To be honest, going solo was never my intent upon enrolling in law school. I saw myself working for a good firm and likely staying at that firm for a long time. My father is a lawyer and has worked at the same firm his entire career. I too have always been loyal to my employers. For many reasons, however, that will not be the case. Instead, life has given me a curveball and I have been forced to adapt to my circumstances. At first I was bitter because of my circumstances—I told myself I had worked too hard, spent too much time, and sacrificed too much to end up in my position.

These feelings have slowly changed, however, as I have realized that despite the curveball that has been thrown my way, it is a curveball that I can hit. Indeed, it is a curveball that will provide me opportunities that I never thought would be possible. I am confident in my abilities and am certain of my success. Nevertheless, two very different feelings have overcome me as I have begun my journey of deciding to start my own practice—fear and excitement.

Let me begin with excitement. I feel excitement because, for the first time in my career, I am going to be able to do the things that I want to do. I will be able to choose my clients. I will be able to choose how I balance my time between my career and my family. I will be able to do with my time what I would like to do. I am also excited because I get to overcome challenges. Certainly there will be tough times. I look forward to those challenges. I look forward to looking outside the box and overcoming my difficulties.

These feelings of excitement are great. However, they are often overshadowed by a very different feeling—that of fear. I feel fear because of the unknown. What if I am not able to get clients? What if I don’t know what is best for my client? Will people trust me? Are people going to pay for legal services in such a bad economic period? Will the economy just get worse? Most of these questions stem from the lack of practical education taught in law school.

Perhaps the thing I fear most, however, is that I will not be able to support my wife and three kids. The summer before law school, my wife and I welcomed our first child, a daughter, into the world. She has brought us so much joy. After my 2L year, my wife and I decided that we were ready to have our second child. Boy were we surprised when we found out that our second and third children were coming together—twins! Almost 8 months ago, these two healthy (thankfully) boys joined our family. Life has never been the same. Being a father has caused me to grow tremendously and brought me much joy. However, I often feel the overwhelming obligation to be able to provide for my family.

All of this brings me to the reason I am seeking this scholarship. Solo Practice University can help alleviate many of my fears. Solo Practice University will give me the resources and tools that I need to succeed. It will be my designated hitter when the curveball comes speeding towards home plate. I can’t wait for the opportunities that lie ahead and for the help that SPU will be able to offer. Thank you.

Since entering law school in 2009, I always had the goal of opening my own firm. Even if that meant starting out working with a large or small firm before I could make that happen. The more I have prayed, spoken with people and thought about it, the quicker I learned I needed to skip that step. Running a law firm is expensive, but if the proper foundation has been laid, the necessary resources will come in due time. SPU will provide me with the proper foundation.

Not everything in life comes easy; however, an opportunity to attend SPU would provide me with the tools I need to become successful in the world of solo practice. My alma mater has prepared me in more ways than one to practice law in the real world, but not necessarily on my own. Furthermore, there is always room for growth at any stage.

Thank you again for the opportunity and your consideration of my application!

My goal is to start a family law practice. During law school, I discovered my strong interest in family law issues. As a participant in a children’s rights clinic, I managed my own caseload and worked with exceptional attorney-mentors who provided great insight into practicing family law. After this experience, I secured an internship at the Attorney General’s Office in the Child Support Division. Through my experiences, I have become drawn to issues affecting children and the family. In my practice, I aim to maintain a special focus on issues affecting the child (child-support, child-custody, adoption).

A scholarship to Solo Practice University would be very valuable to me. Like many, I face financial limitations because of my student loans. Additionally, I am very excited about the course offerings and am confident I could make the most of access to such valuable practical learning tools. Thank you for your consideration of my application!

This scholarship would be a great benefit to me. Opening a solo firm is both the most exciting and scary thing I will probably ever do in my life. It is exciting because I will control my own destiny and have the opportunity to build something from the ground up. It is scary because success and a steady paycheck is not guaranteed. I will also be getting married this fall and I worry about providing for my spouse who was so patient and supporting to me during law school. In order to follow my dream, I had to pack up and move back to my home state which means my fiance and I basically have to both start from scratch. Any additional support, would go a long way to help quell my fears and allow my to focus on the both the success of my practice and becoming the best attorney I can become for my clients. I thank you for your consideration.

My experience in law school has been quite fortunate. Even though I have been inherently disadvantaged attending a T3 law school, I clerked for a semester with a federal judge and assisted drafting two opinions with him, I successfully advocated two SSDI cases in my school’s clinic, placed 3rd in an annual writing competition, published five articles in four different sources (including my state’s bar association’s blog and in two separate law reviews), served on a student council committee, assisted admissions as an ambassador, and spent my 2L year as a general law review member before being elected onto the editorial board this year. A truly involved law school experience.

Yet as fortunate as I have been, and even graduating with Latin honors, I still face over $100,000 in debt; primarily from law school but also undergraduate loans. That is because my law school provided me with a mere $1,000 scholarship my 3L year, which was really the product of my election onto the Law Review editorial board. To add insult to injury, the law firm I had been working at for a year balked at full-time offers due to the tumultuous economic environment coupled with an immediate need; not able to wait until August.

Receiving a scholarship from SPU would do more than provide me with the tools to practice law. But it would acknowledge my achievements and show there is faith in my ability. Further, it would be transferable to my own law firm marketing LLC this past semester I formed immediately before graduating. Thus, the fruits of this scholarship would be doubled.

Thank you for such a generous opportunity, and equally for your consideration in my application.