What are your immediate career plans?
Currently, I am planning on joining Manasseh, Gill, Knipe, and Belanger as an associate with my focus being criminal defense.
What are your long-term career aspirations?
Long term, I want to have a fulfilling career and try to make a difference in the community. As a former high school teacher myself, I would love to get involved in academia in some capacity down the line.
Please tell us about the organizations and activities you participated in at LSU Law, including any awards or honors you received.
As a self-proclaimed glutton for punishment, I was involved with many organizations and activities at LSU Law. I was elected as SBA 1L President, and I also served as 3L Vice President. I was a member of PILS and served as the Youth Education and Outreach chair my 2L year. During this same time I had the honor of tutoring for Professor John Devlin, Professor Ray Diamond, and Professor Olivier Moréteau.
I competed both internally and externally in advocacy competitions including winning the Fall 2021 Flory Trial Advocacy Competition with my partner Chad Thornton where I was also named Best Oral Advocate. My partner Matt Clute and I finished as runners up in the LSU Law Transaction Competition. I was also lucky enough to be able to travel to Puerto Rico, San Francisco, and New York City for external advocacy competitions. I was also elected as the Board of Advocates Vice President of Internal Competitions my 3L year. Following Trial Advocacy Week, I was invited to be a member of the Wex Malone Inn of Courts.
Additionally, I was a member of the Louisiana Law Review during my 2L and 3L years, serving as a Junior and Senior Associate.
Please tell us about any LSU Law faculty, classes, or other experiences that were particularly impactful on your legal education.
While there are many members of the faculty that had a profound impact on my experience at LSU Law, I have to give a special shout out to Professor John Devlin and Professor Jeff Brooks.
I had the honor of taking three classes with Professor Devlin, I tutored for his BCP I class, he was my law review advisor, the PILS Board faculty sponsor, and a great friend and mentor.
Without the advocacy program, my time at LSU Law would have been far less fulfilling. Professor Brooks and the Board of Advocates provided me with many opportunities to (temporarily) ignore my course load and instead compete against not only my classmates, but law students from around the country at the highest level.
What are your fondest memories from your time at LSU Law?
My fondest memory at LSU Law is probably the time I got to spend prepping and competing in Fall 2021 Flory with my partner Chad Thornton and our great witnesses Cole Hilgenkamp, Cory Koch, Hannah Cobb, and my former student turned classmate, Jacob Lester.
What advice would you give to students entering law school who aspire to become an Order of the Coif member when they graduate?
- Learn what works for you. There is no one way to do law school.
- Be gracious to yourself and others.
- You will hit a point in studying where there are diminishing returns. It is better to focus and study hard for two hours than to half-heartedly study for five hours. Law school is different than everything you’ve done up until this point. The tests cannot be beaten. Law school exams are like a 100 meter dash. You can’t beat a hundred-meter dash. Just run as fast as you can.
