Can Going To A Crappy Law School Really Change Your Life... For The Better?

Declining standards in law school admissions mean this will wind up being a happy ending.

rodeoThe Western Michigan Thomas M. Cooley Law School gets a lot of flak. What with the sinking bar exam passage rates and enrollment down — way down — there hasn’t been too much to crow about. So the public relations folks over there must be  doing back flips over a recent Lansing State Journal piece on recent graduate Shane Hilyard, who calls getting into the low ranked school his “golden ticket.”

Of course, it may be that Hilyard just has low standards. See, before heading to the courtroom he was in the rodeo, riding bulls. Which may seem pseudo-glamorous in a Brokeback Mountain kind of a way, but is really a grueling and physically demanding activity. After dislocating his shoulder 65(!) times, he wanted to hang up his spurs and go to law school:

Hilyard had always been a fan of TV court shows. “Matlock,” starring Andy Griffith, was his favorite.

He wanted to bring the same bravado to the courtroom.

But, in what would become a recurring theme for Hilyard, life got in the way: His father suffered a heart attack the week before he took the Law School Admission Test. He scored a 134.

“It pretty much means I got my name right, I think,” Hilyard said.

At least he was honest with himself. But don’t worry, the declining standards in law school admissions mean this will wind up being a happy ending for Hilyard.

He took another shot at the LSAT, scoring slightly higher. Still, his stack of law school rejection letters grew. Working as a paralegal, Hilyard complained to his wife, Brandy, that he was being paid a pittance for his work.

So she gave him a choice: Get into law school or choose a new career.

His application to Cooley Law School, in his mind, was a Hail Mary attempt. He was accepted on April 19, 2010.

“I broke down in tears, big, tough bullrider. I let out this scream. It just completely overtook me,” Hilyard said.

Usually when the only law school option is Cooley people scream for very different reasons, but this guy was happy about it, so let’s go with that.

It seems whatever difficulties he had with the LSAT resolved themselves, and he actually did well in law school. He was even the valedictorian:

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Hilyard graduated from Cooley with honors in September of 2013. In his valedictory speech at Cooley, Hilyard likened his fortunes to those of Charlie Bucket in the film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” He broke out in song: “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket.”

“I’ve got a golden ticket. I’ve got a golden chance to make my way,” he sang to his fellow graduates. “And with this golden ticket, it’s a golden day.”

You can watch Hilyard’s full speech here:

Let’s put a pin in the cheesy song for a minute and marvel that this guy went from bullrider to valedictorian. Sure, it’s from Cooley, but still — this story has all of the makings of an inspiring Lifetime movie. And as the extra-special cherry on the top of this sundae, he has a job. As a lawyer. Okay, it is mostly representing indigent criminal defendants, but it is pretty clear a future in Biglaw was not the point of Hilyard’s journey.

Local attorney went from the rodeo to the courtroom [Lansing State Journal]

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Earlier: One Law School’s Biggest Bar Exam Bust — Ever?
Which Law School’s Enrollment Has Dropped By More Than 50 Percent?