My Unconventional Path to Becoming a Lawyer

Today, June 30, 2026, I was admitted to the Oregon State Bar.

Reading that email made me stop and reflect on the entire journey to get here. Because it did not look anything like I thought it would when I first said I wanted to be a lawyer at twelve years old.

When I actually started this journey, it meant taking the LSAT. Which made me nervous, because I have always been a poor test taker. Not a poor student. A poor test taker. There’s a difference. I was student body president my senior year of high school, captain of the varsity women’s basketball team, participated in the fall play and spring musical, and was a strong academic overall. Great communicator, natural leader, pretty outgoing. Just not someone who performs well under standardized testing conditions.

So I was nervous. I took a prep course, understood about half of it, and moved forward anyway. My first score wasn’t strong enough, so I took it again. And then again. My highest score was a 154, which put me right around the 50th percentile. I was exhausted by the exam at that point and I refused to take it a fourth time.

Then every school I applied to said no. Not most of them. Every single one.

I regrouped. Started considering every school, anywhere. And eventually, one school gave me a shot: Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. I arrived determined. I was nervous that my LSAT scores, and the people who had laughed when I said I was going to be a lawyer, were going to be proven right. That I wasn’t going to make it. I proved them wrong immediately. Top of my class. 4.0 in torts. I knew my stuff when it came to a cold call.

After a year, I felt, without being able to fully explain it, that Thomas Jefferson was not where I was supposed to finish my degree. The school was California bar accredited, and I wanted more options. So I left. I became a paralegal for six months and was just kind of living, figuring it out. Then I learned about Lewis and Clark Law School and realized I might be able to transfer using my 1L grades. So I did. Lewis and Clark is one of the top environmental law programs in the country, consistently ranked number one or two nationally. I had no interest in environmental law. I just wanted the best school I could get into.

At Lewis and Clark, I became a certified law student, worked with some great firms, explored different areas of law, and earned my JD. That alone would have been enough for me, because that was hard. Then came the SPPE, and now, today, I am officially licensed. I wasn’t sure this day would ever come. So today is a big day.

I’m sharing all of this for the reader who doesn’t feel capable. The one whose LSAT score doesn’t seem strong enough, whose grades aren’t where they need to be, who keeps getting nos. If you are called to be in the law, you will be. If I can do it, you can definitely do it. Your path may not look like the “right” path. Don’t let the first no stop you. People will doubt you the entire way. Let them.

If God calls you to a room, He will put you there. And He will qualify you.

Here are my four tips for the road:

1. Pray.

Prayer got me through it. When I took that six-month break, I turned to God because I felt like I had nothing else. That is when my life started to change.

2. Act on your prayer.

You must put in the work and trust that God is guiding your actions. Faith without movement is just wishing.

3. Find your people.

You don’t need a study group. You need one or two people who are on the same wavelength as you, people who get it, who you can study with but also just debrief with. Whether you’re studying for the LSAT, turning in applications, or preparing for the bar exam, good people make all the difference. Law school is a lot to carry. Find the people who make it lighter.

4. Find a system that works for you, not for everyone else.

Law school will tell you how to study. It won’t tell you when, or in what order, or how your brain actually works. Figure that out yourself. I’m a morning person, so I read in the morning, took classes midday when I could schedule it that way, and after 6pm my brain was off. I wasn’t staying up until midnight stressed and unproductive. Find your rhythm and protect it.

You got this.