UCI Law Video: We Are UCI Law: Class of 2014

Class of 2014 graduates Lisa Faye Petak, Hagop Boyaci, AK Bennett, Jesse Welsh-Keyser, Teddy Nguyen, Pavneet Mac and Jonathan Markovitz reflect on their experiences at UCI Law.

Video Transcript:

Lisa Faye Petak, 0:15 – 0:50
I came to law school knowing that I wanted to do impact litigation, high-level civil rights work, but I always sort of imagined that if I got the opportunity to do it, it was a slim chance. What I didn’t expect was how well this particular institution prepared me for the very highest levels of the profession that I was reaching for. And not just prepared me for, but actually open the doors to make that possible. And there are so few people who have the opportunity to say “I get to graduate and do the work that I said I wanted to do in my admission statement.”

Hagop Boyaci, 0:50 – 1:17
I was truly blessed to come to this law school. I think I’m going to miss my friends the most, my classmates were truly special. I do feel people in this class, my children’s generation, whenever they end up going to law school, whoever goes to law school in their generation, will read about cases that my classmates and I have worked on, so I truly believe they’re going to make an impact on the legal industry. So I just can’t wait for the day where their generation gets to see the work product that I got to see every day for three years.

AK Bennett, 1:18 – 1:50
I feel that UCI’s really done a fantastic job of training me how to be a lawyer. I know that that’s one of the things the school set out to do that’s different from other law schools and I think that at every turn we’ve had the opportunity to exercise practice skills and you can do that as much as you want to. And so I feel like I’ve had the chance to and I have taken advantage of those opportunities and I am prepared to do the work of lawyering in a way that I don’t know I would have felt leaving law school any place else.

Jesse Welsh-Keyser, 1:51 – 2:17
I think the thing I’ll miss the most about UC Irvine Law School is really the community, both the faculty and students. Within the students in my classes, it’s not often you sit between someone in a class–the person to your right has a Ph.D. in neuroscience and the person to your left is a small business owner who decided to go to law school as a second career. And so the faculty of course, just the diversity of experience that they just brought made an amazing place to become a lawyer.

Teddy Nguyen, 2:18 – 2:43
UCI Law is not just about the academics, it’s not just about the experiential learning, it’s not just about great faculty or a great location, it’s about people who just want to do nice things for others. We all came here to be empowered, but not to empower ourselves, but to use ourselves as vessels to empower other people. And that’s sort of the model of UCI Law: public service.

Pavneet Mac, 2:44 – 2:51
You know I made the best choice ever. I was deciding between two schools before I came to UCI Law, and I’m so glad that I chose to come to UCI Law.

Jonathan Markovitz, 2:52 – 3:11
It’s just been wonderful from day one. It’s the most supportive environment I’ve ever been a part of and way more than I could have imagined. All of the students are great. When I wind up in a random selection of people, even people I haven’t spent time with, I’m always happy to be around them. They’re just universally wonderful people.

AK Bennett, 3:12 – 3:50
You know a lot of us had the opportunity to go to a lot of other – we could have chosen to go to a lot of other fantastic law schools, and we all took a chance to come here and I think all of us today feel like we definitely made the right decision. I’m so happy to have been a part of the UCI Law community and I’m really excited to come back to help judge oral arguments and, you know, help advise students as an alum. I’m real excited to see where this school goes and I hope that retain the culture of collegiality and entrepreneurial spirit that I love so much about our school.