Profile - Danielle Kearney '11

Undergraduate School: Christopher Newport University  Hometown: Virginia Beach, Virginia

Who's your favorite professor?

My favorite professor is Professor A. Benjamin Spencer. Professor Spencer is challenging, engaging, and dynamic.  Professor Spencer cares about the academic and professional success of his students both inside and outside the classroom.  I have come to know and respect Professor Spencer as a professor and personal mentor.  

How did you pick Washington and Lee?

I had always known that I would pursue a career as an attorney, thus attending law school was a natural next stop after completing my undergraduate degree.  As an undergraduate I worked alongside the President, Paul Trible, of Christopher Newport University (CNU).  Paul Trible attended Washington and Lee University School of Law after receiving a B.A. at Hamden Sydney.  Often times as we would discuss academic and residential life policies he would comment on his desire to draw many of his positive experiences at W&L Law (the Honor System being one of them) onto the campus of CNU.  Washington and Lee University School of Law was the first law school I applied to and the first to which I was accepted.  As it turns out, attending W&L Law was also a natural progression.

What student organizations have you been involved with during your time in law school?

I am presently the President of W&L Law's Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and the Public Relations Chair of the W&L Law Equality Project (formerly Outlaw).  My involvement in these organizations has allowed me to become an active participant in encouraging cooperation and closer ties between members of the Law School's multicultural community and in establishing a vehicle through which its concerns are brought to bear on Washington and Lee Law School policy and the community at large.

Describe your favorite classroom moment.

My favorite classroom moments occurred during my Contracts section as a 1L student.  Professor Calhoun would often take time at the end of class each Thursday to read sections of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' biography or to discuss with us the significance of the life decisions we were making on our paths to become attorneys.  It was during these particular class sessions that I truly began to appreciate Washington and Lee Law and all that it had to offer.