Laura McClellan stated that when she was young she had a teacher that stated that she would be a good lawyer. She did not see this at the time, but she tucked this away. She got married young and life set in, ending up having five kids and waiting later in life to go and get her undergraduate degree. It was during her Bachelors degree that her political science advisor encouraged her to consider law school yet again. She spoke to her husband that encouraged her to follow her dream. She stated that she was drawn to this because she always had a sense for finding justice and for helping others. She also wanted to help the public good. She loved to read and think and talk about the law with others. All of these things were reasons she ended up at Cornell Law School.
Going to law school as a non-traditional student was an advantage for Laura McClellan. She mentioned that when she got to her contracts class she felt ahead of the game as she had already worked with contracts in the past while other students had not. She also felt that she was attending law school with a purpose in mind. She stated that if you do not know what your purpose is, then take the time to talk to other lawyers, asking them about what they do. Also, take advantage of summer associate or internship or externship programs and while in these positions ask lots of great questions to allow you to gain a better perspective of the law and about the area of law that you are interested in.
Laura McClellan mentioned that when she went to law school it was her intention to be a trial attorney. It was not until she went out on a summer associate experience. In this experience she was told that she would be there for seven weeks and they asked her how she wanted to spend this time. She said she wanted four weeks of trial litigation experience and then three weeks in transactional work. For the transactional work she was placed in real estate and she loved working with the people in this section.
Having five kids she had to balance a lot. To do this she worked with many lists and credits her husband for picking up a lot of the daily tasks that she would have had to have accomplished. She also worked to be present. This meant that when she was at school she was at school and when she was at home she was at home. This did not always work, but it was something she tried hard to do.
Did you like this interview? Do you have a question for Laura McClellan? Leave a comment below to let me know!
Are you a practicing lawyer? A law student? Would you like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of the Law School Insider or do you have a topic you would like to hear about? Send me an email at lawschoolinsider@cooley.edu