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ENNELY MEDINA: For me, my journey with the law
really began as a child.
STIJN WILBERS: Both of my parents,
they met at the same law firm.
[CHUCKLES]
KIT METOYER: So I was always told as a kid
that I could talk to a brick wall
and argue my way through anything.
SHAYAN KARBASSI: I've experienced
what it's like to have the law be
used as a tool of oppression.
TYLER PRICE: A lawyer literally saved my mom's life.
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STIJN WILBERS: My family background,
it's very much in law.
So this was something I was acquainted with
and that I saw was exciting, was thrilling sometimes.
To be honest, in a way, in the beginning,
it was very much a reason to push back
against the idea of studying law.
I did explore it and, ultimately, on my own terms,
decided that this is what I wanted,
that this is what gets me going, what makes me passionate.
CARLOS GONZALEZ SIERRA: Growing up,
I never thought about becoming a lawyer.
It wasn't until after working in policy and civic engagement
for many years that I realized that lawyers were tasked
with wrestling and ultimately answering the tough questions
that govern our society.
IRENE MUTHONI: A lot of the questions
I had were around justice and the treatment of people.
And it always just boiled down to money.
Why should someone work for 12 hours a day
and still not be able to have the services
and access to justice that they need?
DAVID KIDD: I'm a fifth-generation rancher
from Wyoming, Colorado.
My ranching community was particularly
sensitive to changes in the trading market.
And feeling these larger invisible forces just
dictate my community's success, really inspired a dream
to attend HLS and then to help be
that voice that's fighting for change
and help advancing opportunity.
KIT METOYER: Being a biracial and career woman,
a lot of spaces aren't made for us.
Most spaces, honestly, aren't made for us--
and so the prospect of being able to break into those spaces
and lift as I climb.
I have an interest in sports law, in particular,
and there just aren't a lot of women in that field.
JULIANA STONE: Coming from news media
and helping to run a startup, I met
so many leaders, so many world leaders and business leaders.
And the people with whom I was always most impressed
were the ones who had legal education.
YEANA LEE: The only side of the law that I had known
was really stuff you see on TV shows.
I had the opportunity to work with a lot of great M&A
lawyers.
And seeing a different side of the law, what
I loved most about this profession
was that there's always a process of negotiation.
There's a process of give and take
and a lot of discussion that happens among the parties,
so that everyone on every side feels like they're
coming to a good place.
SHAYAN KARBASSI: I've spent the last several years
working within DC, within the national security community.
What I've learned is that the law is critical.
It's really been the department and agency lawyers
who have proved to be the most valuable in protecting
our system of laws and holding each administration
to its legal duties and obligations.
ENNELY MEDINA: My father was incarcerated for nine years,
so I think I had this personal connection
with the consequences of the law.
And because of that, it made me raise
a lot of questions growing up.
I came to the conclusion that maybe a career in law
would be the best way to become an agent of change.
SUDHEER POLURU: I started coaching
a Little League baseball team in Englewood
on the Southside of Chicago.
It's a police-youth league.
We try to bring together police officers and the youth
in the community, to help build police-community relations.
That felt like I wasn't doing enough.
There's only so much you can do as a volunteer.
And there's a lot more that I could do as a lawyer.
I realized I needed to really take a systems-level view,
and that's pushed me towards criminal justice reform,
learning as much as I can.
IKRAM AIS: I went to law school first time in Algeria.
I saw a lot of women where I lived being mistreated.
If they revolt or say something against what
is taken as normal cultural behavior,
they fall victim to cultural shaming.
I just did not feel comfortable to be
in an environment like this and not do anything about it.
MUSSAB ALI: I was studying for the MCAT.
I was a double major in biology and economics,
so I did all the prerequisites for medicine.
I was fortunate enough to get elected to my local school
board in Jersey City.
I found myself trying to understand the nuances
in the law, trying to understand why certain things were set up
certain ways.
And doing all of that, I realized instead
of medical school--
and no disrespect to doctors.
I think their work is really, really important--
I felt like it's really important
to have that sort of legal education
and to really understand the mindset of the people who
are writing laws and interpreting laws.
STACEY MENJIVAR: I was a child of immigrants.
I always saw myself working in education
because neither of my parents was ever able to receive
a formal education.
Witnessing everything that was going on at the border in 2017,
I began to understand that communities
like those of my parents could not have access
to education if they were not given access
to the asylum process.
TYLER PRICE: So about 15 years ago,
my mom was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
We did best we could, but eventually reached
the point where we knew we needed professional help.
So the hospital let us know that we
were going to most likely need a lawyer
to get her into a nursing home because she's so young.
So we reached out to a lot of attorneys.
Almost all of them said no, except for one, who
decided to take us on pro bono.
She worked through the whole process of getting her
the funding she needed, fighting for her benefits.
It was just knowing how to jump through the legal hoops that
existed that most people don't understand,
especially underrepresented minority groups.
I want to help others the same way she helped my family.
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JULIANA STONE: I want to go to law school,
because I want to learn to think like a lawyer.
IRENE MUTHONI: The law offers the opportunity
to continuously interrogate society,
interrogate why things are the way they are.
SHAYAN KARBASSI: Because it empowers
you to be an agent for others, to stand up for the values that
are otherwise threatened.
DAVID KIDD: And I want to be a leader.
I want to be a change-maker.
I want to be an agent of change.
KIT METOYER: And so I think what drew me to law
is the ability to be on the front lines,
be the boots on the ground, and to really try to make
some change from the inside.
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