Lauren Schaal
Kathy Castle
Author
05/12/2016
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95
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Creative Producer: Aliza Brugger
Alumni Stories
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- [00:00:00.435](guitar music)
- [00:00:08.319]My name is Lauren Schaal, and I'm a 3L
- [00:00:10.711]at Boston College Law studying family law,
- [00:00:12.896]and I have my communication studies undergraduate degree
- [00:00:15.334]from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
- [00:00:17.611]I advocate, negotiate, and relate every single day
- [00:00:20.969]as a family law attorney.
- [00:00:22.739]I advocate for clients who are low-income,
- [00:00:25.960]who are survivors of domestic violence,
- [00:00:27.823]and who have gotten the short end of the stick
- [00:00:30.319]in almost every facet of their lives.
- [00:00:32.580]It's really important for me to utilize the skills
- [00:00:35.271]that I've gotten from my communication studies major
- [00:00:38.008]to advocate for them and to constantly,
- [00:00:41.182]in every single avenue, make sure that they are getting
- [00:00:44.631]the best that they can get,
- [00:00:45.988]so that way they can become empowered and independent
- [00:00:48.242]from their abusers.
- [00:00:49.738]I negotiate constantly when it comes to things
- [00:00:52.061]like parenting time with opposing parties
- [00:00:55.099]in order to do so, I utilize the negotiation skills
- [00:00:58.983]learned in specific classes
- [00:01:00.731]that I had in my comm studies major,
- [00:01:02.594]and then I also work on relating by looking at non-verbal
- [00:01:05.538]communication or intrapersonal communication
- [00:01:08.229]between various parties in order to have my clients trust me
- [00:01:13.128]which is the number one most important thing
- [00:01:14.646]when you are an attorney for someone.
- [00:01:17.475]Every day, as an attorney, you research
- [00:01:20.581]and you advocate for your clients,
- [00:01:22.489]and that includes talking to opposing parties.
- [00:01:25.296]As I research, I utilize the skills that I learned
- [00:01:27.618]in my communication studies degree every day.
- [00:01:31.620]From all of the different research classes,
- [00:01:33.437]that the UNL communication studies department has,
- [00:01:36.611]I learned how to research very efficiently
- [00:01:39.026]and that is incredibly beneficial
- [00:01:40.728]because, as an attorney, time is money,
- [00:01:43.212]and I want it to be as efficient as possible.
- [00:01:46.386]I also advocate for my clients every day,
- [00:01:48.709]including talking to opposing parties,
- [00:01:50.963]and that I utilize the skills that I learned
- [00:01:52.872]from the comm studies degree all the time.
- [00:01:55.747]What it is is it's being able to speak confidently,
- [00:01:59.014]to be able to assert your position,
- [00:02:00.554]and to not step down, but when you need to negotiate,
- [00:02:03.406]to know how to negotiate so you still keep
- [00:02:05.913]your client's best interest at heart.
- [00:02:08.397]My communication studies major has definitely made me
- [00:02:11.156]stand out upon my peers and colleagues at law school.
- [00:02:14.909]They're both my comm studies major as well as
- [00:02:17.459]my time on the UNL speech team.
- [00:02:19.229]I have learned how to speak in public with confidence,
- [00:02:23.964]and so as soon as I stand up in the courtroom,
- [00:02:26.083]I exude that confidence and that ability to be able to
- [00:02:29.509]speak eloquently and specifically while still advocating
- [00:02:33.028]for my clients, and that really sets me apart,
- [00:02:35.765]not only from my colleagues at law school,
- [00:02:37.766]but also from the opposing parties,
- [00:02:39.353]and so that immediately, the judge is already looking at me
- [00:02:42.505]with more favor before I even start to speak.
- [00:02:45.725]My advice to current undergraduate students
- [00:02:47.748]in the communication studies department
- [00:02:49.451]is to definitely stay in the major
- [00:02:51.292]because what's great about the communication studies degree
- [00:02:54.557]is that it offers you a lot of different opportunities.
- [00:02:57.731]I came to my undergraduate degree not knowing
- [00:03:00.168]exactly what I wanted to do, but knowing that I wanted
- [00:03:03.181]to work with survivors, and it was through taking
- [00:03:05.390]a lot of different very specific classes
- [00:03:07.873]within the communication department
- [00:03:10.059]that I was able to see a lot of different ways
- [00:03:12.013]that I could communicate effectively for survivors.
- [00:03:14.888]You know, I thought maybe I wanted to become
- [00:03:16.269]a social worker, and a communications degree
- [00:03:18.246]would be very helpful in that capacity as well.
- [00:03:21.851]And so I had a lot of different potential career paths,
- [00:03:24.847]but it was taking those specific classes
- [00:03:27.170]that ended up leading me to the legal field.
- [00:03:30.551](upbeat music)
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