One Blonde’s Time at Harvard Law School.
Hey I'm Riley! An older, less fun, Air Force version of Elle Woods. I graduated from Harvard Law in May 2022 and blogged for three years to document the experience.
Law school wasn’t easy and you may wonder why I voluntarily added to the that stress. In the end, it boiled down to three things:
1. A PROFESSOR’S ADVICE
When I attended the HLS Admitted Students Weekend in April 2019, a professor urged prospective students to write creatively outside of law school. Journaling, blogging, letter-writing, a novel (one of my friends legit published a book during 3L)…whatever you like, she said, just find it and stick with it. Looking back, I definitely get it; law school is pretty good at sucking the ‘creative’ out of ‘writing.’ This was my way of staying interesting!
2. WEEKLY SANITY CHECK
Quite simply, I started and maintained this blog because I wanted to. During undergrad I majored in English because I love to read and view essay writing as a fun little puzzle. I took (and loved) a creative writing course during my senior year, so I knew I'd enjoy vomiting my experiences onto this site. It truly was a therapeutic and creative outlet.
3. ELLE INSPIRED
Finally, I attribute this blog to YOU! Before starting school, I had so many people say "you're the real life Elle Woods!" that I kinda started to buy it. Elle is the It Girl of my generation (right up there with Regina George, Britney Spears, and Beyonce) and I am beyond flattered to be associated with her. Plus, I always wondered about the realism of Legally Blonde so I figured I’d answer for other Elle & Bruiser Woods fans.
Bottom line, I tried to talk about my life at Harvard Law in this blog - particularly what it’s like to be a female servicemember in this unique position. Even though the new content has ended, I'm still here for advice, observation, funny stories, lame stories, and the realities of being a student-slash-military-officer through a once-in-a-lifetime-program.
I tried to keep this real but fun, and hopefully it's something you guys enjoy!