Introduction

First, thank you for visiting my Jury of Peers blog. I remember what it was like researching law schools to decide on where to apply and where to enroll, so I know how overwhelming that is, especially when doing so in the middle of a pandemic. I hope my blog, as well as my colleagues will help you with your decision. Before I tell you about the ins and outs of law school, I’d like to introduce myself a little bit first.

My name is Ashli, and I am a 1L in the Day Division. I grew up in a small town in central Texas. The kind of town where seeing people ride horses on the sidewalk by the highway isn’t really that surprising. After high school, I moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to attend the University of North Texas (go mean green!), where I graduated from in May 2021 as a first-generation college student.

I came to law school sure that I would pursue international human rights law as a career, but now that I’m here, I’m interested in so many areas of law that I hate the thought of choosing. These include public interest, criminal, immigration, and international law.

When I am not in law school, I love spending time at the beach and reading romance novels. I know it can be hard to imagine that I would willingly read more than what I am assigned for class, but I believe it is important to hold on to the activities that used to make you happy before law school. Reading has been my go-to happiness inducing activity since I was in middle school, and I’m simply not willing to give that up just yet.

Now, I know this is supposed to be about me, but I think it is important to show who makes me who I am. My family, specifically my mom, brother, and cousins, are my biggest supporters. They encourage me when I’m feeling sad or overwhelmed, listen to me ramble on about interesting things I learn in class, and, probably the most important, tease me put me in my place when I am getting just a little too full of myself.

Outside of practicing law after I finish law school, I plan to spend any and all free time crossing items off my bucket list with my best friends. We have a running list of things we want to do together including spending a month in Greece, visiting the American Girl Doll store in Chicago, seeing a real castle, and so much more.

For now, I am so excited to continue my 1L year and have the opportunity to write to you about my experiences. I hope you’ll continue reading, learn more about LLS, and fall in love with the Loyola community like I have.