Student Spotlight: Aidan Graybill bolsters values of tribal community through internship

Aidan Graybill and Judge Charles H. Tripp

Second-year law student Aidan Graybill plans to utilize her legal education to practice tribal law. Graybill is a member of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, which is based in Kansas City, Kansas.

This summer, Graybill is an intern for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s tribal prosecutor in Mayetta, Kansas. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is one of four federally recognized Indian tribes in Kansas, along with the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; the Kickapoo Tribe of Indians in Kansas; and the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska.

“There is no greater privilege than being able to interact with and work for the interests of a tribe, as it’s important to learn the values and objectives of the community directly from them to best represent them as a sovereign nation,” Graybill said.

Graybill is earning academic credit for her internship through the school’s Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program.

“I think that working in a field placement is absolutely indispensable experience, especially when working with tribal communities,” Graybill said.

As a summer intern, Graybill helps the tribal prosecutor by researching legal matters, observing court cases, taking notes at hearings and drafting journal entries about court cases. Her favorite part of the internship is the opportunity to interact with the judge, court administration and attorneys in the courtroom.

“Everyone is always so kind. The Nation, with few extreme exceptions in criminal matters, always has the individual’s best interest at heart,” Graybill said. “They are always viewed as integral members of the community that have something to contribute to the Nation despite the hardships that landed them in the courtroom.”

Graybill said that working with a tribal government has given her a unique courtroom experience that she would not have gotten otherwise.  

“In order to work for a tribal nation as a prosecutor, but really in any capacity, you have to understand, respect, and be invested in what is most important to the community,” Graybill said. “If you don’t do that, you simply won’t be able to represent the community in the appropriate manner of furthering tribal sovereignty and self-determination.”

Graybill — who is originally from Scottsdale, Arizona — is a third-generation Jayhawk. Her grandfather, Harry Owen Ogg, graduated from KU in 1957. Her mother, Jolie Ogg Graybill, graduated in 1987.

After studying anthropology, biology and political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for her undergraduate studies, Graybill was drawn to KU Law for many reasons. She elected to pursue a legal degree in the sunflower state because of her familial ties to KU, the proximity to her Kansas City-based tribe and the law school’s Tribal Law and Government program.

At KU, Graybill is enrolled in a joint-degree program. In May 2021, Graybill will graduate with a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law and a M.A. in Indigenous studies from KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She also plans to earn the Tribal Law Certificate before she graduates.

 “KU offers an awesome program that allows you to earn both degrees in three years, so I figured I may as well do it!” Graybill said.

She is the president of the Mindfulness in Law Society, vice president of the Native American Law Students Association and treasurer for Women in Law. During her first year of law school, she also attended meetings for the American Constitution Society, Black Law Students Association, and OUTlaws and Allies.

Graybill will also serve on the Dean’s Diversity Leadership Council during the upcoming academic year.

“This is an opportunity which I am really grateful for,” Graybill said. “I hope we will make positive changes in student experiences within the law school and be able provide opportunities for prospective students as well.”

For the remainder of her time at Green Hall, Graybill looks forward to being involved with multiple student organizations, becoming more confident in her research and writing skills and gaining more legal experience through summer internships.

— By Ashley Golledge

This post is the eighth in a series highlighting the diverse internships and jobs KU Law students and recent graduates are engaged in over the summer of 2019 and early in their careers. Check out earlier posts from this series about David Biegel, Samantha Natera, Mohammad Hameed, Ellen Bertels, Delaney Hiegert, Jackson Ely and Claudia Chavarria.

I want you for public service

Recent graduate encourages law students to consider a legal career in public service

We go to law school, and, when we think about jobs, we think about law firms. Most of the OCIs are law firms. The 1L mixers are hosted by law firms. Law firms play a prominent role in our law school experience. Through three years of law school, and my first post-graduate job, I have worked exactly zero minutes for a law firm. Why? Because I felt another calling: public service. After 1L year, I interned with the U.S. District Court in Kansas. Next year found me with the Solicitor’s Division at the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. Now, I am a Research Attorney on the Kansas Court of Appeals. I love public service because it gives me unique opportunities that a private law firm could not provide.

Working in public service gives you, quite obviously, the chance to serve the public. For me, that truly is a calling. So few people have the chance to attend law school. People helped me get to where I am, so I relish the opportunity to give back. We have been blessed with an amazing opportunity. Everyone should take the chance to serve to the people around them. Law firms do important work serving their clients’ interests, but public service often focuses on the bigger picture. Private law firms must focus on what their clients need now. In public service, there is always a similar immediate goal, but it is in the service of a bigger goal. 

Public service also offers a personal benefit, too. Law firms frequently have their summer associates work on projects that might play a small piece in the overall puzzle.  Public service cannot afford that. If you work in public service, you are going to work in public service. My jobs immediately threw me in to working on substantive matters where my work product was actually used. There was no time to waste, as work needed done. I can remember several of my friends talking about how a line from their memo ended up in their firm’s brief. I never got to say that. Instead, I could point at the brief itself and say, “That was my work.” That is rare for a law student. Because of these jobs, I graduated from KU with real world experience working as an attorney. That experience is priceless. I start my first “adult job” with a good idea of my skill-set and experience doing the work.

My time in public service was my favorite part of law school (except Law Review). It was more than a job. It was a calling. Public service gives you the chance to work for others and the opportunity to get a real taste of what a working attorney does. Can the pay, if there is any, compete with a private firm? Not even close. But the opportunities it provides are priceless. If you are looking for the best hands-on experience, public service is your route.

— Ryan Ott, L’19

Gaining experience through the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement

3L Eliza Kassebaum

During my first year of law school, I was convinced that I wanted to practice family law. One summer as an intern for a Kansas District Judge warned me off that career pathway real quick. Instead, I became fascinated with criminal prosecution. Following my judicial internship and subsequent interest in criminal prosecution, I structured my 2L schedule entirely around the desire to be a part of the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program.

I was fortunate enough to get a placement with the same county attorney that ignited my interest in criminal prosecution in the first place, and my field placement has been nothing short of enlightening. I have learned more within one month of my internship at the Franklin County Attorney’s office than I learned my entire 1L year.

There is something to be said in the advantage of learning by doing that makes any field placement an essential advantage in law school. Don’t misunderstand; it is because of what I learned in my brick and mortar classes that I continue to learn and succeed in my internship. Criminal Procedure and Trial Advocacy, for example, have been invaluable to my education in my internship.

It was such a joy to have a light bulb moment every time an arrest or evidentiary concern in my internship mirrored the same issues and cases we learned about in Criminal Procedure and Evidence. It helped to ground my lecture learning in something concrete and made me appreciate what I’m learning in law school all the more.

However, my internship has not only given me the opportunity to learn in a practice environment, it has also given me an experience I would not be able to have anywhere else. If I wanted to do something in court, I would only have to ask and the attorneys in my office would give me the opportunity to do with as much guidance as I would need.         

Bench trials have been a particularly informative experience just because there are so many working parts to consider in preparing before the trial and during the trial. Formulating targeted questions, preparing witnesses and constructing an appropriate sentence are all necessities towards a successful trial. In addition to bench trials, I’ve learned the necessity of a plea deal — when a deal is appropriate and when it isn’t.

Finally, I learned the importance of a team. In my very biased opinion, the Franklin County Attorney’s office is so successful at what they do because they work together and enjoy doing it. To be a part of a team — if only for a summer — that so obviously thrives in a positive work environment made possible by the attorneys and trial assistants that work there has been the joy of my law school career. 

Five-hundred words is not enough to describe how much this internship has meant to me. I will able to take this experience with me into my final year of law school and into my law career having become a better student and better future lawyer because of it.

—  Eliza Kassebaum is a 3L at the University of Kansas School of Law.

Student Spotlight: Claudia Chavarria makes a positive impact through internship at advocacy center

Rising 2L Claudia Chavarria

Rising 2L Claudia Chavarria hopes to pursue a career in immigration law because she is passionate about helping immigrants and giving back to the community she grew up in.

Chavarria is originally from El Paso, Texas – which is one of the main ports of entry for immigrants entering the U.S. Chavarria’s background played a pivotal role in her views on immigration, justice and advocacy for underrepresented communities.

Chavarria studied political science and legal reasoning at the University of Texas at El Paso. She interned at Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, Inc. — a full-service immigration legal aid clinic — before coming to law school. She also volunteered at CASA of El Paso, a nonprofit organization that represents and advocates for abused and neglected children in the family court system.

This summer, Chavarria is a legal intern at the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso. Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center is a nonprofit organization that provides free or low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees.

“I want to help those who are detained get out of detention centers and gain a little bit of freedom,” Chavarria said. “I want to give people hope and let them know that this is a country of opportunities. I want to give others the hope that they have lost.”

Chavarria is gaining valuable first-hand legal experience with immigration law through her internship. She visits clients in detention centers to do intake paperwork, helps prepare clients for interviews, talks to clients’ family members, gathers information and documents for client applications, helps write motions and briefs, conducts legal research and translates documents.

She has also had the opportunity to go to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico to do intake paperwork with individuals who are part of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The MPP are protocols by the U.S. Government in which individuals entering or seeking admission to the U.S. from Mexico wait outside of the country for the duration of their immigration proceedings.

Chavarria said that the most challenging part of her internship is wanting to help as many people as possible, but knowing it isn’t possible because of limited resources.

“I constantly am angered by not being able to fully help everyone or do more to change their situations,” she said. “It breaks my heart knowing that many people are treated badly. Often, this goes unnoticed. Many cases go unheard of, and many stories are unknown. So many people do not receive the help they need.”

At Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Chavarria enjoys seeing positive results yielded from cases she’s assisted with.

“It has been extremely rewarding to hear when a client is released from detention. It is exciting to see the end result of the hard work that is done,” Chavarria said. “Everyone here is so passionate and hardworking. Seeing the effort that each person gives and seeing the results of it makes me proud to be here.”

Through her internship, Chavarria is able to take concepts and principles she learned in law classes and apply them to real-life scenarios with clients. She said her internship is, “challenging, enriching and fulfilling at the same time.”

“I can apply what I‘ve learned in school so far to make a positive impact in someone’s life,” Chavarria said. “One of the best ways to learn is to take initiative and not be scared to try or do something that you have never done before.”

Chavarria is the vice president of KU Law’s Hispanic American Law Students Association; secretary of the Dean’s Diversity Leadership Council; and a member of the International Law Society, Women in Law, First-Generation Professionals and the Federal Bar Association. She also plays for the law school’s intramural volleyball, sand volleyball and soccer teams.

Chavarria hopes to one day practice law in an area where legal representation is not as accessible and there is a need for attorneys.

— By Ashley Golledge

This post is the seventh in a series highlighting the diverse internships and jobs KU Law students and recent graduates are engaged in over the summer of 2019 and early in their careers. Check out earlier posts from this series about David Biegel, Samantha Natera, Mohammad Hameed, Ellen Bertels, Delaney Hiegert and Jackson Ely.

Student Spotlight: Jackson Ely develops legal skills through judicial internship

Douglas County District Court Judge Sally Pokorny and 2L Jackson Ely

Second-year law student Jackson Ely is spending his summer interning for Douglas County District Court Judge Sally Pokorny. Ely is earning academic credit for his internship through the school’s Judicial Field Placement Program.

At his internship, Ely researches issues, writes legal memos and observes courtroom proceedings. He also gets a behind-the-scenes look at the decision making process used by a district court judge.  

“It is really rewarding to see the results of my work being used by the judge to make decisions and have a real impact in the justice system,” Ely said.

He enjoys the quick pace of working in a courtroom. Through his position, Ely has become efficient at legal research and writing. 

“New issues crop up every day,” Ely said. “The courthouse is a busy place, and there is always something happening that requires research into an issue.”

Ely has developed legal skills through his internship that he intends to put into practice during the rest of his time in law school. He said the best advice he received was to strive to be unbiased in the courtroom.

“Judge Pokorny told me that the best thing to do is to stay objective, not get emotionally invested in a case and focus on the facts,” he said.

Ely enjoys doing legal work that influences the lives of community members.

“In most law school classes, the issues are hypothetical and everything takes place in a made up, controlled environment,” he said. “Here, the parties are real, the issues are real, and the results are real.”

Douglas County District Court Judge Sally Pokorny and 2L Jackson Ely

Ely’s hometown is Flower Mound, Texas, which is just north of Dallas. He earned an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

When applying to law schools, Ely did not let the Kansas/Missouri border war sway his decision making.

“KU Law is a well-established and respected law school, and the cost of tuition was very reasonable compared to other schools,” Ely said.

Ely said that after he visited KU Law prospectively, he was left with a positive impression about the school’s faculty members because they were, “really engaged and invested in the students compared to other schools I visited.”

“I felt that KU Law genuinely cared about its students,” Ely said. “Professor Webb Hecker saw that I was a prospective student and took the time to talk with me for over an hour about the culture of the law school and the opportunities it offered. After I visited the school and spoke with Professor Hecker, I knew it was the law school for me.”

At KU Law, Ely serves as vice president of the Business and Tax Law Society and secretary of the newly formed Midwest Innocence Project Student Organization. He is also a member of the Sports Law Society.

Ely hopes to use the experience and knowledge he gained from his internship and extracurricular involvement to launch his legal career.

— By Ashley Golledge

This post is the sixth in a series highlighting the diverse internships and jobs KU Law students and recent graduates are engaged in over the summer of 2019 and early in their careers. Check out earlier posts from this series about David Biegel, Samantha Natera, Mohammad Hameed, Ellen Bertels and Delaney Hiegert.

Student Spotlight: Delaney Hiegert advocates for equality

2L Delaney Hiegert (far right) participates in the San Francisco Pride parade. Pictured from left to right: 2L David Harris, the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law; 2L Derek Ha, the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law; 3L Hannah Hussey, Yale Law School; 3L Emily Merel, UCLA School of Law; 3L Alex Moody, the University of Michigan Law School; and 2L Delaney Hiegert, KU Law. Photo courtesy of Delaney Hiegert.

As a lesbian woman, LGBT+ activism and advocacy have been a part of Delaney Hiegert’s life since she came out.

Hiegert, a second-year KU Law student, is spending her summer as a law clerk at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) in San Francisco.

“There’s really no words for how excited I was when I received the call that I got the job,” Hiegert said. “I never imagined I’d be working in San Francisco alongside attorneys responsible for the first state bill to protect LGBT+ youth from conversion therapy or who are representing some of the plaintiffs in the Trans Military Ban cases.”

Hiegert is one of six law clerks at the NCLR this summer. Each of the law clerks answer phone calls on the NCLR’s national helpline, which takes calls from LGBT+ community members or individuals with LGBT+ children who are seeking legal information and resources.

“It is such an amazing feeling to know you’ve helped someone handle a problem that was causing them genuine distress,” she said. “Though I’m not able to provide every caller with good news or even with a solid answer, I’m still able to listen to them and be empathetic to their situation. That is something I’m proud to do each day and is what makes this job truly rewarding.”

2L Delaney Hiegert holds a NCLR sign at the San Francisco Pride parade. Photo courtesy of Delaney Hiegert.

At her internship, she also assists staff attorneys with legal research, memos, and letters of support for policy initiatives that will benefit the LGBT+ community and other minority communities.

“Though it’s invigorating working at an organization that is actively fighting for LGBT+ equality, it’s also harrowing to see the breadth of challenges our community is still facing,” Hiegert said.

Hiegert applied for the internship after speaking with KU Law Associate Professor Kyle Velte, who served as a law clerk at the NCLR in 1997.

“Talking with Professor Velte is what initially got me interested in the job. Once I researched the position after our conversation, I realized this was basically my dream job,” Hiegert said.

Through her internship at the NCLR, Hiegert has solidified her intentions to pursue a career that incorporates LGBT+ advocacy through both litigation and policy.

National Center for Lesbian Rights attorneys and law clerks participate in the San Francisco Pride parade. Photo courtesy of Delaney Hiegert.

Hiegert is originally from Topeka. She earned an undergraduate degree from Newman University in Wichita, where she was actively involved with the university’s LGBT+ and ally organization, Kaleidoscope.

She elected to continue her education at KU Law because she felt most at home while visiting Green Hall.

“I loved that the school was set up in a way that made the faculty easily accessible. The environment felt friendly, and the students were all welcoming,” Hiegert said. “I am able to stay close to family while getting my degree, which is a nice bonus.”

Hiegert is the president of KU Law’s chapter of OUTLaws & Allies, a student group devoted to making KU Law a safe and welcoming place for LGBT+ students, staff, faculty and their allies. As president of the organization this year, Hiegert plans to incorporate programming for, “larger collaborative law school events that could help to foster an even more inclusive and diverse environment at KU.”

As a member of the organization last year, Hiegert enjoyed participating in OUTLaws & Allies events such as an annual tailgate with Lawrence High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance Club, a panel and movie screening of the film “Milk” in honor of National Coming Out Day, and a presentation about the ban on transgender military service by Emma Shinn.

Hiegert is also the vice president of the Dean’s Diversity Leadership Council, 2L Representative for the Black Law Students Association and Sergeant-at-Arms for the American Civil Liberties Union of KU.

— By Ashley Golledge

This post is the fifth in a series highlighting the diverse internships and jobs KU Law students and recent graduates are engaged in over the summer of 2019 and early in their careers. Check out earlier posts from this series about David Biegel, Samantha Natera, Mohammad Hameed and Ellen Bertels.