Kim Hopkin ‘19
Probs Off Crying About Graduation
The Law Weekly has grown to mean so much more than a newspaper to me that it’s hard to believe it’s only been three years. When I first started coming to the weekly editorial meetings, I remember feeling like everyone possessed impossible levels of knowledge about the school, the law, and the world. Just sitting in the room gave me insight into SCOTUS personalities, NGSL gossip, and modern European politics. I’d like to say that now I’m the older, wiser 3L bestowing knowledge on 1Ls, but it’s obvious I learn just as much from them as I did from my 3Ls. (Well, I do explain all the latest Kardashian drama complete with hand-drawn genealogy charts, and I think they can’t live without it.)
But seriously, the people I’ve met through the paper have challenged my world vision, made me laugh until my sides hurt, and changed me into the woman I am today. I’ve had to say goodbye to two different graduating classes while working on the paper, but I’m just now realizing I have to say goodbye to three this year. I hope they know how much I cherish them. I came for the pizza; I stayed for the family. I hope you’ve had half the fun reading the paper that we’ve had making it.
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knh3zd@virginia.edu
Hopkin and Malkowski living their best 3Lol lives. Photo courtesy of Kim Hopkin ’19.
Alison Malkowski ’19
First Cool Red Head You’ve Ever Met
I joined the Law Weekly in 2017 because Kim Hopkin asked me to carry some pizzas, but I stayed for so many reasons. In the time I’ve been on this paper, we’ve dealt not just with weekly deadlines and the eternal crisis of how many ANGs about the weather is too many, but with very real, very big questions. How do you respectfully document traumatizing historic events in your community? How do you navigate the preservation of public dialogue in the face of opinions with which you profoundly disagree? I will be the first to admit that I love jokes more than most things in this world, and I spend the majority of our Monday night editing meetings (well, really all of my time) interrupting other conversations to make them. But all jokes aside, some of the conversations we had as an Ed Board shaped not just my understanding of the Law School community, but my understanding of our obligation to communicate with each other in every community to which we belong.
I did a thing I shouldn’t have this semester and scheduled a class that meets some Monday nights. It’s an excellent class, but it means I’ve missed six of Law Weekly’s editing sessions, and will miss the final editing session during which this article is reviewed. Fortunately, I’m awful at being sentimental anyway. So without looking any of my fellow staff members in the eye in person, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who was a part of this paper with me. I learned so much from you. I carried the pizza the first time on a whim, but I came back every week for two more years. The thing speaks for itself.
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acm4ae@virginia.edu
Katherine Mann ’19
Committed Commuter
I’ve spent my three years of law school as a commuting mom, splitting time between law school and my family. A foot in both worlds has sometimes made me feel not completely a part of either. I’ve never been to Foxfield, I never made it to Barrister’s, and I’ve been to exactly one bar review. But the Law Weekly has been a reliable Monday night second family for me, and the comfort is not just because of pizza. It’s the grammar-loving, gossip-sharing, and law school-commiserating friends that have kept me coming back. Thank you all for making my time at UVA feel a little more complete.
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kmm2bb@virginia.edu
Class of 2019 (and some of their JD/MBA classmates) featured left to right: Anand Jani ’20, Katherine Mann ’19, Benjamin Lucy ’20, Kim Hopkin ’19, Ali Zablocki ’19, Daniel Grill ’19, Jill Rubinger ’19, Jansen VanderMeulen ’19, “Big Mike” Michael McGuire ’19, Julie Dostal ’19. Photo credit Kolleen Gladden ’21.
Ali Zablocki ’19
Still Promoting Her Cat
As someone who avoids spending time at school whenever possible, Law Weekly has been *the* window into happenings at the Law School–good, bad, and ugly (yes, I’m referring to WB’s resident snakes). Did the amount of free pizza do good things for my health? Probably not. Is cartooning still on my list of career possibilities for if and when I flee the legal world? God no–although on the plus side, no longer do I wonder “what if” I had pursued art. But did I meet some truly excellent people? Absolutely. I’ll miss UVA for sure, but I’ll especially miss those magical Monday nights gossiping with ANG!
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amz2ea@virginia.edu
Rocky Zablocki
Law Weekly Mas-”cat”
As he moves onward and upward, Rocky–Everyone’s Favorite Pawhoo®–thanks Law Weekly for the very occasional opportunities it has provided to grow his celebrity and wishes the paper luck in identifying a replacement mascot. [Editor’s note: The Law Weekly still supports Gary the Toad above all other Paw Review contestants.]
Jansen VanderMeulen ’19 poses as his spirit animal with his latest shooting trophy. Photo courtesy of Jansen VanderMeulen.
Jansen VanderMeulen ‘19
Dairy Enthusiast
I’ll miss a lot of things about the Law Weekly, but none more than getting to turn my personal grievances and idiosyncratic opinions into decisions of the Court of Petty Appeals. In my three years at this Law School, I’ve authored or joined opinions against, among others: (1) people who sit at standing desks; (2) Professor Doran and his incorrect pronunciation of “brooch”; (3) gunners, like eighteen times; (4) PAs who tell comforting lies to 1Ls; (5) Career Services for serving Panera bagels instead of Bodo’s; (6) the 1L canon of famous cases; (7) Stephen T. Parr; (8) Paw Review, twice; and (9) 1Ls complaining about lost cookies and coffee. It’s been an illustrious, cathartic jurisprudential career, and I don’t know where else would have let me turn constant gripes into pieces read by at least six people.
We’ve won the ABA Law Student Division’s Law School Newspaper Award both years I’ve been on the paper, and just this week we filed our application to win again. I hope we do, and I hope students realize that this weekly newspaper thing isn’t real common and is kind of precious. You may not think the thumbs ups are funny, or you might only read the Faculty Quotes, but most law schools don’t have something like this. This is our seventy-first year; I’m sincerely hopeful the paper’s still going in 2048 for its hundredth anniversary. Maybe they’ll let me write a guest Court of Petty Appeals complaining about age or something.
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jmv5af@virginia.edu
Unidentified man (right) and Daniel Grill ’19 posing on Halloween 2018. Photo courtesy of Jansen VanderMeulen ’19.
Daniel Grill ’19
Makes a Mean Burger
I have really enjoyed being part of the Two-Time ABA Award Winning Law Weekly. While I only joined as a 3L, the Law Weekly crew has been very welcoming and I have enjoyed meeting up every Monday to edit the pieces for the week. Writing articles for the paper has also been quite rewarding. I have never been part of a school newspaper before, and I did not anticipate joining the newspaper when I came to law school, but I have enjoyed writing half-serious half-joking articles about things going on around the Law School and Charlottesville communities. I hope the 1Ls and 2Ls continue to have fun with the paper and build on the great tradition of student journalism at the Law School.
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dkg5rd@virginia.edu