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Joseph Mensah L’15 discusses his Penn Law experience

December 01, 2014

In this video feature, Joseph Mensah L’15 discusses his Penn Law experience, from the collegial atmosphere at the Law School to his interdisciplinary studies. He also discusses his career considerations and why employers are always looking for Penn Law graduates.

In this video feature, Joseph Mensah L’15 discusses his Penn Law experience, from the collegial atmosphere at the Law School to his interdisciplinary studies. He also discusses his career considerations and why employers are always looking for Penn Law graduates.

 

 

Transcript

The reason why I love Penn Law first and foremost is the people. Once I attended admitted students weekend, I kind of went off-the-cuff and tapped a lot of random students and said, “How do you like it here? Do you enjoy Penn Law? Do you think this is a place you’re very proud of? Or is this something you’re trying to get behind you?” And overwhelmingly — I saw over and over again — students kept saying “No, I really enjoy Penn; people are actually collegial; people are really collaborative; I love the faculty; I love the staff.” And, you know, I would speak to one person, and they would say that, and I’d speak to another, and it was just this comprehensive sentiment of contentment and happiness here at Penn.

I’m also really pumped about the interdisciplinary focus. There’s no other school of this tier that really allows you to go out to different schools and different subjects and allows you to go practice and study that. For example, I’ve taken bioethics; I’ve taken a Certificate in Management at Wharton; I’m also currently taking a class on post-secondary reform in education at the education school, in addition to all the law classes I’ve taken. And so, I wanted to make sure to take advantage of that. I know a lot of prospective students are interested in international law or business law or even social work. Even if you don’t technically want to get a second degree, you can always at least take the classes. I’m not a dual degree candidate, however I’ve taken classes at a bunch of different schools, and I’ve really taken advantage of that.

Penn Law has some of the best employment numbers coming out of graduation. Especially if you’re interested in Big Law. Law school can be very expensive, so it’s very important to find a school that you think will be the best return on investment. And that’s a very important factor for me. Also if you’re interested in government work and public interest — even though I don’t have as much of a background in that sort of law, I have a lot of friends who do, and it seems like employers are very, very excited about Penn Law students. They see us as very hard working; they see us as very collaborative; they see us as very enthusiastic and ready to work from day one, which is, I think, very important for any student who’s considering a law school and who wants to practice law going forward.

I think just being in an environment like Penn where there are so many students who have had very extraordinary backgrounds, from business to teaching, a lot of my development came from just bouncing ideas off of my classmates, you know? I would ask some of my classmates who had worked in law firms what it’s like to work in a law firm, what it’s like to transition from a law firm to business or a law firm to education. That kind of informal training, that kind of informal development that you have with your classmates — and even with faculty who are willing to tell you their path — I think is invaluable as well.

 

Transcript has been edited for length.