This week on the Law School Insider I am interviewing Shane Hilyard, a Cooley Law School alumnus and attorney with the Gallagher Law Firm. This is the first of two interviews where I talk to him about his journey to finding success. In this interview we talk about his transition from professional bull rider to lawyer and you will learn of the stumbling blocks along the way that ultimately led him to finding his success as a lawyer.
Since Shane was about 12 years old he knew that he wanted to be a lawyer. Growing up with a single mom in a financially strapped family, he had to struggle growing up, as there were set societal views of people at different stations in life. He grew up watching Matlock
In the early 1990's he got connected to someone that was involved in high school rodeo. He was invited to come to a high school rodeo event and saw someone that he knew get thrown quickly from a bull. Being a bit sarcastic Shane jibed the friend and told him he was not very good at bull riding and this led his friend to dare him to try getting on a bull himself. So Shane did just that the next week. He was able to select his bull for his first two rides and he was able to stay on the bull for the requisite 8 seconds. His friend told him that he was pretty good and that he should enter the jackpot where riders would put in $20 for a cash prize for the winner. Shane Hilyard decided to enter the jackpot but was not told that the bull that he would be provided would be provided by random draw. When it was his time to ride he drew 007. This bull was 1800 lbs of pure muscle and his horns were literally the size of baseball bats. Needless to say he did not last long on this Brahma bull and when he got off he quickly realized that he had been set up. That being said he was approached by someone that gave him his card and said that if he really wanted to ride to let him know, Shortly thereafter he was in a college prep seminar and during the seminar he came across the card that he had been given and he made the decision to go to that person's rodeo school and 6 months later he had made enough to earn his pro rodeo card.
Shane Hilyard did very well in the professional bull riding circuit. He won Rookie of the Year his first year on the circuit and he continued to find success in this and made lifelong friendships during this too. However, in 2000 he got married for the first time and realized that he wanted to settle down. Shane also was getting injured more. So in 1999 he enrolled as a student at Genessee Community College in Batavia New York. After finishing there he attended SUNY Geneseo for his Bachelors degree but found that with balancing his rodeo schedule and school that he was not able to manage this well. His guidance counselor encouraged him to think about Empire State, another school in the SUNY system that offered more flexibility in schedule and options for students like Shane Hilyard. Shane transfered and it was a great fit. He graduated from Empire State in 2005 with his Bachelors degree.
Just prior to graduating Shane Hilyard signed up to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). However, at the same time he was dealing with a recent divorce and health related issues pertaining to his father and thus he never took a prep course for the LSAT. His resulting score was low, in the mid 130's and upon applying to law schools in the State of New York he was denied to all that he had applied. He was subsequently told that his score showed that he could not do graduate work by a professional at the University of Buffalo. Because of being told this he decided to challenge himself by trying to get accepted to the most challenging graduate program around at Niagara University. He was accepted and continue on to finish this degree. Again, on completion of this degree he went back to the University of Buffalo and was told that he needed to re-take the LSAT to get rid of his low score. He studied this time but a week prior to the test he got a call saying that his mother was non-responsive. He ended up re-taking the LSAT and did a bit better going from a 134 to a 137.
Shane Hilyard made the decision to apply to the same schools that he had applied to in the past and was denied. He then expanded his list but found that he still did not get accepted. Shane Hilyard knew that he did not want to give up on his law school dream, and he also knew that the LSAT did not accurately show how he would do in law school.
To regroup he took some time off and retired from bull riding. Shane Hilyard started working for a law firm as a paralegal for a husband and wife team. He found that he was billing over $100,000 for the firm, but seeing very little in return (even though the lawyers were). As you can probably guess, this frustrated Shane and in a discussion that he had with his wife, she told hi, to make a decision and do something or do nothing if he really wanted to be a lawyer.
Shane Hilyard had heard about a resource on the LSAC Website that allowed you to plug in your LSAT numbers and GPA to see the likelihood of being accepted to different schools. He decided to plug in his information and found that there were a few additional schools that popped up including Cooley Law School. Shane ended up applying to some of the new schools and on April 19, 2010 he received his acceptance to Cooley Law School.
Shane Hilyard stated that the journey was hard one but it was worth it. He also mentioned that if you are going to do law school then you have to do it for yourself and you have to give it 100%.
In the end Shane Hilyard stated that it does not matter what school is on your diploma when you graduate form law school. “If someone is going to hire you to represent them they are hiring you, not the law school you attended.”
Shane Hilyard credits Cooley Law School for taking a chance on him when so many others would not. He stated that he was indebted to the school and to the opportunities it provided him. Even though he could have gone somewhere else because of the academic success he had in law school, he chose to stay because of the chance that Cooley afforded him.
Did you like this interview? Do you have a question for Shane Hilyard? Leave a comment below!