Chapters

• 00:00 The Journey to the Marines
• 02:44 From Baseball to Military Service
• 04:14 Transition to the Marine Corps
• 05:40 The Origin of the Call Sign 'Skull'
• 07:29 Military Experience and Transition to Law School
• 10:14 Lessons from the Military
• 19:16 Transition to Law School and Reflections on the Constitution
• 21:05 Summer Internship in Michigan
• 23:39 Advice for Undergraduates and Reflections on Life
• 31:45 Rapid Fire Questions
• 33:53 Future Aspirations and Impact

In this episode, host Joel Vincent speaks with Dean Miriam Ingber, Dean of Admissions at Yale Law School, and Dean Kristi Jobson, Dean of Admissions at Harvard Law School. These guests oversee admissions at two of the world's top law schools and cohost the podcast Navigating Law School Admissions with Miriam and Kristi. You can listen to their podcast here.

The episode provides practical advice for those considering a legal career.

Career Timing (10:02 - 16:37):
Why should someone consider law school at all?
How can a student as young as 18 or 20 truly know if law is the right lifelong path?
The Role of AI (16:38 - 25:27):
How should an applicant decide on law school when the very work they are training for—such as contract drafting and due diligence—is being automated and transformed?
Should elite law schools like Harvard and Yale adapt their curriculum to avoid teaching skills that AI can now perform?

Over- and Under-invested Areas (25:28 - 37:40):
What are the areas where applicants spend an enormous amount of time that ultimately does not "move the needle"?
Conversely, what do applicants consistently underinvest in during the process?

Admissions Numbers (37:41 - 47:15):
How do deans reconcile a "holistic" admissions ideal with the reality that median GPAs and test scores are exceptionally high?
When an applicant has a near-perfect numerical profile but is still rejected, what are the most common red flags found in the rest of their application?

Transparency and Access (47:16 - 55:08)
Does the increasing transparency of admissions guidance—through podcasts and panels—actually help applicants, or does it simply create a new kind of pressure for everyone to provide the "right" answers?
What is it like to be the person who makes the life-changing phone call to a successful applicant?

Thank you for listening!

Key highlights of the interview include:

- Legal Journey in India: Prannv discusses his path from high school directly into the National Law School of India University, his early inspirations drawn from India’s history of lawyer-leaders, and the influence of American legal education on the Indian system.

- Clerking at the Supreme Court: He shares transformative experiences from his two-year clerkship for Justice B.V. Nagarathna, who is expected to become India’s first female Chief Justice, detailing the rigor and vision required to draft landmark judicial opinions.

- Advocacy for Disability Rights: As an individual with a visual impairment, Prannv details his dedication to disability rights, including leading campaigns that successfully challenged exclusionary practices in Indian medical education.

- Global Perspectives: The conversation explores the cross-jurisdictional learning between the U.S. and Indian legal systems, specifically regarding access to justice and social movement litigation.

- Future Missions: Prannv concludes by discussing his current research at Yale, which examines the access-related obligations of private universities and the intersection of personal autonomy with public goods.

You can find to her LinkTree here: https://linktr.ee/roseamarah

The episode provides practical advice for those considering applying to law school, especially in the T14.

Background (1:25 - 3:25)
The Application Itself and Working Before Law School (3:26 - 13:51)
When Is Your Application Ready? And Regrets? (13:52 - 17:51)
Advice to Undergraduates (17:52 - 21:36)
Experience in the Workforce, "Why Law?", and Future Plans (21:37 - 24:05)
Public Prescence and Mentorship (24:06 - 31:45)

Thank you for listening!

Key highlights of the interview include:

Diverse Background and Career Experience: Before entering law school, Kendall Hayes spent nearly a decade in high-level American foreign policy as a consular officer for the U.S. Department of State. She served in numerous countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, and Colombia.

Government Service: Her background includes serving as a presidential appointee in the Obama administration at the Department of Homeland Security and working on Capitol Hill. She has adjudicated thousands of visa cases and managed the prison portfolio for American citizens incarcerated abroad.

Motivation for Law School: Hayes decided to pursue a JD to gain more flexibility and choices in the U.S. marketplace after years of working primarily abroad. She views the law as a tool to create systems, institutions, and policies.

Importance of Mentorship and Community: Hayes emphasizes that influencers can come from unlikely places, citing her pastor, who encouraged her to become a global citizen and learn critical languages like Arabic. She also stresses the importance of having a strong support system, including family, especially when balancing law school and motherhood.

We are also excited to share an upcoming Yale Law School event led by Kindall Hayes. A Symposium on Citizenship.

K-JD and First Impressions of Law School: Perez came straight from undergraduate study to Yale Law School, making the European Court of Human Rights his first full-time legal experience. He reflects on what it means to enter law school without prior legal work experience and what he wishes he had known going in.
Press Freedom and the MFIA Clinic: As Student Director of Media Freedom and Information Access (MFIA) Clinic, Perez discusses what it means to be a law student directing active litigation and what each case signals about the state of press freedom today.
Satirical Expression and the European Court of Human Rights: During his Kirby Simon Fellowship in Strasbourg, France, Perez researched the legal protection of satirical expression under the European Convention on Human Rights, a project that intersected with his own background as a stand-up comedian in college. He explores how humor functions as a legal category and what American and European law can learn from each other.
Free Expression in a Changing Landscape: Drawing on his work at MFIA and his time abroad, Perez offers his perspective on whether the First Amendment is holding in the current political moment, and where he sees the most serious threats to press freedom and government transparency.
What's Next: Perez shares where his curiosity about the world, and his goal of visiting all 1,223 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, might take him after Yale Law.

The views expressed by Raymond Perez do not purport to represent the views of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, if any.