Julia Steggerda Corey

I attribute my success 100% to my mom's dedication to our education. She raised us with the belief that education is the most important thing you can have. It is the one thing nobody could ever take from you. She instilled in us a love of reading, a love of learning from an early age, combined with a good, strong work ethic. I think that has really attributed so much to what I have achieved professionally, what I bring into the classroom, and what I try to relate to my students.

I think when it comes to the law, one of the best pieces of advice was to learn to equally value every perspective. That is so important when you're thinking about representing clients and in policy work as well. You can't come at a solution or can't come at representing a client only from your perspective. It has to be, also, what is the opposing counsel's perspective? What is my client's perspective? What is the opposing client? What is the opposing individual's? Every single player, what is the judge's perspective? What's the jury gonna think about? If you want to have an effective representation of your client, you have to value every single one of those perspectives equally. None is more important or more valuable than any other, because they're all going to play a role in the outcome of the case. That's something that I also really try to teach my students, is how are we going to look at this from multiple perspectives, and how are we going to create an argument in favor of our client and advocate for our client in the midst of the competing perspectives that are going to be in the courtroom or in the settlement meetings.

I would say to speak loudly and with conviction. Don't let anyone make you feel like you don't belong. You are capable of overcoming every obstacle that comes your way, and you deserve to be here. I get so many students, and females more often than not, who just come into my office feeling like what are they doing? Why have they come to law school? They shouldn't be here. I think it's part of the female experience, right, is that much of our lives, our existence and our presence has to be proven, and men don't have that. So many of my young female students struggle so much more with imposter syndrome than my male students. And I think just, you know, you deserve to be here. It's okay that it's hard, you deserve to be here. Those two things are simultaneously true.

I think one of the biggest challenges is staying on top of the connection with the students, how they are coming into the classroom, both kind of generationally, year over year. We've seen a lot of that, especially after COVID. Each group that we get had a different learning impact during COVID, and that changed the trajectory of their education, especially for those who maybe weren't, for those first few years right after COVID, the ones that were in undergrad or maybe their last year of high school when they were pulled out and into a new learning environment. There was a lot of change then in the student body and their learning style. But we're competing with real life, right? Their outside life obligations. We're competing with their culture and social obligations. We're competing with the economy and politics and everything that is affecting their life. If I want them to be successful in my classroom, then I need to stay on top of what else is competing for their time, what else is competing for their attention, what are they having to prioritize with their law school experience, and how do I reach them in the midst of all of that? And it changes a little bit every year.

For me, treating every single one of my students and clients with equal dignity and respect is one of my key values. I think you see a lot in the field of law or in education that the individual with the power feels like they are somewhat entitled to a higher level of deference, and that is not a value that I think is appropriate. If I want my students to learn and if I want my client to feel good about their case and confident that we're fighting as hard as we can, that also means that I have no higher authority than my client. I have no higher authority than my students. At a base level, every single one of my students deserves my recognition that they are adults, they are human beings with other demands on their time and attention, and they deserve my kindness and respect as they navigate law school and the early years of their career. As a teacher, I really value transparency. I think that's really important that they understand what's required of them and why it's required of them. What's the purpose? Why are we learning this? As a professional who has a job, I show up to my colleagues ready to be a full participant and ready to work together to make the institution a stronger place for our students or for our clients. That's kind of integrity, right? That I'm not showing up thinking my research is more important than the committee work, or that I didn't get the tasks done for the committee that I said I would. I'm showing up with that kind of integrity and commitment to the institution.