Pre-Professional Training at UCSB: Q&A with Law and Medical School Alumni

Amber Hawk - Law

Ryan Metcalf - Medicine

Amber Hawk - Law

Name: Amber Hawk
Year graduated from UCSB: 2004
Major: Double major in Psychology and Law and Society with a Criminal Justice Emphasis
Current graduate/professional degree goal or career: I'm currently earning my J.D. (law degree)
Graduate/professional school you are currently attending: UC Davis School of Law (King Hall)

Q. How did your experiences in the L&S honors program help you to decide what you wanted to do after graduation?

A. The aspect of my honors experience that had the biggest impact on my post-graduation plans was being able to get to know my professors by doing honors sections and honors projects, as well as working as a research assistant. My professors were glad to be a helpful resource – they let me pick their brains about the academic or career choices they made and what they would have done differently if given another chance. This advice steered me in the direction of law school, and I figured out on my own that it would be a good choice for me. The decision to apply for professional school requires a fair amount of introspection, too – if you're thinking of going to law school, know yourself and know what youıre good at to see if you could be happy as a lawyer.

Q. How did your experiences in the L&S honors program help you prepare to get into law school?

A. The close contact with professors is the aspect of my honors experience that helped the most. Often, once I got to know a professor in class (or in honors section, more likely), I asked for advice about jobs/internships/ experiences to pursue to help me make up my mind about law school. Professor Streichler in Law and Society was an immense help with this. I was sitting on the fence about law school, and I spent the last two years of college doing internships (including the UCDC program, where I interned in the U.S. Attorney's Office) and learning about the legal profession. I believe these experiences helped me to be admitted to some of the competitive California law schools. I also worked in the College of Letters and Science as a peer advisor, and sometimes I was asked to give general "applying to law school advice" to other students, so this encouraged me to make sure I was timely and accurate with the application process.

Q. Is there anything you wish you had done while at UCSB that would have helped you prepare more effectively for law school?

A. I did take many challenging classes that were reading and writing intensive, but I would have taken more if I could do it all over again! Thereıs no limit to how much prior reading and writing experience will help you in law school. The more comfortable you are analyzing complex issues, the better you will feel when you first start to read and interpret case law. If youıre an average law school entrant, you really don't know how to read or write before you arrive (well, not literally, of course!) What I mean is that law school pushes you to your upper limit. You will have to read more complex information, faster, with comprehension, and more efficiently than ever before (unless you were a rocket scientist in your former life). And legal writing is totally different. Trying to convince a judge in a dry tone that he or she should rule in favor of your client is a far cry from the politically charged and often emotionally heated papers I wrote as an undergrad. Also, take courses or help with clubs/activities that will give you some public speaking experience. Doing mock oral arguments or speaking in front of a large class can be intimidating at first, so it will be good to be used to the sound of your own voice.

Q. Is there any advice you would give incoming honors students interested in pursuing a legal career?

A. One word of advice I would extend to honors students thinking of pursuing a law degree is to make sure they are really 100% sure thatıs what they want to do. The first year of law school is no picnic (or perhaps Iım biased, considering my final exams start in approximately two weeks). Find out everything you can about the legal profession! Some ideas: speak to professors, talk to lawyers, work at the courthouse, do internships, find a mentor, get pre-law advising, go to Counseling and Career Services and read the books they have on law school and the legal profession. It's an immense undertaking, and you want to be sure youıre making the best decision for you. Iıve found that surviving law school is more about handling stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed than understanding the difficult legal concepts. The professors and tutors help with that, but you have to find your point of emotional equilibrium to keep from going nuts! Balance is the key when it comes to law school. Donıt let the pressures of the first year take over your life. If you had hobbies before law school, keep them! If you worked out, or cooked, or loved music, keep at it, or you will become the one-dimensional bore that no one will want to talk to at parties (yes, there is still some fun in law school.) And if you have a significant other who lives nearby or with you, make sure you have date night. You wonıt have the ability to spend quality time throughout the week, so pick a night and take the night off completely from law school ‹ and resist the temptation to bore your mate with the "interesting" case you read that dayŠ no matter how brilliant your loved one is, unless he or she too is in law school or is a lawyer, he or she will have no idea what youıre talking about.

Q. Is there anything that stands out about your experience in law school?

A. Law school is nothing like college. In fact, at King Hall (a very small law school as law schools go), the social scene is more like reverting to high school than anything else. Academically, you will be challenged as never before. Legal analysis is nothing like anything you experience in undergrad. When they say, "We teach you to think like a lawyer," they mean it. You have to learn how to move within the legal culture, and the method they use is trial by error. A potentially humiliating "trial by error" when you throw in the Socratic method!

Q. What is your current level of satisfaction with your choice of career path? Would you 'do it all over again'? If not, how would you change your it?

A. Definitely, I'd do it all over again. I may not have said that after the first few weeks of being immersed in legal doctrine, but itıs worth it if you know you want to be a lawyer. You will question your ability, no doubt ‹ everyone does! But most everyone also gets through it and realize they actually can be effective legal professionals.

Q. What is your ultimate career goal?

A. I'm in the process of working that out, but right now I see myself working in the public sector, perhaps at a governmental agency. I recently discovered that I love oral advocacy, and combining that with my interest in criminal law, I'm thinking of pursuing a career as a prosecutor.

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