By Ann W. Parks

Jacob Zenn

Sheila McCorkle

Shareif Abdel

Jae Lee

The Georgetown Law Class of 2011 has moved into Gewirz Student Center, has taken tours of the city and is starting to learn things like torts and civil procedure. And they seem to like it so far.

“I thought they did a fantastic job,” first-year student Rebecca Dumas says of the organizers of Orientation Week, which took place the last week in August. Dumas, who graduated from Brown University in 2005, came to Georgetown after two years in Brazil working with a non-governmental organization (NGO) called Global Justice. “There were a lot of opportunities to bond …. The organizers made it easier for people to get to know one another and socialize.”

Kate Shovlin, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2004 and is attending law school as a student in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, attended a litigation panel hosted by Visiting Associate Professor Laurie Kohn during her first week here. She’s interested in honing her litigation skills since, she says, members of the JAG Corps are usually thrust into the courtroom right after law school. And since she holds a masters’ degree in English with a certification in women’s studies, she’s also interested in exploring classes like international women’s human rights. For now, though, she’s happy with her first year courses, which include torts with Professor Gerry Spann. “He’s really energetic and engaging,” she says.

Jacob Zenn was on his way to a meeting of the Global Law Scholars program — which allows students to share and expand their international interests — when he stopped to chat during Orientation Week. Since graduating from college three years ago, Zenn has gone backpacking in about 65 countries.

“I came to law school because I found that even though I was going everywhere, I wasn’t going up,” said Zenn, who supported himself mostly by providing tutoring in English as he traveled around the world. “I wanted to move vertically and use my legal career to learn more about the things that I learned about while traveling … I want to affect people on an institutional level instead of a local level, to learn about global legal institutions and other international organizations.”

The best path

The interests of this year’s 1L students are incredibly diverse. Though many have experiences living or traveling abroad, they bring plenty of other skills to the classroom. Dumas, for example, spent six months working as a litigation paralegal at Cleary Gottlieb before working for the NGO in Brazil. Philip Sanguinetti, who hails from London and is considering a political or international career, hasn’t ruled out journalism — having earned a degree in English from University College London. Sheila McCorkle, who graduated from Northwestern University in 2006, spent the past year doing volunteer work with disadvantaged children in Africa, Europe, and South America; the previous year, she worked in the city manager’s office for the City of Evanston, Ill., helping young people in high-risk environments.

“I have a deep sense of justice, wanting to make things fair and equal,” she says. “Law seemed to be the best path for me.”

Jae Lee, who graduated from Emory University in 2005, worked for an oil company in Korea for several years before deciding she wanted to go into policy work.

“The international environmental law program [at Georgetown] has a great reputation and not very many top schools have that,” she said. “I just thought it was really fortunate … for me that Georgetown was a great school and had this kind of program.”

Shareif Abdel, who graduated from Rutgers University in May, was inspired to come to law school after working for Joseph Doria, a former New Jersey state senator and mayor. The Law Center’s diversity appealed to him, he said, as well as the great education it offers. “I thought Georgetown had a great mix of those two things, he says. “It was a no-brain decision for me once I got in.”

Training camp

Jordan Sagalowsky, a 2004 Harvard graduate, likened the law school life to training camp — which he would know something about. After spending one year as a math teacher, he continued to pursue his passion as an elite rower after college and rowed on the U.S. and the Danish national teams (taking advantage of his dual citizenship).

“The big difference here," he says of orientation, "was that I didn’t get to sleep whenever I wanted.”

And while there are plenty of sleepless nights ahead, the new first years don’t seem to be too anxious about the work.

“You always have images of getting called on and not knowing the answer, getting drilled by the professor,” says James Dombach, who graduated from Elizabethtown College in 2008. “[The way] the movies show law school … I’m sure it’s not as bad as they make it out to be.”

Jonathan Osborne says he hasn’t met any “gunners” yet — i.e., people who are obsessed with grades. Osborne earned a master's degree in communication from University of Nevada, Las Vegas after graduating from the University of Alaska in 2006.

He says he always knew he wanted to be a lawyer, though, and worked at the U.S. attorney’s office in Nevada even as he earned his master’s degree.

So what does he expect from law school? “A lot of work…but I don’t expect it to be overwhelming to the point of depression, the way some people have warned us,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Tera Brostoff, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania last spring, seems to agree. “Everyone is having a really good time … I think it will be a good environment,” she said. “I’m definitely glad I picked this school.”

The J.D. Class of 2011

—Hails from 45 states and 23 countries (66 countries including incoming LL.M. students);

—49 percent women, 29 percent minority students

—Represents 218 different colleges and universities, with Georgetown, Harvard, Cornell, Duke, Penn, Berkeley and Yale the most heavily represented

—73 percent have taken time off before coming to law school

—Most common male names: Michael, William, David, Matthew, Andrew and Jonathan

—Most common female names: Jessica, Elizabeth, Katherine, Sarah, Laura, Danielle and Jennifer

—Courtesy of the Office of Admissions