Tell us a little bit about your path to law school. Did you know you wanted to study law at a young age? And why NYU Law?
I grew up in Nebraska, where no one in my family had ever gone to law school. I didn’t have a real idea of what an attorney was and did until I got to college. I went to Georgetown [University] to pursue an international politics degree and fell into a job doing in-house entertainment litigation [as a paralegal] after graduating. (Yes, quite a 180!) My family and I have always been big fans of niche reality television, so working on IP disputes or defamation claims for reality TV talent was a really approachable way for me to learn about the law. My day-to-day was fun and silly, but I wanted to come to law school to learn how I could use the law as a tool to help people. I’m really interested in consumer protections, data privacy, and mass media law and was drawn to NYU Law because our outstanding faculty and staff made me feel welcome and seen as someone who differs from what some people imagine as the “stereotypical law student.”
What classes and professors have had the most profound effect on you here so far?
I was expecting our doctrinal courses to be incredibly boring but have been amazed at our professors’ abilities to bring topics alive. It surprised me how much I liked Legislation and the Regulatory State with Professor [David] Kamin. It’s definitely the most useful class I’ve taken so far, since the legal issues I’m interested in involve a lot of overlap with administrative agencies. Professor Kamin kept things light and fun (as much as he could) but also gave us the tools to track how a court is thinking about prior caselaw and sketching out a framework for where they might be headed next. He talks a lot about building a “legal toolbox,” and I feel very comfortable applying the skills he taught us in the real world.
This semester I’m taking Food Law with Professor [Margot] Pollans and it’s maybe the coolest class I’ve ever taken. She is incredibly thoughtful and inquisitive. Plus it’s meaningful to get legal perspective on the agricultural issues I’m exposed to at home in Nebraska. It also doesn’t hurt that Food Law is a class where my beekeeping expertise is actually super relevant!
You’re a member of the Student Beekeeping Alliance—how long have you been interested in bees? And what, exactly, do you do?
I started SBeeA over the summer because I really wanted to keep bees in New York City. I was a beekeeper when I went to Georgetown, where we brought two hives to campus and worked with them for a few years. I searched and searched for a similar organization at NYU (truly the entire university system) and didn’t find anything, so I thought I should just do it myself!
It’s too late in the season for us to start hives, so this academic year I’m teaching a crash-course on keeping bees to hopefully prepare folks to help bring hives to the Law School in the spring! I made a curriculum where we’re talking about bee biology, honey bees’ role in agriculture, common pests/pathogens, and pollinator preservation. If you’re at all interested, come see what all the buzz is about!
What’s your favorite way to spend a day in New York City?
I love a good farmer’s market. My favorite days are walking to Prospect Park to get a treat from the Grand Army Plaza market and then people watching in the Long Meadow. Other hits include pickled Brussels sprouts from Doc Pickle in Park Slope and the savory jams from the Union Square Greenmarket.
Did you read any books/hear any podcasts lately that you would recommend?
My favorite podcast is Normal Gossip. The host gets juicy stories from the real world, anonymizes them, and then shares the story with a guest. It is so FUN. I’ve had to stop listening in public because I have such visible/audible reactions. I love any form of media that helps me peek inside a collective cultural psyche. Listen to S1Ep8, “Spot the Scammer,” for an episode involving a bar trip gone awry and an enormous bird lamp.
Posted October 7, 2024