Hillary Clinton’s Legal Career On Display At The DNC

If you’re familiar at all with the 42nd president of the United State and the woman who wants to be the 45th, you’ve probably heard that they met in law school — Yale Law School, to be precise. When Bill Clinton took the stage last night at the Democratic National Convention, he didn’t showcase his role as a former president, but rather that of adoring spouse, explaining to America all the reasons why he fell in love with and became a partner to Hillary Clinton.

The speech began quaintly, a boy that met a girl. In law school Bill noticed Hillary, but hadn’t worked himself up enough to actually speak to her. Then in the law library one night all that changed. Bill was there talking to a friend about potentially joining law review and the Biglaw or clerking opportunities that would follow, when he spotted Hillary:

So I watched her, she closed her book, put it down and started walking toward me. She walked the whole length of the library and came up to me and said, ‘Look, if you’re going to keep staring at me, we at least ought to know each other’s names. I’m Hillary Rodham, who are you?’ Clinton recalled.

I was so impressed and surprised that whether you believe it or not, momentarily, I was speechless. Finally I sort of blurted out my name and we exchanged a few words and then she went away. Well, I didn’t join the law review, but I did leave that library with a whole new goal in mind.

From the somewhat long-winded story of how they first met, Bill proceeded to reinforce the theme that Hillary is a “change maker” — indeed, signs emblazoned with that slogan were on display throughout the speech. Peppered throughout were examples from Hillary’s legal career that were characterized as her ability to get things done, starting in law school:

More to the point, by the time I met her, she had already been involved in the law school’s legal services project, and she had been influenced by Marian Wright Edelman, she took a summer internship interviewing workers in migrant camps for Sen. Walter Mondale’s subcommittee.

Not exactly lunching at Per Se, à la summer associates.

She’d also begun working in the Yale New Haven Hospital to develop procedures to handle suspected child abuse cases. She got so involved in children’s issues that she actually took an extra year in law school working at the child studies center to learn what more could be done to improve the lives and the futures of poor children.

An extra year in law school? While I’m sure that could be a lot of fun (read: involve a lot of drinking), spending the time working on child abuse procedures is a lot more sobering than the typical last year of law school. And the stories of Hillary doing the hard work just kept on coming:

Then, in our last year in law school, Hillary kept up this work, she went to South Carolina to see why so many young African American boys, I mean young teenagers, were being jailed for years with adults — in men’s prisons. And she filed a report on that, which led to some changes, too. Always making things better.

Bill also told a story about Hillary as a law professor that highlights the compassion and dedication that was echoed throughout the night:

I finally got her to come visit me in Arkansas. And when she did, the people at the law school were so impressed they offered her a teaching position. And she decided to take a huge chance. She moved to a strange place, more rural, more culturally conservative than any place she’d ever been, where she knew good and well people were wondering what in the world she was like and whether they could or would accept her. It didn’t take them long to find out what she was like. She loved her teaching, and she got frustrated when one of her students said, “Well, what do you expect, I’m just from Arkansas,” and she said, “Now don’t tell me that, you’re as smart as anybody, you just got to believe in it and work for it and set high goals.”

…. Soon after, she started a group called the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. It’s a group, as you can hear, that is still active today.

There will be lots of hot takes about the substance and delivery of Bill Clinton’s speech, but one thing is undeniable: Hillary’s legal background is a key element of her candidacy.

Transcript Of Bill Clinton’s Democratic National Convention Speech Was Sweetly Personal [Romper]

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Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).