Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Blog

Nina Yakubov is one of those people who always had a good idea what she wanted to do, even at an early age. Growing up in Russia, being around very educated people, Yakubov was especially amazed by how lawyers could think in a way nobody else could. She thought of attorneys as "Super Heroes." 

Life for Shari Wilson started off like it did for many kids – hanging out with the family, going to school, playing with friends. For just about nine years, the Wilson family led the quintessential American life. Mom taught at a nearby school. Shari rode her bike and played outside until the streetlights came on.

Joeie Skelly knew that she wanted to be a lawyer since she was 8 years old. “While other kids were playing house,” she recalled, “I pretended to play lawyer.”

Even while WMU-Cooley student Hala Alkattan was working on her undergraduate degree, she knew she wanted to help people. At the time she wanted to do something for the Syrian refugees that were coming into Tampa. Little things to make life better for them. From that spark of an idea, the small non-profit, "turned into something huge," as Alkattan says. 

Amanda Burch always knew she wanted to be a lawyer. Raised on a steady diet of the Matlock TV attorney series, she planned her undergraduate degree to dovetail neatly into her J.D., and she was on her way. She chose WMU-Cooley because the weekend classes and part-time schedule meshed well with the reality that she needed to continue working while in school.

Nathan Tamulonis hails from Indianapolis, but after college everything seemed to converge together in what he calls the "perfect storm." The warm breezes of the Tampa Bay area were calling him, and Tamulonis and his fiancé, Hanna, made the decision to make Tampa their home, and WMU-Cooley Law School Tamulonis's law school. 

According to Commander Michael Shea, the director of Saint Michael’s Legal Center, "there are a lot of people in our society who just can't afford a lawyer." The clinic, which is housed at WMU-Cooley Law School's Tampa Bay campus, helps to bridge that financial gap, a crevice that is over 50 percent in the family law area.

WMU-Cooley student Shekinah Apedo's first name in Hebrew means "In the Glory of God." As a social worker, Apedo loved that she was able to live out her faith, and give glory to God, in her career. But it was in the courtroom when she knew she was best serving her clients.    

This blog was originally published on May 17, 2017 WMU-Cooley Law School graduate Brandon Moultrie knew he wanted to go to law school, and knew that he wanted to do it Florida.  Ever since he did his undergrad in the Sunshine State, he relished the opportunity to come back. It took one campus visit to WMU-Cooley's Tampa Bay campus to be convinced. Everybody made him feel like he was already home.  

This blog was originally published on May 19, 2015. As much as every news affiliate is looking for a story, reporters and news sources are always in need of someone who can take personal opinion out of a story and replace it with a professional and objective account of a story – no matter how controversial. Many also can argue that literally every story has the potential to have a legal viewpoint.