment to academic excellence, and we take immense pride in honoring their great achievement.”
The LSU Law chapter of The Order of the Coif was established in 1942, with a purpose of stimulating scholarly work of the highest order and fostering a high standard of professional conduct. Outside of ordinary membership for law school graduates, honorary membership into The Order of the Coif may be granted in special cases to lawyers, judges, and teachers who have attained high distinction for their scholarly or professional accomplishments.
Karly Anne Kyzar | Rayne, Louisiana
What are your immediate career plans?
I am thrilled to be working as an associate with NeunerPate, a law firm in Lafayette. My work will primarily consist of transactional work relating to business matters, which is exactly the field in which I envision myself practicing long-term.
Please tell us about the organizations and activities you participated in at LSU Law, including any awards or honors you received.
- Journal of Energy Law and Resources (serving first as a Junior Associate and then as Production Editor), publishing an article entitled “A Survey of the Derogation of Property Rights and Damage to Production on Agricultural Land Burdened with Pipeline Servitudes”
- Article pending publication in the Journal of Civil Law Studies, “No Trespassing: The Legal Origins of Louisiana’s Water Access Dispute”
- Energy Law Certification Recipient, 2022
- CALI Award – Business Associations
- Wex Malone Inn of Court Member
- Hebert Scholar, Top 10% of the Class: Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2021
- Spring 2022 Extern in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
- Federal Civil Procedure Teaching Assistant, Fall 2020
- PILS General Member, 2019-2020
Please tell us about any LSU Law faculty, classes, or other experiences that were particularly impactful on your legal education.
Coming into law school, I was a fairly shy and quiet person. I had Professor John Devlin for the first semester of Federal Civil Procedure, and anyone who knows Professor Devlin knows that he is a firm proponent of the Socratic method of teaching law. Throughout the course, I felt like I got cold called nearly every day, and at first, I hated going to “civ pro.” As the semester progressed, I realized that Professor Devlin’s teaching style made me a more confident person and a better future lawyer by forcing me to master thinking on my feet and getting out of my comfort zone. After that semester, I ended up becoming Professor Devlin’s Teaching Assistant for the course. If you have the opportunity in law school, take a course offered by Professor Devlin!
What are your fondest memories from your time at LSU Law?
The best part of law school was hitting the submit button on my last exam and knowing I would never have to take another law school exam again (unfortunately, I was not thinking ahead to the bar exam, which arguably will be much worse than a law school exam, but the relief I felt was like a huge weight lifting off my shoulders). Law school is 100% worth the stress and struggle, but there was nothing sweeter than knowing that I was done.
What advice would you give to students entering law school who aspire to become an Order of the Coif member when they graduate?
Time management is essential to doing well in law school. Your time is both your most valuable and your scarcest resource when you are trying to juggle classes, studying, social life, relationships, and perhaps a job, too. To effectively manage my study time, I followed the 5-4-3-2-1 study plan, which I learned about through the academic success lectures for 1Ls. This study plan essentially allocates certain days to study for certain classes to ensure you dedicate equal and consistent study time to each course. Your professors would likely be more than happy to go over this study plan in more detail, so don’t be shy!
