COMMUNITY
LAW SCHOOL : A 3.0 GPA but a 4.0 Experience
JULIAN CAMPBELL UGA Law School Julian . Campbell @ uga . edu
T he Atlanta legal community drew me from London to Georgia , a place unknown to me , my wife and our newborn daughter . Having received a full scholarship to UGA Law and considering the employment and clerkship opportunities , as well as their bar passage rates , it was too good an opportunity to pass up .
Making a career change in my 30s was financially challenging . Student loans don ' t factor in the costs of having dependents . My wife forfeited her maternity leave to support us , and we had to use food stamps . Despite the financial strain , I believed I could make the sacrifice payoff by landing in the top 20 % of my class . That would ensure that I would be competitive for the best employment opportunities . I prepared intensely and was optimistic , but my fall 1L grades were disappointing .
“ You would ’ ve had an “ A- ” or “ A ” if you identified negligence on the test ,” my torts professor said . I identified every category of negligence , except the big one . Somehow , I thought identifying “ negligence ” was superfluous , like a doctor saying , “ the patient is sick ,” rather than giving specific a diagnosis . I missed a “ B ” in civil procedure by one point . At least in contracts I got an “ A- ”. It ’ s hard to come back from grades like that , but I doubled down on my commitment , and apparently doubled down on fatherhood as well . We were expecting another
30 March / April 2024