Law Schools

From Olympic Gold Medalist To 3L

Not a bad reason to take a break from law school.

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Sarah Hughes (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty)

While some, perhaps correctly, argue that law school should be trimmed down to only two years, there’s no denying the life of a 3L is pretty sweet. Particularly if your summer associateship has gone well, you’re freed from much of the stress and worry of law school. Maybe you can even carve out some spare time to take a break from school. Like maybe you can attend the Olympics as part of the U.S. Presidential Delegation.

That’s exactly what Sarah Hughes, the Long Island Olympian who took the gold in Ladies Figure Skating in 2002, is doing right now. Hughes is now a 3L at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, having graduated from Yale in 2009. As Law.com reports, right now she is in Pyeongchang at the Winter Olympic Games:

Hughes, who took gold during the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City, is currently a third-year student at the elite Philadelphia law school and was a summer associate at Proskauer Rose last year. She’s taking a break from the classroom this week to attend the Pyeongchang games as a member of the U.S. Presidential Delegation. That delegation, led by Vice President Mike Pence, includes two generals and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Hughes is the only athlete among the seven-member delegation, which is tasked with attending the opening ceremonies, meeting U.S. athletes and cheering them on at various events.

Hughes is combining her passion for sports with her future legal career. Part of her decision to attend law school was to amplify her work with the Women’s Sports Foundation, an organization founded by Billie Jean King dedicated to providing sports access to girls. At law school she is a senior editor of the Journal of Business Law and a board member of the Penn Law Women’s Association and the Penn Law Entertainment and Sports Law Society. As mentioned above, she summered at Proskauer Rose — not surprising, given their well-regarded sports law practice.

All in all, going to the Olympics seems like a decent reason to miss a few classes, especially as it coincides with Hughes’s larger career plans. Even if she had to miss seeing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s talk.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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