Kids

UVA Law Alum Jessica Childress On Charlottesville, Children’s Books, And Attorneys Of Color

"While you are reaching those goals, enjoy the journey."

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Jessica Childress

“I wrote my way out / Wrote everything down far as I could see / I wrote my way out / I looked up and the town had its eyes on me.” — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Last weekend, Jessica Childress and her organization, Juris Prudence LLC, hosted seventeen students for the Juris Prudence Kids Mock Trial Academy in the Ward 7 neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

As the founder and host of the Academy, Childress worked with the East River Family Strengthening Collaborative (ERFSC), community volunteers, sponsors, and the Francis Gregory Neighborhood Library staff to make the event a success. The purpose of the ERFSC grant, which helped to finance the event, is: to reduce violence, expand community support, and develop and improve leadership skills among local youth and families.

Childress strongly believes in the mantra, “you can’t be what you can’t see.” Thus, attorney and law student volunteers are critical to the success of the Academy, as one of the main goals of the Academy is to give students the opportunity to obtain mentorship from real attorneys and soon-to-be attorneys.

Upon graduating from the University of Virginia Law School, Childress served as a federal judicial law clerk, an associate at two Biglaw firms, and as an attorney for the United States Department of Justice. After last weekend’s mock trial, Childress flew to Thailand for an eight-day trip to celebrate her first year as a solo practitioner, founder of the Childress Firm PLLC, and an entrepreneur, creator of Juris Prudence LLC.

Yesterday, Childress was generous enough to share some time with ATL while exploring Phuket City. I must admit, when we talked about the recent events that transpired in Charlottesville and her Granny’s reaction, Childress’s words left me teary eyed. I hope our conversation moves you as well. Without further ado, here are some excerpts from our discussion:

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RC: You mentioned during the recent events in Charlottesville, where UVA is based, that your Granny, who is in her 80s, was horrified to see images reminiscent of the 60s on the television. Can you tell us some more about your Granny and your family’s feelings regarding the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville?

JC:  Josephine Crowell, my Granny (grandma), grew up in a town just a few miles outside of Charlottesville called Keswick, Virginia.  She is my only living grandparent, but both my maternal and paternal grandparents lived in Charlottesville.

Granny actually still lives within walking distance from the home where she grew up as a child in Keswick.  She was born in 1929, and as you can imagine, growing up in the racially segregated south was not easy for a black woman, especially a black woman who did not attend high school and worked as domestic worker most of her adult life.

When President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, I was a first year law student, and I drove my grandparents, who were both disabled, (my maternal grandfather was living at the time) to the polls to vote for their first black president.  Even being disabled, they put on their “Sunday best” clothing to vote, as this was a monumental moment that would live in their memories forever.

As the election results were called on November 4, 2008, I watched both of my grandparents cry tears of joy over a moment that neither of them thought they would experience in their lifetimes. I give this background to show how much progress they thought our country had made in 2008.

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Just a few weeks ago, I sat in front of the television with Granny as she watched the gut-wrenching scenes of brutal, racist attacks in Charlottesville, reminiscent of the segregated south in the 1960s.  Granny wept and asked herself, “how could this happen?”  Needless to say, my entire family, including Granny, was heartbroken.

Renwei Chung (RC):  What attracted you to the law and how did you choose UVa for both undergraduate school and law school?

Jessica Childress (JC): My parents and grandparents are from Charlottesville, and my mother graduated from the University of Virginia.

My entire family has always held the University of Virginia in high esteem.  As a child, I spent countless summers and weekends visiting my grandparents in Charlottesville, so it was a second home to me.  My grandparents always referred to UVa as “the University.”

My grandfather was a bricklayer and constructed many of the buildings on the grounds of the University.  Knowing the rich history that UVa had to my family, it was a natural choice for me to apply as an undergrad. I applied to the University of Virginia as an undergraduate through their early decision program. In high school, UVa was the only school that I wanted to attend, as I knew its reputation for academic excellence and the pride that it would bring to my family for me to attend.

Granny’s opinion about where I attended law school mattered greatly to me. When I told her about my acceptances to other T-14 schools, she was very nonchalant. When I got into UVa, she was exuberant! Her reaction affirmed that UVa Law was going to be my law school home.

Granny worked as a domestic worker, cleaning homes and taking care of children her entire life. She did not graduate from high school, so she was not aware of law school names and rankings, and honestly, she did not care about any school other than UVa.

RC: Your last book, The Briefcase of Juris P. Prudence, is about a child’s courage to pave her own path into the legal profession and provides social commentary on larger issues in this world. What motivated you to become an author?

(The Briefcase of Juris P. Prudence is dedicated to Josephine Crowell, Childress’s Granny, who always reminded her that she was her Granny’s horse, even if she never won a race.)

JC:  As a child, media (books and television) shaped my worldview.  As a children’s author, you have the power to create positive role models for children.

I decided to become a lawyer when I was eight years old and saw the prominent image of Attorney General, Janet Reno, on the Nightly News. I had no idea what it meant to be an Attorney General, but I did know that “Janet Reno” was a name that I heard almost every night.

In the 90s, Janet Reno, Matlock, Blair Underwood in L.A. Law, and my World Book Encyclopedia explanation about lawyers were the sole insights that I had regarding what it meant to be a lawyer.

The books I read about heroines who were children of color were either slaves or children growing up in the 1960s segregated south. Needless to say, the media I consumed did not contain a trace of a contemporary, black, female, lawyer.

After graduating from law school and starting my practice, I discovered the extreme underrepresentation of attorneys of color in every legal position that I held. Moreover, there were few attorneys of color represented in the mainstream media and none in children’s literature. As I thought about my childhood upbringing, I realized that the underrepresentation of diverse attorneys in children’s media was just as problematic now as it was in the 90s.

I created the character of Juris P. Prudence, an eleven-year-old, African-American lawyer, to normalize the image of a female attorney of color so that no child grows up thinking that they cannot become an attorney because they have never seen an attorney that looks like them.

The goal for Juris Prudence is to encourage all children to believe that they belong at the corporate table or the courtroom, or the Oval Office, and that they will one day be in these places as long as they can envision themselves there. Breaking the “mold” through children’s media is critical to enhancing diversity in the legal profession.

RC: What advice do you have for those students who are considering law school or have just enrolled in their first semester?

JC:  Plan your career destinations based on your passions and values. Set high goals and work diligently towards achieving them. While you are reaching those goals, enjoy the journey.

On behalf of everyone here at Above the Law, I would like to thank Jessica Childress for sharing her story with our audience. We wish her continued success in her career.

To learn more about Jessica Childress and her recent work, be sure to check out jurispprudence.com and thechildressfirm.com.

Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact Renwei by email at projectrenwei@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn. If you need help crafting your story, visit here.

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