Judge Pratt said she drew inspiration from a variety of people, but cited her father, the late defense and civil rights attorney Charles A. Walton, as her first great mentor. “I knew very early on I wanted to be like my dad. I wanted to be a lawyer,” she said.
Lewis Wagner LLP Indiana University McKinney School of Law, 2014 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I graduated with a major in English writing and a minor in sociology from DePauw University. As graduation approached, I panicked when faced with the inevitable (and well-intentioned) question of what came next. I wanted to […]
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Indiana University McKinney School of Law, 1994 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? From the time I was a child, I looked up to lawyers as people who could right wrongs and defend others. Although my sense of the roles of lawyers became more nuanced over […]
Marion Superior Court University of Missouri School of Law, 2002 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I announced in elementary school that I was going to be a lawyer. I honestly do not know where I came up with the idea. I did not know any lawyers personally. Maybe it was from […]
Dentons Bingham Greenebaum LLP Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 1992 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I was in college at DePauw trying to decide between pursuing an MBA at the University of Chicago and going to law school. My faculty adviser told me that a legal education was so versatile, […]
Bose McKinney & Evans LLP Indiana University McKinney School of Law, 2017 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I would be lying if I said I had not seen a few movies about the profession that made being an attorney look glamorous. But really, growing up I had family friends and mentors […]
Ice Miller LLP University of Texas, 1981 If you weren’t working in legal support, what would you be doing? I’d probably still be in Dallas working in the oil and gas business. One of my friends is president of a mid-sized oil and gas production company, and I would likely have ended up doing something […]
Chief Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana Howard University School of Law, 1984 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I wanted to work with my father, Charles A. Walton. My father was an attorney who graduated from IU School of Law in 1959. He was a member of the […]
IU Health Indiana University McKinney School of Law, 2015 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I was a biology major at IU, and I ended up taking a course on health policy in the United States in which we read “The Healing of America” by T.R. Reid. I was hooked. The book […]
Cohen & Malad LLP Southern Illinois University Law School, 2015 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I am privileged to be a fourth-generation attorney, so I was introduced to the legal profession at a very early age. When I was little, I remember going to my dad’s law office to change uniforms […]
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Western Governors University, 2019 Why did you decide to become a paralegal/legal support staffer? I have always enjoyed the unique, complex problem-solving that the legal field demands. If you weren’t working in legal support, what would you be doing? Teaching high school kids and coaching basketball. What’s something people […]
Church Church Hittle + Antrim IUPUI Paralegal Program, 2007 If you weren’t working in legal support, what would you be doing? After roughly 17 years of experience as a litigation paralegal and having had the opportunity to work with some of the best and brightest attorneys practicing law, I cannot imagine going to work every […]
Lewis Wagner LLP IU McKinney School of Law, 1983 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? My grandfather had encouraged me to become an attorney, although he was not one. After graduating from Purdue, I took the LSAT and did well and decided to go to law school. I thought a law degree […]
Church Church Hittle + Antrim Indiana University McKinney School of Law, 2016 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I was arguing with my mom about something in our kitchen when I was 4. She told me, “You’re like a dog with a bone. You better become an attorney!” After that comment, I […]
Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 2000 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I’d been practicing environmental compliance in a wastewater treatment plant and decided that the profession needed more lawyers that could understand on-the-ground needs while also explaining legal requirements. After one particularly trying call, […]
Tolbert & Tolbert LLC Valparaiso University School of Law, 2000 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I sought a profession that would allow me to do the most good and impact my community. I wanted to be a part of a profession that gave me the training to change the world. If […]
Indiana Secretary of State – Securities Division Regent University School of Law, 2014 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? If you ask my parents, they might respond by saying that it was inevitable. As a child, I always had something to say about solving a problem and wanted to either litigate or […]
Dentons Bingham Greenebaum LLP IU School of Journalism, 1991-1997 Why did you decide to become a paralegal/legal support staffer? I sort of fell face-first into it. While I stood in line at my high school graduation, I received a tap on the shoulder from my favorite teacher, Carol Gromer. Carol knew my college plans were […]
Marion County Probate Court Indiana University McKinney School of Law, 1999 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I realized without a law degree I could not help people in public service the way I aspired. Law school prepared me to assist Governor Daniels in transforming the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, led me […]
Indiana Legal Services Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 2001 Why did you decide to enter the legal profession? I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer while in elementary school. I’m from an automotive town and during my childhood the town was hit hard by an economic downturn. A lot of good people […]