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Matt Walker
October 2011
The VLP is pleased to
announce that
Matt Walker has been selected as
our
Outstanding Law Student Volunteer
for
the month of October 2011. Matt
is
entering his second year at the U
of A.
Matt impressed several of our
volunteer
attorneys with his confidence and
enthusiasm.
He never showed the s
lightest bit of nervousness as he
spoke
with clients or appeared in
Federal Court.
He also excelled at connecting
with
clients and establishing a good
rapport with attorneys.
Matt’s high quality work
and professionalism make him a
real asset to the VLP and the U of A College
of Law
Matt is originally from
Tucson,
Arizona.
He attended the University
of
Arizona
as
an undergrad and majored in
History and minored in Pre-Law. He graduated with
a B.A. in Secondary Education in
December of 2009 with the honor of being on
the Dean’s List. During his
undergrad, he student-taught sophomore and juniors
at his high school alma mater,
Palo Verde High School.
During his student
teaching days, Matt participated in the Alumni Choir and was
a volunteer
instructor for Saxophone and Percussion at Palo Verde High
School. He
has also been a camp counselor through UNLV Star of Nevada
Drum Major
Camp.
As to why
he stayed in
Tucson
to attend U of A law school, he says, “I was born,
raised and will die a Wildcat –
there was never really a second choice for me.”
When asked who has been his favorite
law school professor so far, he states,
"I plead the 5th -- I've had many
who are awesome and don't want to hurt
anyone’s feelings.” At law school,
he is on the Arizona Law Review as a 2L
writer,
and has also been honored on the Dean’s List (top 20% of
class) and
has
received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award,
Constitutional law (to
the
highest grade in class). He has also served as a Summer
Extern for the
Honorable
David C. Bury on the
US
district court for the district of Arizona
and has
served on the U of A Law Student Legal Referral Clinic.
Matt decided to get involved with
the VLP because he states, “I knew that I
would be in town for the summer
of 2011 and wanted to perform some type of
community service work and VLP
seemed like a great program to participate in.”
When asked what has been the most
important thing you have learned from
volunteering, he said, “I enjoyed
working with members of the community and
helping them with the decision to
reaffirm or not reaffirm their debts, and I also
learned quite a bit about
bankruptcy law, which was great.” We also asked him
if his view of the legal system
changed since he’s been a law student and he
replied:
Not really – there’s certainly a lot more complexity and
intricacy to the
law than I ever imagined before I came to law school, but in
the big
picture I’ve pretty much always felt the legal system as a
whole is a
double-edged sword: powerful for those who know how to use
it and
unwieldy for those who don’t.
When asked what his hobbies are,
he candidly stated, “We’re not allowed to
have those in law school. I like
to read and spend time with my wife and our two
spoiled dogs.” Matt enjoys
watching football and basketball and when the Cats
are on, he forgets about
multitasking. Once he’s finished with law school, he
hopes that his dream job is one
that challenges him and keeps him engaged.
Matt loves to eat at
Jax Kitchen
on Oracle and enjoys vacation destinations
in Southern California (both
Orange
County
and San Diego).
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Past Outstanding Volunteer
Student Awards |
