Peter Cirka ‘21
Guest Writer
I was thirty-four years old the day I began my second career here at UVA Law. Having skimmed the demographic profiles of various schools’ incoming classes, I had applied knowing I’d be among the oldest students of any law school’s incoming class. I had discovered that, typically, half of first-year law students nationwide were twenty-six or older and one out of every five was at least thirty. Even better, I had detected an especially healthy presence of older students at many of my target schools. For example, Northwestern and Temple reliably reported 1L median ages at or above twenty-seven. Both also reported age ranges that typically reached into the forties and fifties. Most promisingly, I learned of a student organization called Older Wiser Law Students (OWLS) that existed at most schools to facilitate social events and professional guidance for students like myself.
When I was accepted at UVA, I was thrilled and grateful for the opportunity to start my second career at one of the country’s elite law schools. But I also knew that UVA’s student body tended towards the younger side as compared to broader trends. In fact, our incoming 1L median age is historically around twenty-four, and our age range rarely reaches beyond the mid-thirties. So, I moved to Charlottesville, navigated orientation exercises, and began the first semester with mixed feelings. Professionally, I had chosen the best place possible. But on a personal level, I knew I would probably meet far fewer students near my age than I might have elsewhere.
All the more reason, I thought, to swoop in and join UVA’s chapter of OWLS as soon as I was settled in. Better yet, I guessed from the slimmer numbers that I might find an especially tight-knit group (or, at the very least, one that was skilled at knitting). Having already spied a student mailbox owned by “OWLS at UVA Law,” I circled the courtyard at the September Student Activities Fair eagerly. Imagine my consternation, then, when I asked around and learned that the UVA OWLS had actually died off years ago. Sadly, I was told that the mailbox in ScoCo was an empty nest—a mere memorial of some forgotten age when OWLS had prospered at UVA—neglected but, much like the dial-up modems and flip phones of its former owners’ childhood homes, curiously not yet discarded. There was a mailbox, but no Parliament.[1]
My disappointment passed quickly enough. I had landed in Section J, which included not only several students in their late twenties, but a fellow tricenarian. Even better, I quickly realized that, all the way down to the “K-JDs,” my section mates were exceptionally mature. That initial thrill and gratitude I had felt for the chance to attend UVA sustained easily throughout 1L year, undampened by the fact that I stuck out a bit. But a twinge of dissatisfaction persisted. In many ways, a uniquely young character is a great trait for a law school to have. It is humbling to learn alongside some of the brightest young people in the country—people in their early twenties who are thinking, speaking, and writing at a level higher than most mature professionals in any field. But on the other hand, there is a type of perspective that can only be gained through life experience and only appreciated by others who have likewise ventured beyond the walls of academia for some years. I wondered, “With the OWLS retired, what else does our Law School’s community do for older students seeking the type of solidarity I sought—beyond hoping those students are lucky enough to find it in their (randomly assigned)[2] sectionmates?
I learned that, in some narrower respects, the community was already doing a great job. I connected with UVA Law families and Virginia Law Veterans—thriving organizations whose mailboxes were dust-free. Both groups commonly, though of course not necessarily, draw older students. But given the more niche missions of Families and Vets, there seemed room for an organization that could serve as more of a ‘big tent’ able deliver social events, academic resources, and career guidance for older students from any walk of life. To that end, along with the hard work of several other founding board members, I headed up the official resurrection of the OWLS at UVA Law.
Energized by some low-key but high-energy self-funded events last spring, including a self-funded SuperbOWL party, the OWLS are soaring in their first official year. We kicked off with a September happy hour at Kardinal Hall, and look forward to hosting several more around town. We’ve also established a mentorship program, which budgets for 1Ls to grab coffee and lunch throughout the year with one of our 2L or 3L members. In October, we hosted a special Career Services event called “Working Your Work Experience,” where Kevin Donovan and Annie Kim generously gave their time to dish specific advice on how to effectively present a prior career in resumes, cover letters, and interviews. And, since some puns are just irresistible, we’ve already cemented the SuperbOWLS party as our annual flagship event.
We are often asked if there is an “age cutoff.” The answer is a resounding, “No!” Student organizations celebrating various aspects of diversity have a proud tradition of inviting students to join their communities as allies, regardless of whether every student shares that identity. In that tradition, the OWLS welcome all students, of any age, who believe that a law school’s environment and the field of law itself is enhanced by students that bring distinct personal and professional experiences to the law school classroom.
First and foremost, the OWLS celebrate diversity of experience itself. After all, as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, “The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.” The common law has always looked backward before daring to forge incrementally forward—so, of course, it must have something to look at in the first place. Lawyers, judges, and legislators do not lock themselves away in libraries or chambers to consult wholly logical or theoretical axioms from which to infer some abstract notion of “the law.” Rather, they move through the world itself—personally navigating successes and failures, logging wins and losses, reckoning with war and peace, finding love, and enduring loss—before they purport to advocate, adjudicate, or legislate that world into (fingers-crossed) a better position than the one in which they found it. The OWLS strive to embody Holmes’s reflection. We have merely, perhaps, frontloaded our experiential chapters more than most. We’d like the UVA Law community to know that we are your colleagues and students who, before even realizing that we envisioned a future in the law, went out into the world and learned trades, founded businesses, taught, became parents, studied great art and literature, or served their country, to name only a few of the endeavors proudly populating the resumes of our very own OWLS here at UVA. And most of all, this time, we’re here to stay!
If you’re interested in joining the OWLS list serve, GroupMe, softball team, or any of our great events, President Peter Cirka can be reached at pcc3hq@virginia.edu.
___
pcc3hq@virginia.edu