Personal Statement to Study Law

I view my life as a puzzle; picking up pieces through my beliefs, experiences and passions and placing them in their designated positions. It is not until I created the border and most of the middle that I can began to see what my puzzle is meant to become. My picture is starting to show that I am meant to help people, specifically through the legal capacity. Author Jen Leaman wrote, “The human race is like a puzzle: Everyone fits in somewhere, it just takes a while to figure it out”. Raised in Browns Mills, New Jersey, although as a military family we have struggled. Several bouts of experiencing homelessness have only pushed me to work hard so my family and I no longer have to struggle. These hardships I have added the borders (my values and work ethic) to my puzzle. Although nowhere near complete attending, Emory law will continue to influence and add pieces to my puzzle.

My first confrontation with widespread racism occurred during high school, an experience that first motivated me to attend law school. Attending a culturally diverse school, racial differences had never been a problem until sophomore year. It was then I, an African-American, was confronted with the glaring realization that racism against persisted. My majority African-American cheerleading squad attended a football game where barraged by the home team’s spectators screaming racial slurs as we entered. At the end of the game, a racially motivated brawl ensued. I was livid, astonished and confused. That night I learned that although discrimination laws have changed, there remain pockets of society that have not changed with it. While it prompted me to learn about my culture, this event also pushed me to fight against the stereotypes weather through my own actio...

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...ieces to my developing masterpiece.

My personal and educational growth in college and subsequent professional experience provided an avenue for a career choice, working in law. I have learned that the law protects on all levels from the multi-million dollar client to the single mom who can barely feed her children. It is through this that I can continue to make a difference in my and others’ lives. Emory Law offers me the opportunity to further my goals through its International Humanitarian Law Clinic, Volunteer Clinic for Veterans, and the multiple of chances to help others through my blossoming legal knowledge while in school. All of these would add pieces of my puzzle and help bring into focus the bigger picture of my puzzle. Through attending Emory Law I will continue to create change through helping and ultimately find where I fit in this greater human puzzle.