Through The Tunnel
Advice From Recent Graduates
Joseph Maltby
Issue date: 9/30/07 Section: Features
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Do you ever wonder what happens to people once they graduate from law school here at GMU? We've all heard the rumors that they go out get jobs, buy homes, acquire life insurance policies, and eventually attend their children's fourth grade graduation ceremonies. But these are just whispered legends, held like a candle against the omnipresent darkness that is the uncertainty of law school. Therefore, to help shine the light brighter, here is a little information about the lives of two recent graduates of GMUSOL.
First, we have David Walls, '06, who works at the Loudoun County Public Defender's Office. Walls graduated in May of 2006, took the Bar/Bri course and looked for jobs, and started his job in late October of 2006. His wife also gave birth to their first child, Grace, on October 2, 2006. (So, if you can't imagine how it would be possible to get less sleep, there you go.) We also have Nathan Olson, '06, who works at Cooper Ginsberg & Gray, PLLC in Fairfax.
Walls explains that he has, in fact, found his education helped him in the real world. "There is the whole 'think like a lawyer' thing. Also, it helped strengthened my time-management skills, taught me to zero-in on the issues that matter, and to multi-task like an Intel processor," Walls said. He also reports that GMU is well-liked in the legal world. "Half my co-workers are Mason grads, so the office has a lot of love for Mason. Overall, the school has a very positive reputation around the courthouse," Walls said.
Olson concurs with Walls' rating, saying that GMUSOL's strengths include the focus on legal writing (though, to be fair, he himself was a writing fellow) and having practitioners and judges teach some of the specialized courses. Olson also stressed the value of GMUSOL's clinics program. "There is simply no better way to get hands-on experience than actually working at a firm or for a judge," Olson said. He did complain that, for upper-level students, finding a variety of courses to take which weren't intellectual property courses was fairly difficult. As for GMU's reputation, Olson also gives it high marks. "Funny question really. The three partners at my firm are all GMU law grads," Olson remarked.
First, we have David Walls, '06, who works at the Loudoun County Public Defender's Office. Walls graduated in May of 2006, took the Bar/Bri course and looked for jobs, and started his job in late October of 2006. His wife also gave birth to their first child, Grace, on October 2, 2006. (So, if you can't imagine how it would be possible to get less sleep, there you go.) We also have Nathan Olson, '06, who works at Cooper Ginsberg & Gray, PLLC in Fairfax.
Walls explains that he has, in fact, found his education helped him in the real world. "There is the whole 'think like a lawyer' thing. Also, it helped strengthened my time-management skills, taught me to zero-in on the issues that matter, and to multi-task like an Intel processor," Walls said. He also reports that GMU is well-liked in the legal world. "Half my co-workers are Mason grads, so the office has a lot of love for Mason. Overall, the school has a very positive reputation around the courthouse," Walls said.
Olson concurs with Walls' rating, saying that GMUSOL's strengths include the focus on legal writing (though, to be fair, he himself was a writing fellow) and having practitioners and judges teach some of the specialized courses. Olson also stressed the value of GMUSOL's clinics program. "There is simply no better way to get hands-on experience than actually working at a firm or for a judge," Olson said. He did complain that, for upper-level students, finding a variety of courses to take which weren't intellectual property courses was fairly difficult. As for GMU's reputation, Olson also gives it high marks. "Funny question really. The three partners at my firm are all GMU law grads," Olson remarked.
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