WVU Law Class of 2023 graduates will spend their summers preparing
for the bar exam and then dive into new careers, which range from clerkships
with federal and state judges to positions in law firms and government agencies
all across the country. Here are a few of their stories:
Nakia Ridgeway
Ridgeway will begin a two-year clerkship with the Hon. Michael J. Aloi, United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia, in Clarksburg. She served as a judicial extern in Judge Aloi’s chambers during law school and was eager to return to the “very hands-on opportunity.” While externing, Ridgeway attended hearings, helped write orders, and even assisted in handling two civil motions from start to finish.
“I’m most looking forward to seeing the court system from the inside,” said Ridgeway, who was the president of Black Law Students Association and a member of WVU Law’s Moot Court board. “I’ll be in the middle of everything, interacting with lots of people.”
In addition to her work with Judge Aloi, Ridgeway said another highlight of her law school career was the opportunity to participate in the Google Summer Legal Institute. In a highly competitive process, Ridgeway, 27, was chosen for the program, which started with a week at Google headquarters in California and then progressed to her working for a Kentucky law firm that counts Google as a client.
“That gave me a taste of what tech and law can look like as a career,” she said.
Devin Redding
Redding will be headed to Washington, DC, where she will enter the Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program in the Antitrust Division. The highly competitive program is a pipeline into the Department of Justice.
“I knew government service was always going to be a priority and goal for me,” said Redding, a graduate of the United States Military Academy who served eight years in the Army before coming to WVU Law. She landed a DOJ internship for her 2L summer and after a 10-week program that “gave me a feel for what it would really be like” in the division, she decided to apply for the post-graduate experience.
In addition to her summer work in DC, Redding said participating in WVU Law’s Supreme Court Clinic was a highlight of her law school experience. This spring, she got to visit the United States Supreme Court and hear attorneys argue a case she assisted in preparing.
Kendra Amick
Kendra Amick, of Nicholas County, will be moving to Charleston to work in the litigation and government relations practice groups at Bowles Rice, a large multi-state law firm where she spent both summers during law school as a summer associate. Amick, who aspires to a career in government service, will be working in the litigation and government relations practice groups.
Amick said her law school experiences, especially her work as a peer academic writing consultant at WVU Law’s Writing Center and her work on the moot court board, have prepared her well. Amick and two classmates spent hundreds of hours preparing for an oral argument at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of a national moot court competition. Amick, 23, and her moot court partner, 3L Mattie Shuler, were awarded a perfect score on their oral argument.
“I come to this as a first-generation student – neither of my parents went beyond high school,” she said. “I credit my success to the professors at WVU Law because a lot of people went way above and beyond to mentor me.”
