The Law is Personal

The case was a custody dispute—a grandmother fighting for her grandson. Abby knew the stakes were high. But she was prepared. She had interviewed all the witnesses, compiled records, and gathered the evidence in her role as a Legal Aid Clinic intern. Though it was her first time carrying so much responsibility, when the time came, she presented the entire case in front of the magistrate, her supervising attorney seated quietly at the counsel table.

“I did the opening, I did the direct examination, I did the closing arguments,” Abby said. “Immediately after John (her supervising attorney) told me it went well, but I felt this crash. My adrenaline was just so high.”

That trial was one of many moments during law school that proved Abby’s persistence: no matter how difficult the situation was, she kept going. At the start of her 1L year, her first challenge was the loss of her grandmother. The year ended with a torn ACL just before finals.

“Fortunately, I had really good friends and professors,” she said. “I remember Professor Emily Houh said, ‘Bring me a list of the things you need to catch up on. Let’s sit down and I will teach you those things.’ She has 130 students, but she was willing to do that.”

As a joint degree master’s student in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) and law, Abby’s passion for the intersection of gender rights and the law ultimately pulled her from her home state of New Mexico to the Midwest. For Abby, who identifies as a lesbian, the move meant weighing her personal concerns about moving to Ohio given its political climate.

“I applied to 10 law schools before settling on Cincinnati Law because it had an explicit social justice avenue,” she said. “I was nervous about moving here because of the state’s politics. But I also believe that…we really need people who can argue and fight for LGBTQ issues here.”

And fighting for gender and LGBTQ rights as a law student is just what Abby has done. While in law school, she has shepherded gender marker and name changes, testified against anti-LGBTQ legislation, and organized drag show fundraisers, queer student gatherings, and community-wide political events. Though this advocacy work can leave her exhausted, Abby said giving up isn’t an option.

“When you hold identities that are being challenged and actively attacked, it’s risky to be advocating for those rights when…they could and are actively taking away my rights as a queer person in this state,” she said. “I remember telling a professor… I’m just so tired. Every single day there’s something new that comes out that is devastating to our community. And she said, ‘Yes, but now is not the time to stop fighting.”

Support from professors and her community has made all the difference for Abby at Cincinnati Law. When she joined Out & Allies, the college’s LGBTQ student organization, she found community with classmates who shared her experiences and mentors to support her advocacy work. Most important was Professor Ryan Thoreson, the group’s advisor, whose open-door policy, in her words, “changed my entire experience here.”