Law Schools

Law Student Who Took Final Exam While In Labor Has Now Graduated From Harvard Law School

Mom and baby in matching caps and gowns -- too cute!

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(Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

This recent Harvard Law School’s Instagram account is going viral for all the right reasons.

Briana Williams is part of the Harvard Law School Class of 2018, and as both a proud grad and a proud single mom, she posted pictures of herself and baby Evelyn — in an adorable matching cap and gown — celebrating. The picture is cute and all, but it is really Williams’s inspiring caption that is getting the attention.

Seems Evelyn wanted to be born mid-final exam. That’s right, last year, Williams went into labor during her Family Law test (talk about perfect timing). Williams got an epidural and went on with the exam. I don’t care what law school exam horror story you’ve got, Williams has you beat.

But passing that exam was only one difficult thing Williams had to do. She still had to get through her 3L year with a newborn, which seems like a monumental task. The struggle for reliable childcare was real, but she managed even if she had to ask the folks in the Dean of Students office to watch the baby or take Evelyn to class:

To say that my last year of law school, with a newborn, and as a single mom was a challenge would be an understatement. Some days I was so mentally and emotionally fatigued that I did not leave my bed. I struggled with reliable childcare. It was not atypical to see me rushing through Wasserstein to the Dean of Students’ office with Evelyn in her carriage, asking DOS can they keep her for a few until class was over. If not, she’d just have to come with me to class. Evie attended classes often.
So I’m going to be honest with you guys.. I didnt think I could do it.
I did not think that, at 24 years old, as a single mom, I would be able to get through one of the most intellectually rigorous and challenging positions of my life. It was hard. It hurt. Instagram can make peoples’ lives seem seamless, but this journey has been heartwrenching. However, I am happy to say that I DID do it.

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Williams has a pretty good perspective on the attention she’s been getting. She knows there’s more to life — and her career — than the number of IG followers she has:

“Everyone has their own lives and issues that they hide behind their social media platforms. In a time of such hyper-consumerism when socioeconomic mobility is restricted because everything is coveted, commodified, and marketized, it is important to think about how social influencers’ profiles are purposefully glamorized to attract audiences who subscribe to such behaviors. My Instagram portrays a much more glam life than I actually live,” she explains. “It can look like I always travel, but that’s because I only really like to post travel photos. There is life in between. I rarely wear makeup, and it’s not often that you will see me out of gym clothes. I don’t ever have enough time!”

Williams has experience going viral — in October, she made headlines when she and baby Evelyn were kicked off of an American Airlines flight when they refused to give Williams back her stroller.

Want more warm fuzzies? Check out the story of Ieshia Champs, single mother of five and recent law school graduate of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

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Earlier:

American Airlines Messes With The Wrong Black Person

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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