A Force for the Future: Columbia Law School

Being a force in the world for me... I think for me, I want to be a force for democracy, I want to be a force for justice. A force for change. A force for prosperity. A force for justice. Columbia Law School is a force in the world. For a place that is involved in serious intellectual engagement, but not kind of inward looking, really outward looking. For me, going to law school was about looking at the world the way it is and not accepting the injustices. A Columbia Law lawyer understands that the law and the communities we exist in are not mutually exclusive. They are intertwined. A Columbia Law lawyer is someone who takes the education that we've been afforded and utilizes it to change the world. My upbringing and being around so many different kinds of people led me to want to continue to help people in the ways that I saw that they were struggling. Everything we study has some element, not of just what the law is, but what social policies are we advancing in the law and how do we fight some of these inequities of the legal system to make a more prosperous world for everybody in it. Here we are and we have this enormous privilege to think about how we can improve our nation and the world at large. It's my passion to increase the accessibility of information and resources for communities across the U.S. that are going through the immigration process. You know, the process of bringing people together around economic justice, environmental justice, human rights, voting rights, is something that I'm really passionate about. When I see my students walking across the stage and I realize that they are making this transition to suddenly being a person that other people are looking up to. You can wake up today knowing that the work you did yesterday made something different and that's something I want to do with my life. The decisions we make to utilize the law as a force for change impacts people beyond the walls of a law school, beyond the walls of any office building. When we think of a force in the world we think of achieving justice and equality on a grand scale, but it also starts with every human interaction that we have. Columbia Law Lawyer is someone who's committed to thinking big. I think for me, I want to be a force for democracy. It's not enough that you can care about something. Having this specialized tool set means that you need to try to do something with it. We are the next generation of change makers and that is what this school, this education is preparing you for.