What are your immediate career plans?
After taking the bar exam, I will be clerking in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and then upon completing my clerkship, I will be joining Simpson Thacher & Barlett in their Houston office as a corporate associate.
What are your long-term career aspirations?
After learning as much as I can from practice, I would love to eventually teach a class or become a law professor.
Please tell us about the organizations and activities you participated in at LSU Law, including any awards or honors you received.
This past year, I served as the Managing Editor for Volume 83 of the Louisiana Law Review, and I also received the W. Lee Hargrave Award following my year as a Junior Associate on Volume 82 of the Louisiana Law Review. I was a research assistant for Professor Christina Sautter and tutor for Professor Ray Diamond’s Criminal Law course. I am also a member of the Society for Asian Lawyers, Public Interest Law Society, Women Law Students Association, and Animal Legal Defense Fund.
Please tell us about any LSU Law faculty, classes, or other experiences that were particularly impactful on your legal education.
During my 3L year, I had the opportunity to assist in preparation of an amicus brief, which we submitted to the United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, which held court at the LSU Law Center. I’ve learned so much in my legal writing courses and time on Law Review, but writing a brief to submit to a real court presented new and unique learning experiences. I learned to collaborate with classmates in writing a cohesive brief and also learned much about oral advocacy from my co-counsel, Chad Thornton, who argued our brief to the court. This experience helped me develop important skills prior to graduation while also affording me the opportunity to network and learn more from the judges and LSU Law faculty who helped us during the brief-writing process.
What are your fondest memories from your time at LSU Law?
After a year of masks and Zoom classes, I was so excited to return as a 2L and hopefully meet more of my classmates face-to-face. I sat outside for a meeting on Zoom with Professor Christina Sautter regarding a research project, and immediately felt a sharp pain in my left leg. I looked down and saw what I thought was a leaf—until it started moving. As my leg went numb, I asked Professor Sautter to be excused from the meeting and saw a group of people who were in my section as a 1L outside by the fountain. I told them what happened, and immediately, they all volunteered to drive me to the hospital. My leg is now fine, and thanks to the (come-to-find-out) poisonous asp, I have developed such a close relationship with this group of classmates. They convinced me to take study breaks when I did not want to, and they made me laugh when I felt like crying. Now, thanks to LSU Law, I have a group of lifelong friends who I could not have survived law school without.
What advice would you give to students entering law school who aspire to become an Order of the Coif member when they graduate?
Give in to the process as a 1L no matter how challenging it gets. During my time as a law student, I realized that the way I think and analyze problems has changed tremendously and for the better. In retrospect, my 1L year was somehow the worst and best year of my law school career. The hours were gruesome, and the mental gymnastics were tiring, but I had the best professors and a tremendous study group that helped me mold my brain into what the professors were attempting to make it.
Having the right people in your corner certainly makes the process less grueling! When you feel like things are challenging as a 1L (or even as a 2 or 3L), that’s because they ARE, but don’t let the imposter syndrome get the best of you—just trust the process and keep moving!
