Law School Administrator

Name: Meredith McQuaid

Major: Linguistics

Law School: University of Minnesota

Description of your job: Law School administrator; international program director; law school teacher; counselor

Do you have any advice for students who are considering going to the same law school you did? Get ready for one of the best, most challenging, most rewarding experiences of your life. Great school, great faculty and excellent student body

Is there anything in particular that you did during your undergrad that benefited you more than anything else in getting through law school and/or transitioning into the legal profession? Lived, worked and studied abroad, which may not have helped specifically with making it through law school and in working in law, but it did affect my ability to survive tough situations, and my ability to understand and appreciate people from different walks of life.

If you had a chance to go through law school all over again, is there anything you would do differently? No, nothing. I really enjoyed it and feel like a better person for it.

Is being a lawyer what you expected it would be? Why or why not? No, but I think I had quite reasonable, realistic expectations. I think taking a break between college and law school is a really good idea. Exposure to life and lawyers may give incoming law students a better appreciation for the real work that lawyers do, as opposed to the image of the work that lawyers do.

What is it like transitioning from being a law student to being a lawyer? A rude awakening. Law school is intellectually challenging and stimulating. Practicing law certainly can be that, but of course it is also a lot of work!

Is there anything students should know about the legal profession before they decide to commit their life to it? Well, what they should know is that earning a law degree does not mean that one must commit one's life to the legal profession. The process of legal education provides a student with many skills and intellectual tools which can benefit one throughout life, whether or not one stays in the legal profession

What does a typical day look like for you as a lawyer? As a law school administrator, I oversee projects, manage human relations, help troubleshoot potential problems, and work with students.