Hey,
my name is Brandon.

About Me

It sounds so cliché, but I've known I wanted to be a lawyer since I was about six or seven years old. During those years, my mom liked to watch Law & Order, and I would join her. I think being exposed to one of the rare pieces of media depicting lawyers as heroes endeared the profession to me, and then I set my mind to becoming one, the highly impressionable child that I was. In high school, I did all the typical things aspiring lawyers do in high school: speech & debate and a mock trial competition. At Mizzou, I chose to major in religious studies because I knew law schools didn't care much about what applicants studied in undergrad; so I studied something I knew I would love learning about. And now, I'm actually attending law school, working towards becoming a lawyer like my seven-year-old self envisioned. Hopefully, I can be a lawyer who works for you.

Education

I graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri with a B.A. in Religious Studies. While in undergrad, I was a member of the Honors College and completed the famous Honors Humanities Sequence, and I co-led a research team examining portrayals of Blacks and Latinos in online minority-focused news outlets. My freshman year, I entered as a journalism student, a global pandemic happened, and I switched my major to religious studies. My sophomore year, I interned for my local congressperson, and I received the Hesburgh Scholarship, awarded to one freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior each year by the MU General Education council. My junior year, I completed my capstone, and I received the distinction of Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Religious Studies. My senior year, I served as the treasurer for Mizzou Dems, and I worked part-time at a gas station, in addition to studying for and then taking my LSAT and applying to law school.

Throughout my undergrad career, I enjoyed the writing-heavy classes the most. I wrote my capstone on how soccer functions as a religion in Brazil, and I loved the entire process of researching and writing the paper. I also experienced the more quantitative side of research while working on the minority-focused news research team. Though very different, I loved both research experiences. They helped me learn to enjoy the process of finding information and then synthesizing that information for other people. Now I find myself loving legal writing, and, at least for now, I'm planning to enter a writing-heavy field post-graduation. Ultimately, I would love to work as an appellate public defender, as a clerk, or as a legal researcher for a firm or other organization.

Experience

I don't have any legal experience yet, but you could be the first on the list! I do have some experience, however, that prepared me for a legal career:

• As a gas station attendant, I learned how to handle conflict. When a customer came in upset about something, it was my job to help. Sometimes, customers could be quite irrational, but I could only work around (not against) that irrationality to find a solution. In addition to conflict management, I did some real-world problem solving.
• I volunteered with the organization People First, a disability advocacy organization led by people with disabilities. People First members advocating for themselves through educating legislators on disability-rights issues demonstrated a model of advocacy, one which I rely on in my law school work. Understanding how to educate someone on an issue is the first step to changing the person's mind on an issue.

My Life Outside of Law School

I am a big tech nerd. If I were good at math, I would have majored in computer science. I love programming, web design, and tech in general. Part of the reason I made this website is because I wanted to scratch to make a website (plus a I got a great deal on the domain name). On my blog—which I also created because I wanted to scratch a web design itch—you can find a couple of articles on my coding projects, if that's something of interest to you. I think my interest in technology will soon prove useful as the law adapts to new technologies, specifically LLMs.

Expanding on my love of tech, I also love video games! Most of the time, I'm planning for battle in Hearts of Iron IV, simulating a non-law-school life in the Sims 4, or questing in Baldur's Gate 3.

Finally, I am an animal lover. Before I went off to college, I lived in a house full of animals, and seeing them again is a highlight of any trip to my parent's house. Currently, I own a cat named Oatmilk. I adopted Oatmilk from the local feline rescue before I began law school, and I consider adopting her one of the best decisions I've ever made. On the left is one of many adorable pictures taken of Oatmilk, and if you want to contact me just to see more pictures of Oatmilk, I completely understand.

Contact Me

If you'd like to reach out, you can contact me at my personal or academic email address.