STUDENT AND ALUMNI PROFILES

Professional Experience Prior to Law School:

I was a substitute teacher at a Brooklyn public high school and junior high school for half a year. After that, I was a legal assistant at two small NYC firms.

What I Am Hoping to Do With My Law Degree:

Looking to work at a NYC firm.

My Best Experience at Penn Law:

La Gran Fiesta, a dinner/party held by LALSA (Latin American Law Students Association) in Silverman Hall. We were able to get the head of the ACLU to be our keynote speaker, and everyone really had a great time. And the food was unbelievable.

Professor Who Influenced Me Most:

Professor Burke White (Public International Law; Human Rights & National Security). His Socratic method in particular really helped me to think differently and analyze complex legal problems in a more incisive way. He has an uncanny ability to take very complex problems and present them in such a way that students really understand them on a subtle level.

My Favorite Course:

Sports Law, with Professor Briggs. While it's taught entirely in lecture format, Professor Briggs' engaging personality and seemingly endless knowledge of the subject (he's the Assistant General Counsel to the NFL) make each class the highlight of any week. It's genuinely depressing when his class has to be cancelled or postponed.

Penn Law is known for its collegial environment. Why is collegiality important to a legal education? How has it affected your legal education?

Penn Law's collegiality is not just a slogan, it's something you notice from the first day you arrive on campus. From the top of the administration down, a spirit of friendliness and openness trickles down to all levels of the school. This kind of atmosphere has helped make my law school experience the envy of my friends in other law schools.

My favorite story about the collegial environment at Penn Law (out of many I could tell) happened during the on-campus interview season just before classes started in my 2L year. I was going from one interview to the next when I passed Dean Clinton in the hall. He was speaking to a new 1L and the student's mother in the hallway when he saw me walking by. He interrupted himself and called out to me, "Hey Shawn, you look pretty sharp in a suit!"

That kind of moment really typifies my experience at Penn Law to a large degree - members of the administration know me by name, and treat me as a friend. And as for the students, we share notes very often, particularly when one of misses a class. I really couldn't have asked for a more positive environment in which to study law.

My Favorite Philadelphia Moment:

Getting “flashed” by the Philly Phanatic at a Phillies game.

What I'm Most Proud Of:

The improvement in my grades in my second semester. While I didn’t do badly in my first semester, my grades were not what I’d expected. However, my first semester experience, combined with meetings I had with professors and Dean of Students Gary Clinton, really helped me learn how to think more effectively, and how to communicate what I had learned in a more focused, structured way. Those changes paid off in a big way on my second semester exams. Employers commended the turnaround in all of my on-campus interviews, and some employers have explicitly credited that turnaround as a key reason for offering me a callback in NYC.

My Extracurricular Activities at Penn Law:

Associate Editor of the Journal of International Law; Co-President of the Entertainment & Sports Law Society; member of Latin American Law Students Association; member of Dining for Change; Law School Tour Guide.

My Favorite Place or Activity on the University Campus:

The Courtyard, particularly at night. There’s a peacefulness about the Courtyard at night that’s really relaxing and comforting after a hectic day.

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