I graduated from Geneseo in ’99 with dual majors in English and Philosophy. When I found out there was no English factory to go work in, I decided to go to law school, with the hope that I might work as a prosecutor or in some other rare job where I could be intellectually challenged and productive and useful to the community all at once. I graduated from Fordham Law in ’03. After law school I worked in two judicial clerkships for federal judges in Manhattan, assisting them with legal research and drafting opinions. I also worked as an associate at a law firm in Manhattan on various litigations and other matters. Then in 2008 I was hired by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where I still work today as an Assistant United States Attorney. I handle federal prosecutions involving public corruption, violent crime, fraud, and other crimes. The work includes, among other things, conducting investigations, bringing charges, and advocacy in motion practice, trials, and appeals. It’s a terrific job and something I’ve been very lucky and privileged to have the opportunity to do.
Although I never planned it – I chose classes at Geneseo based on what seemed the most interesting – it turned out that my English and Philosophy studies at Geneseo were incidentally the best possible preparation for law school. To excel in law school requires, among other things, reading difficult material, understanding it, and then organizing your thoughts into clear writing, and even better yet writing with narrative and writing that demonstrates mastery. The final products of that process are written exam answers. The English courses I took were great preparation for this, especially the creative writing workshops (with Prof. Rachel Hall).
In the workshops, we worked so hard to improve as writers. We subjected our best earnest efforts to the critiques of the group, and we read carefully the writing of others with an eye for thoughtfully critiquing it. There’s no other type of college study I know of that can so dramatically improve a person’s ability to communicate, to write (or say) something – anything, whether it be a poem or story or essay or legal brief or directions to the grocery store – that will actually connect with the audience (maybe even deeply). Ultimately in any writing I think the idea is to make choices in order to put on the page what’s important and to leave off the page what’s unimportant, so that the reader is with you, they’re moved or entertained or enlightened or persuaded or arrived-at-the-store or whatever the point was. It’s very difficult to make those choices. It’s hard to get across what you really mean. It requires talent and practice and often a good editor. The workshops constantly focus you on how best to make those choices, and they teach you all kinds of ways to be savvy about it (and though they’re hard work they’re also great fun). I’ve found that those skills translate to lots of things beyond creative writing, including in law school, not to mention in litigation including trial advocacy.
I’ve sometimes been in the position of interviewing lawyers for certain jobs, and I view an English degree as a significant positive. It tells me that the candidate likely has a sincere interest in learning, that he/she is a practiced writer, and that he/she is more likely to be able to carefully and thoughtfully identify and size up relevant issues, and therefore be a better, more dedicated and persuasive advocate.
My advice to current students?: Soak it up! And not just beers at the Idle Hour! Write, write, write. Get and be responsive to feedback on your writing. If you think you cannot improve as a writer you’re wrong. Write for The Lamron. Tutor writing at the Writing Learning Center. Write a thesis. And by all means take as many creative writing classes as you can. You’ll enjoy it now and you’ll be better off for it later.