My name is Kristen Johnson. I graduated from the University
of Missouri-Columbia with a B.A. in Spanish and political science. I am
originally from Jefferson City, Missouri, and hope to practice as an attorney
in that community in the future. After graduation, I will be clerking for Chief
Justice Mary R. Russell at the Supreme Court of Missouri.
For me, MU Law has been many things. It has been a goal I
strived for through high school and college. It has been a lifestyle as I
briefed, outlined, and studied my way through the last three years. It has been
a stress factor as I prepared for exams and anxiously awaited my grades every
semester. It has been a lesson in time management as I strove to balance family
and school. And it has been a community that has supported me and lifted me up
at every turn.
Most of all, law
school has been an incredible opportunity to grow both intellectually and
professionally. The faculty at MU Law challenged us to think and act like
lawyers and helped us develop the tools necessary for that task. I have had
incredible opportunities through the law school that I could not have gotten
elsewhere, including conducting a moot court argument before Missouri Supreme
Court judges and appearing in court on behalf of real clients through the
school’s family violence clinic.
One such growing experience has been my membership with the
Missouri Law Review. Working on the journal has fostered in me an attention to
detail and has allowed me to stretch my wings as a legal writer. I know these
skills will aid me throughout my legal career.
Law school has indeed been many things to me.
But if I had
to choose just one word to describe my experience at MU Law, that word would
be: rewarding.
