When Dean Cornblatt asked me to write about my experiences thus far at Georgetown Law, he stipulated that I write just a few paragraphs. You can all consider yourselves lucky: if it weren’t for this request for brevity, I would have subjected you to an expansive account of the all the reasons for my adoration of this school.
First, I quickly discovered how unique Georgetown is for its location. When Supreme Court Justices Breyer and O’Connor had a conference with their prominent friends from the judicial and business worlds, where did they host it? Georgetown Law, of course. We are but a stone’s throw away from the Capitol and the Supreme Court. I was able to help escort Justice Breyer during the event, and at one point I was even given my own personal preview of a speech he later delivered. It was just the Justice and me, a lowly Georgetown 1L, and he asked me to help whittle away at the speech’s content so that he might be as clear and convincing as possible. I did the best that one could under such unimaginable circumstances and tried to give as helpful a critique as possible. The next day, he thanked me for my “help” with a little note in a signed copy of his book, Active Liberty. The lesson, friends, is that Georgetown didn’t just give me the opportunity to meet a Supreme Court Justice. It did so much more by facilitating an experience that gave me a newfound insight into our judicial system. Something must be terribly right with an entity that has such a humble, deeply thoughtful, and selflessly committed man as one of its leaders, and I will always be grateful to Georgetown for allowing me to witness this firsthand.
Next, along with my fellow student ambassadors and Dean Cornblatt, I helped organize a panel discussion. This time I was able to help escort Dr. Philip Zelikow, the Counselor of the State Department. And, like every other student attending, I was able to watch a dramatic debate on U.S. practices in Guantanamo that ensued between the president of Human Rights First, a military attorney, the lawyer (and GU law professor!) who won the Hamdan case for a Guantanamo inmate, and Dr. Zelikow. Every single week there is a forum like this on a hot topic with prominent panelists or speakers from the relevant fields, and they are always in a setting intimate enough that anybody can make their way to the front after the event and personally question one of the panelists.
Well, I fear I have failed in keeping this brief, but I must leave you with one last important idea: the philosophy at Georgetown is that becoming a good lawyer doesn’t simply mean becoming a legal machine. There is a world of wisdom and experience beyond the casebook and classroom that this school is waiting to share with you.
Best of luck with the application process, and I hope that wherever you may end up, that it be as incredible for you as Georgetown has proven for me.
-Mia Havel, 1L
