Prior to coming to LMU Loyola Law School, I practiced law in Nigeria with a specific interest in human rights and criminal law for almost six years. In those years of practice, I represented victims of human rights violations and defendants in criminal trials. In addition to law practice, I was a research assistant at the University of Ibadan Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law, coupling academics with practice. This combination gave me the insight that is required for law practice, which I have chosen- the pursuit of equity and justice. A desire which began many years ago!

When I was a little boy growing up in my hometown of Egbeda in Rivers State of Nigeria, I always wanted to study law, but could never answer the question of why. Of course, I was not expected to explain why at this tender age, living in a little village, it was beyond the “standard” for a boy of my age to think of studying law; let alone understand the reason behind such a serious decision. Surprisingly, my desire never wavered, instead, it only became more real. My vision of what I wanted to achieve with the law became clearer and clearer as the years would later reveal.

It was later in 2008 after completing my secondary education and eventually enrolling in a diploma program with a concentration in law that I realized, I needed to study law to advance social justice. This program introduced me to basic law and legal theories, but also sparked my interest in constitutional law, which completely caught my attention. As I studied constitutional law and reviewed the human rights issues embedded in this area of law, I knew that studying law for the pursuit of equity and justice was for me, especially after having observed human rights abuses within my environment.

At the completion of my diploma in 2010, I proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for a law degree. This degree paved the way for my admission into the Nigerian Law School, a mandatory practical training program for admission to the Nigerian Bar Association. After my admission to the Nigerian Bar, I again went for a postgraduate degree program at the University of Ibadan, to obtain a master’s degree with a specialization in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. My goal is to be more equipped for the evolving concept of human rights globally. After discovering the weaknesses in the Nigerian criminal justice system, specifically around cybersecurity and data privacy, I decided to pursue a specialized degree in this field. Since LMU Loyola Law School has a strong cybersecurity and data privacy concentration, I decided to enroll at the law school and specialize in this.

After I complete this program, I intend to pursue a further degree in cybersecurity and data privacy to harness all the needed knowledge and expertise required to pursue a career in this field. My goal is to collaborate with government, agencies, institutions, and corporations in the hopes of achieving a safe cyberspace, both for the industry and its consumers.

I am finished with my last law school classes and finished with last papers. The only requirement left before graduation is to complete two final exams – Criminal Procedure and Law of Sales. I don’t really get excited or emotional for things like graduations but I will admit, attending my very last law school class was a bit surreal. Everyone always says that the three years of law school fly by in a flash. It’s absolutely true and in some ways, I feel like I just started. It is also strange because I’m hardly done with my classwork. After finals, I transition immediately into bar prep – learning new areas of law and relearning things I’ve forgotten.

I had already started bar prep back in December. I am reading through a few books and sample problems on marital property, going back over old contract and property outlines, and doing some multiple-choice questions. I have already purchased my bar prep course. I decided to go with Kaplan over Themis and Barbri because I felt Kaplan offered the most comprehensive package for developing my essay-writing skills. The plan is to work on bar prep as though it is my 9-6 job. I have already carved out some time to attend a wedding in May but I have made a point not to fill my schedule with new plans.

I’m still rather focused on my finals so I can’t say I’ve given a lot of thought to my specific study schedule. I know that I need to learn at least the basics of marital property and wills and trusts in the next three months before the July Bar Exam. Those two subjects are not tested on the Multistate Bar Exam (aka the MBE, which is the multiple-choice section of the exam) but they could be tested in the essay section. I also need to extensively review criminal law and basic property law which I have not studied since the fall semester of my 1L year. I am more confident about contracts because the Law of Sales class, which I’m taking this semester, is grounded largely in concepts covered in 1L contracts classes. I’m also more confident about civil procedure because I’ve gotten a lot of experience over the last three years working with statutory deadlines, pleading requirements and motions. I am also very confident in my knowledge of business associations because of my experiences in the corporate concentration. Nevertheless, I am treating bar prep as an opportunity to start my law school education from scratch. I’m sure there are things in every subject that I have forgotten. I cannot afford to skip reviewing any part of any subject.

The great thing about bar prep is that there aren’t really any cases to read. The course books give the relevant rules without “hiding the ball.” Although this means I won’t get the richness of the case history, I can go through the basics of each area of law pretty efficiently. Wish me luck and I will see you on the other side!

1. Apply to all the opening positions you are interested in. Yes, you read right ALL OF THEM. Even if you think that you do not meet all of the employer’s “requirements.” Even if the position says top 10% (and you are not), apply. Those requirements are not set in stone. More often than not, employers are flexible if they meet a strong candidate that does not necessarily check all of “the boxes.”
2. Your GPA or rank is not the most important thing when applying.Most employers will tell you that experience is more valuable than a high GPA. In the end, it is more valuable for an employer that you know how to do a discovery motion than having a 3.80 or being in the top 10%.
3. Confidence is Key!If you do not believe in yourself, why would a stranger believe in you. Replace words like “I think to I know.” Be confident and portray yourself as the strong candidate you are!
4. Don’t forget:
    

As I mentioned last year, every law student is required to complete forty hours of pro bono work to graduate. In my 1L year, I got an early start working over the winter break for a tenant advocacy firm, the Tenant’s Law Firm. Because I was a 1L, I was limited to claiming a maximum of ten hours, even though I actually worked closer to forty within the two-week break.

Last year, I completed the bulk of my hours, acting as a bailiff in Loyola’s National Civil Trial Competition. I acted as a timer and event coordinator over an entire weekend and was even credited for the time spent at the pro-competition party! The event added another 28 hours to my pro bono total.

This year I finished up my forty hours by working in a landlord/tenant law clinic. Loyola offers a wide variety of clinics from landlord/tenant to criminal justice to international refugee assistance. I am interested in real estate law and had not had much experience in residential real estate or landlord/tenant law since my volunteer work as a 1L. The good news about clinics is that it is a regular class for credit with instruction on the relevant area of law. The first half of the landlord/tenant clinic focused on the basics of landlord/tenant law and on the newly enacted regulations and prohibitions to address the pandemic. The bad news about clinics (for me anyway) is that each clinic requires each student to work 2 to 4 hours per week in addition to regular classes. The time commitment meant that I was not able to rejoin the Byrne Trial Team again this year.

During the pandemic, the city of Los Angeles, the state, the county and the CDC all enacted emergency regulations which prohibited evictions for failure to pay rent, though contrary to popular belief evictions for cause were still allowed. Tenants were, however, still required to pay all rents owed according to a pre-established timeline once the pandemic had ended. I (rather optimistically) guessed that the pandemic would have subsided enough by the fall semester of 2020 that housing would be a hot issue. My belief was that tenants and landlords would be busy negotiating repayment options and that there would be a glut of wrongfully evicted tenants as landlords reacted to eased evictions restrictions. Unfortunately, the pandemic had not subsided by the fall so I mostly spent the time cataloging the new pandemic laws into a new questionnaire for the clinic to use during client intakes. I did get to do one intake myself but it was far from the busy workload that I had expected. Nevertheless, I did learn a lot about landlord/tenant law and was able to complete my pro bono hours.

Hello again, Jury of Peers! Today we are talking pro bono hours which is kind of perfect since I’m working on my pro bono hours right now!

LLS requires that all students complete 40 hours of pro bono work. Loyola has so many opportunities to complete pro bono hours from clinics to helping trial teams prepare for competition by being a witness. The way I am getting the majority of my hours is through Young Lawyers Program (YLP) which is a student run mock trial. Law students mentor high school students to help foster their interest in law as well as teach some basic legal skills.

My little YLP group is my mentee (who is a freshman in high school!) and a 1L who is starting his hours early. We are working on doing a direct examination of the primary defendant. Since I have the most law school experience as a 2L, most of my job is to explain principles in the simplest way I can. One thing I really feared when I learned we had a pro bono requirement was that I wasn’t going to be knowledgeable or prepared enough to actually do anything productive. But it really amazed me how much I have learned (and retained) in the last 3.5 semesters!

Pro bono hours give you a chance to exercise your knowledge. To make a cheesy analogy: pro bono is like going to the gym for your law brain, and your classes are your personal trainers. You know, the one who makes sure you stay in proper form. It’s actually really fun to get to use my knowledge outside of a class or an exam setting. And yes, I know that sounds nerdy, but if you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re nerdy too.

If I don’t complete all my hours this year, I would love to do clinic work to complete the rest. I am planning on doing a clinic anyway next year to fulfill my experiential learning requirement, but I also am genuinely looking forward to doing more work!

To finish off this post I’ll say this: it’s hard to explain pro bono until you do it. I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to foster someone’s interest in law (YLP) or help them with a legal problem (clinic). Those little moments of realization that you do remember what hearsay is AND can recall some of the exceptions. I know I’ve gotten a lot out of it, and I know you will too!

See you in the next one,

Kelsey

I recently had the privilege of attending the spring Student Organization Fair, helping to represent the Loyola Wine & Spirits Law Society (WSLS). The fair is a chance for new and prospective students to come meet current students, see the different student groups that Loyola has to offer, and, most importantly to ask questions. It was great to talk about what Wine & Spirits does and what we have to offer so I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about the organization.

In Vino Veritas is an old saying that mean, “In wine there is truth.” WSLS takes that phrase literally as a way to shed light on various aspects of the law in a fun, sociable and interesting way.

WSLS was founded in 2015 by Lucas Noble and Maddie Page, so it is still a relatively young group. The overall mission of WSLS is to provide a forum for Loyola students and practicing attorneys to explore the legal realities that producers, distributors and retailers in the alcoholic beverage industry face today. Within that overarching mission, the group changes slightly from year to year, reflecting the goals and interests of the officers in charge. For example, I and my Vice President, Rebekah Hoelscher, are interested in corporate law so our events and activities this year have largely focused on the business issues that producers and regulators face. In the past, we have hosted events focus on a wide range of topics from environmental law to criminal justice.

WSLS has been an amazing opportunity to meet and work with some amazing people, including Matthew Botting, General Counsel for the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and Teo Hunter and Beny Ashburn, founders of Crowns & Hops Brewing Co., one of the few black-owned breweries in Los Angeles. I’ve learned all about California’s regulatory system and how that system has changed due to the pandemic. During our event with Teo and Beny, we confronted some hard truths about how race and privilege, still create inequity in the brewing industry. We also talked about some possible approaches to combat those issues.

WSLS has been an amazing experience for me. I’m confident that our leaders next year and years into the future will continue to bring fun, interesting and insightful events to Loyola and provide opportunities for students to come together over a common interest in the alcoholic beverage industry at speaker events, happy hours and tastings.

Over the past two and a half year, I’ve written about some of my experiences and classes at Loyola. For this post, I asked to my legal drafting professor, Prof. Karin Bohmholdt, if she would consent to an interview so you could get to know one member of Loyola’s amazing faculty. She was gracious enough to answer a few of my questions, which are transcribed below. Due to social distancing requirements, this interview was conducted via email exchange.

Prof. Bohmholdt graduated from Loyola Law School in 2004 with magna cum laude honors after serving as the Articles Editor for the Loyola Law Review. She is now an adjunct professor and is also a practicing partner at Greenberg Traurig where is the co-chair of the firm’s Los Angeles Litigation Practice.

How long have you been a litigator?

17 years.

Why did you decide to become a litigator?

My last winter break has come and gone. I spent the time drafting a set of Bylaws for the Wine & Spirits Law Society with one of our 1L Officers, Orlando Loza, I edited law review articles, learned some Portuguese on Duolingo, made progress on my post-graduation job hunt, and dipped my toe into Bar Prep. I also took some time to just be with my wife, Claudia. We know my next real break won’t be until after I take the Bar Exam.

Now, I’ve started my last semester at Loyola and it’s a bittersweet time. I know it’s a cliché but five semesters have really flown by! Even in a year like 2020 that, let’s face it, was pretty terrible for everyone, I’m grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had so far and I’m really looking forward to getting the most out of the limited time I have left before graduation.

I’m taking five classes this semester as well as Law Review. I’m finishing my final requirements for the Corporate Concentration, I have one Bar Class (Criminal Procedure), and I’m taking one class for “fun” (Law of Sales). It’s sad and a bit funny that I won’t be able to take anymore classes at Loyola when there are still so many I wish I could take! At the same time, I know this semester is going to be a handful. There’s plenty of uncertainty about classes, the Bar, and our future job prospects but I still think there is plenty of healthy optimism.

In actuality, my biggest worry right now is when I’ll be able to get a haircut. I missed my chance to get one in December before we went back into lockdown and now my hair is out of control! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it’ll be safe to get one soon.

It’s been a while since I’ve written here, so… hello everyone! Finals can be stressful, especially during a pandemic, so this winter break felt like a breath of fresh air. I had time to digest that this is my LAST YEAR. I say it and I cannot believe it as it seems like I started law school yesterday, but as they say all good things must come to an end. As I write this, I can’t help to think about how law school has changed me (for the better, of course).

After law school, I have learned some things:

After being cold called a LOT, I can say that I am not afraid to be wrong.

After meeting a lot of people with different backgrounds, I can say that differences make us stronger.

After having to take multiple exams, I can say that how you did on an exam does not determine your knowledge on a subject matter.

After many all-nighters, I can say that working harder does not necessarily mean that you are working smarter.

After ditching that date with friends and or family, I can tell you that taking a three-hour break won’t affect your grades.

After doubting myself and making it, I can say that everyone is more capable than they think. Confidence is key!

I completed Loyola’s pro bono requirement working as a clinical student for Loyola’s Project for the Innocent during my 2L. It was such a unique hands-on experience that allowed me to work on actual cases of individuals who were asserting that they had been wrongfully convicted.

Each student was assigned two cases – one belonging to an existing client and the other belonging to a prospective client requesting our clinic’s services. With regards to the former, our assignment was to pick up where the previous student left off and establishing a working relationship with our client via letters and prison visits. With regards to the latter, our task was to sort through all the information the client sent over, pour over all the court transcripts, and communicate with the client to identify if there was a case that could be built and/or if the clinic could accept the case. The clinic’s resources are limited, and so the clinic supervisors relied on us students to make sure the cases were viable (meaning there was a strong possibility that there was a flaw in the case and as a result a wrongful conviction). Nonetheless, it was an eye-opening experience learning about the different issues that are prevalent in the criminal justice system.

Finally, pro bono work, although required by Loyola for graduation, has the added benefit of teaching us the importance of using our platform, skills, and knowledge to help others in any way we can. It reminds us that even as lawyers, there are opportunities and ways for us to give back to the community.