Nicole Karem started this academic year by addressing the incoming 1L class. She reminded each of them they do belong here and laid out her plans for the SBA this year. On Sunday, May 21, 2023, she will address the Class of 2023, walk across the stage as a graduate of GW Law and join our illustrious GW Law alumni community. Read more about Nicole's experiences at GW Law.
1. What was your favorite part about being a GW Law student?
There are so many good things about being a GW Law student. The faculty is great and the location is pretty much impossible to beat, but my favorite thing is the community. GW is one of the biggest law schools in the country and given its size it would be easy to feel lost here, but instead, there is a sense of community that is stronger than there is at many schools. I found a place to belong both through the friends I’ve made here and through the faculty and staff which make GW feel smaller than it is.
2. Besides getting ready for / passing the bar, what are your plans for the summer?
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of plans beyond preparing for the bar this summer. However, I know that a work/life balance is important, so I am going to make an effort to spend some time doing things I enjoy when I am not studying. I’m hoping to take a day trip to Baltimore and explore some parts of DC that I haven’t gotten to see before. DC is a great city to simply live your life in and there is a lot of it that I haven’t seen yet, so I’m excited to get to do that this summer.
3. What's one piece of advice you would like to share with the SBA President-Elect?
The best piece of advice I can give is to take the time to listen. People in positions of power, even if that power is in student government, often have ideas about what the problems that need to be fixed are and how to fix them. Sometimes they are right, but often the people affected by the decisions made are the ones who know the problems best. Listening to people’s concerns and using them to steer the direction of SBA is the best thing a leader can do.
4. In your weekly SBA newsletter, you often mentioned what book you were currently reading. What's one book every law student should read before graduating, and why?
Perhaps this is cheating because it is a book that I think everyone should read, not only law students, but everyone should read Wild by Cheryl Strayed. There aren’t many thru hiker books I recommend, because I think they generally tell the same story, but Wild is different because it is mostly a reflection of how we get through the darkest parts of our lives and the ways that connections with both humans and nature help us to do so. As lawyers, it is easy to get caught up in statutes and rules and caselaw and to forget the ways the decisions we make affect real people. Wild is a beautiful reminder of everything that makes us human and of the importance of looking beyond the technical and theoretical into the hearts and lives of the people we work with and for.
5. Now that you're graduating, how are you looking to stay involved in the GW Law community as an alumna?
I’m really excited about the new outreach that the school is doing with Public Interest Alumni and the ways that it will allow those alums, hopefully, me included, to stay connected to the school and the students. I’m also staying in DC for a while after I graduate, so I’m hoping I will find other ways to stay connected as well.
If you're a recent or past alumnus of GW Law looking for ways to stay connected, please visit GW Law Alumni & Giving.
