Jennifer Pichotta

November 2008 

The VLP is pleased to announce

that Jennifer Pichotta has been

chosen as our Outstanding Law

Student Volunteer for November. 

Jennifer is a first year law student

at the U of A and has been

participating in the Child Support

Clinic this semester.  Jennifer’s

thorough comprehension and

retention of child support law

was astonishing.  She displayed

wisdom and skill far beyond her

years.  On her very first volunteer

experience, the client’s situation

required Jennifer to use software

that she had not been trained to

use.  Jennifer never missed a beat and was able to quickly help the client –

with almost no help from the supervising attorney!  The VLP is very grateful to

have Jennifer as a volunteer.

Jennifer moved around a bit while growing up, spending time in Arizona, Colorado

and South Dakota.  She is part Ute (although not formally a member of the tribe)

and her parents worked as teachers on several reservations.  She’s been in

Arizona for the last few years though as she is a 2008 graduate of the University

of Arizona with a B.A. in Creative Writing.  We asked Jennifer to name her

favorite law school professor and she said “I think I’d have to say that I enjoy

Professor Merico’s class the most.  Her passion for Civil Procedure is

contagious, and I love the way she pushes us to see things differently, and

to really examine legal issues.”

Jennifer says that the most important thing she has learned from volunteering

with the VLP is:

I’ve learned that you can’t forget there are real people behind the

cases and files you read.  Additionally, I’ve learned that I want to

continue to help programs similar to this after I graduate and

practice law.  There are so many areas of law that seem to get

overlooked because they aren’t as profitable for attorneys, and

that’s very unfair to the people whose issues need to be heard.

Jennifer joined the VLP because she wanted to use her law school experience

to benefit her community as soon as possible.  Her experiences in the VLP and

in law school have also had an effect on how she views our legal system.  She

says that she has become more aware of the “gray” areas within the law and

realized that most issues are not quite as simple as she once believed.  Jennifer

believes “that as an attorney you have to remember that there are two sides to

every case.  That’s very hard to remember when someone is passionate and

opinionated about a cause.” 

When she gets a chance, Jennifer enjoys traveling, hiking, snowboarding,

reading, listening to music, going to football games.  To help decompress after

a stress-filled, first semester of law school, Jennifer will be heading to the

beaches of Brazil in January.  Hopefully, this trip will allow Jennifer to arrive

refreshed and ready to take on a new semester.  Then she’ll be able to focus

on working towards her current, though ever changing, dream job – “I would

love to be an attorney for a large magazine or newspaper, or maybe an

entertainment company."

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Past Outstanding Volunteer Student Awards