Law student previously was a Bankruptcy Case Manager

By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News

Alexis Amy headed to the University of San Diego intent on majoring in International Business. However, after taking an Intro to Human Communication course her first semester, she was enthralled by the examination of communication principals, including verbal and nonverbal communication, perception, persuasion, and listening—and was intrigued at witnessing these principals play out in day-to day life.

With a father who is a retired prop master in the film industry, Amy was always interested in TV and film, and switched her majors to Communication, Media Studies, and French.

“Being an effective lawyer demands being an effective communicator and invested listener,” she adds.

In spring 2020, Amy talked to lawyers and social workers to gather advice about their field of work. By summer, she decided on law school and started studying for the LSAT. By fall, she landed a legal assistant position — eventually becoming Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case Manager. Her communication studies were invaluable in this job.

“Creating a sensitive and nonjudgmental atmosphere and a rapport of mutual respect and trust was crucial to positive client relationships,” she says.

“Timely and effective written and oral communication, including active listening, was foundational to fostering relationships of trust with clients and managing their expectations.”

“I felt fulfilled helping people work through a solution to their problems and witnessing a client’s transition from feeling overwhelmed and defeated to leaving the office with newfound hope.”

In choosing Detroit Mercy Law, where she is a 3L student, Amy has always felt a connection to Michigan and Detroit, spending summers in her youth with her grandparents in Royal Oak and having extended family here.

Amy interned last summer in Judge Judith Levy’s courtroom, and enjoyed watching the administration of justice and participating in or observing case discussions in chambers. She watched civil and criminal cases in court, researched legal issues to assist with preparing recommendations for the judge, reviewed filings, edited opinions, and worked on a longer memorandum project under one of the clerks.

“Judge Levy embodied everything a judge should be—fair, impartial, ethical, thorough, detail-oriented, professional, and compassionate,” she says.  “I enjoyed being around Judge Levy and her clerks in the courtroom and in chambers. It was evident everyone in Judge Levy’s office cared about the interns learning and growing. Everyone was incredibly smart, hardworking, and full of integrity. I loved being around the collective passion for the law and pursuit of justice.”

Amy enjoys serving as Executive Articles Editor on the Law Review Executive Board; and  also appreciates the mentoring that occurs in Law Review.

January through August of this year, she worked as a part-time law clerk with Sommers Schwartz in Southfield, in the Personal Injury/ Medical Malpractice Group. The work entailed drafting complaints, demand letters, notices of intent, initial disclosures, and other pre-trial litigation documents; and she also conducted document review and research, legal analysis, and writing projects.

“I found the medical malpractice work intellectually stimulating and challenging because the work required knowledge of the law but also included complex medical topics,” she says. “I constantly expanded my legal research and writing skills and learned from experienced, sharp attorneys who were more than willing to provide feedback.”

Amy’s current interests are environmental, civil rights, international, employment, and criminal law. However, during law school, her focus has primarily been on environmental law.

“My parents taught me while growing up how to reuse, recycle, not waste or litter, and be respectful of the environment. Earth, the environment, and animals do not have voices, so someone has to stand up for their preservation and improvement,” she says. “I’ve carried love and respect for nature throughout my life so taking environmental law and the environmental law clinic with Professor Nicholas Schroeck—now the interim Dean—was an easy choice.”

She wrote her Law Review note on forever chemicals and proposing that Michigan adopt a Green Amendment to its Constitution. The previous UDM Law Review Executive Board chose her note for publication, and it will appear in the Law Review’s next issue.

She takes part in legal mini clinics when the opportunities arise through UDM Law or other organizations; snf  has participated in the Sugar Law Center Unemployment mini clinics, Crime Stoppers mini clinic, and an expungement clinic through the Detroit Justice Center.

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