Elizabeth O’Connor, Maine Law 3L, took nine years in between her undergraduate degree and law school. She went from majoring in political science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, to working with AmeriCorps and later served as Director of Volunteer Services with a major healthcare organization.
While her resume may appear to tack back and forth a bit, in O’Connor’s mind there is a straight line connecting the past decade of her professional life.
I’ve always been service oriented,” she reflected. “In all these different roles I’ve been focused on how humans can help each other in times of crisis.
This thread also runs through O’Connor’s experience in law school.
O’Connor is the Economic Justice Fellow for the Class of 2025. The fellowship, awarded annually to an incoming student, facilitates externship opportunities and pairs students with a faculty mentor to oversee their study and work within the economic justice field.
The fellowship was a major draw for O’Connor, who said it wasn’t until she spoke with former Dean and Professor Emeritus Peter Pitegoff she realized it lay at the center of her many professional experiences.
“I don’t think I fully understood what economic justice was until I spoke with Professor Pitegoff,” she recalled. “We spoke and he told me what you’re doing, what you’ve been doing, that’s economic justice and Maine Law can help you develop and grow in that line of work.”
O’Connor decided that is exactly what she wanted.
During her first summer in law school, O’Connor worked in Governor Janet Mills’ Office with Greg Payne, Senior Advisor on Housing Policy. She said the experience opened her eyes and mind to the complexity of economic justice issues and what an essential role affordable and accessible housing plays in the promotion of economic justice.
This summer, O’Connor is deepening her legal skills as a Summer Associate with Drummond Woodsum. O’Connor’s experience with the Governor’s Office and Drummond Woodsum aligns with O’Connor’s general approach to law school, which has been to gain as many diverse experiences and skill sets as possible a sound approach for tackling an issue as broad and multi-faceted as economic justice.
“I am utilizing this time to throw myself into as many uncomfortable and unfamiliar situations as possible, something the security of being back in school allows for,” she said. “I have been applying an economic justice lens to every area I explore. ”
That’s why, she added, her law school program might look a little chaotic to the untrained eye. It’s a schedule peppered with courses like business administration law and courses that will allow her to receive a certificate in privacy law, as well as the full slate of offered courses more obviously tied to economic justice issues. She is steered in all this by the new Economic Justice Fellowship Advisor, Associate Professor Kaitlin Caruso.
“ I chose Maine Law for the kinds of opportunities they offer for those who want to follow a path in any kind of public interest law,” O’Connor explained. “From my very first interaction with the admissions team, I knew it would be a place of community and support. That impression has only deepened during my time here.”
Posted: July 2024