Apply Give Visit case.edu RSS feed Find us on Facebook LinkedIn Videos on Youtube Videos on iTunes Follow us on Twitter
Loading
 
 

Student Spotlights
Julianne (Yeon) KimJulianne (Yeon) Kim
Hometown
Dae Jeon, South Korea
Undergraduate/degree
University of Notre Dame - Bachelor of Business Administration
Favorite Classes
I enjoyed Torts and Civil Procedure the most. Torts deals with breaches of duty between individuals; which is something I see very often and can relate to. The material captured my interest and helped me see the world in a perspective I never did before. I loved civil procedure, because compare to other law classes, it seemed to give me a straight answer. I did have occasional "it depends" answers, but the rules were clear and unambiguous for the most parts.

Favorite Professors
I thought about this long and hard but I truly can't choose. All the professors were just amazing. Professor Benza enlightened us every morning at 8am. His classes were the reasons I would wake up early no matter what. Professor Leatherberry made contract fun for all of us with background stories and brain stimulating hypos. Professor Mehlman reviewed the material so often that we could organize the vast material of torts without problem; he also brought in funny props to make sure we don't forget the lesson. Professor Hoffman asked the students to think one step further and often told us stories of her legal experience that reminded us of passion for justice. Professor Gerhart taught us to think like lawyers by engaging the students throughout the class. Professor Entin guided us to think deeper about constitution and made us realize why constitution is fundamental to all lawyers. Last and but not the least, Professor Kenny gave us the tool of legal writing which is the most important tool one can have as a future lawyer.

Law School Activities
I was involved with Law and Leadership Institute (LLI). LLI is a program where Law students participate to teach highly selective high school students who wants to learn about the Law and become future leaders. LLI gave me incredible experience. Although I was teaching the students, I learned so much more than I taught them. Explaining them about legal writing and various aspects of the law, I had to learn deeper than I did while I was sitting in class. Students read and understood the law in an angle different from the law students.

Many of the students were from underprivileged households, but they rarely complained. Their optimistic perspective of life and hopeful dreams for future defeated any problems they faced. It truly humbled all the law students who were involved with LLI. I am grateful that Case Western Reserve Law school organizes such wonderful program for the law students. I am blessed to have met the young talented students who enriched me academically and inspired me to pursue my dream with passion and persistence.

Achievements
I am still on my journey to achieve the big achievement. I do have occasional small achievements like leading breast cancer awareness project and few poetry publications, but those are too small compare to what many would write as "achievements". My goal or the big achievement would be opening up a low cost law firm for small businesses. In the process of accomplishing that goal, I learn great life lessons and meet incredible people. For now, I think the life lessons I learned and great friends I made are the biggest achievements yet. I hope that those two and the tenacity that I have would lead me to my big achievement.

Employment
The Case Western Reserve law school provides students with multiple and various externship opportunities. I applied in May 2011 for legal aid externship and I am currently working for the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. I have an assigned client and I meet with him and research his case to draft a memo for the supervising attorney. I work independently most of the time, but I can always turn to my supervising attorney if I get lost. It has only been three weeks and I learned so much about Federal Tax law. I am also taking tax law this fall, but it is different learning experience at legal aid. Every issue pertains to real person and every time it is new problem that needs to be solved. In class, we read a lot of cases where the judges have already given the solutions, but at work I need to be creative and find the solution myself for the clients. The externship is an excellent learning experience for law students.

Besides the learning aspect of the externship, I enjoy because I know that I am making a difference in someone's life. Many people seek attorneys because their lives need to get organized and restored. To be part of such process reminds me of my purpose of coming to law school.

Advice
Be Prepared, have Passion, and Persevere.