Holiday Update

“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.”

― Roy T. Bennett

Introduction

Hey everyone! I know it has been a while since my last update, so I wanted to give an update now that the holiday season is here, and things have slowed down for me some. I officially closed out my fall semester of my second year of law school! This means I am officially one half of a lawyer! However, this does not mean I can effectively answer legal questions you may have beyond an answer of, “It depends.”

All jokes aside, I hope you have been well and enjoy this time over the holidays. I am thankful for you spending some of that time reading my update. There is always a lot happening, so I have given this meaty update the SparkNotes treatment. I look forward to sharing longer versions of the points discussed in the update with some of you all in more personal settings.

Personal

• As most of you know, this past summer, I had the opportunity to work as a Summer Associate at King & Spalding, a large law firm based in Atlanta. I had the opportunity to mostly work within the Corporate, Finance, and Investment (CFI) group within the firm. After a great summer, I accepted an offer to return to the firm for the summer of 2022! I am excited to be headed back to work on transactional matters specifically focused on mergers and acquisitions of public companies, venture capital, and private equity.

• I have played sports for almost all my life. Specifically, I first started playing football in the 7th grade. I fell in love with the sport, played throughout high school, and eventually played for a bit in college before injuries got the best of me. In September, I had the honor of being inducted to the 10th anniversary football team for my high school, Dominion Christian Schools, during halftime of one of their football games. This team was comprised of the top players over the first decade of football for the school. The players for the team were selected off performance determined by selections to all-region, all-state, and all-star teams. Team records and top five listing in the various categories were also a part of the determination. It was a great night. I was able to relive good high school memories and some of the glory days with old high school teammates.

College freshman me at Wesleyan in 2015 (left) and me in September at the 10th anniversary team event (right)

• My brother Alex had his first semester of in-person classes at Wingate University while also balancing his first full football season. It was an adjustment, but he did well! He was able to find challenging classes he enjoyed while also balling this year in his first full length college football season. The team had a good year, becoming one of the highest ranked Division II schools in the nation, and the highest ranking it has ever had in school history. Alex was able to play a lot as a redshirt freshman and is poised to have an even bigger role next season. Big things ahead for sure! This has been my first time having an up close and personal look at the transformative power of college from the outside looking in. It has been special to see him grow and develop as a person. I am so excited to see him continue to grow.

• My sister Epiphany also had her first semester of in-person classes at her high school! I could not imagine being a high school sophomore academically, but still having to learn how to navigate high school socially because you are now doing it for the first time. But Epiphany has been crushing it! She has really been thriving in school! She has been making a lot of friends, doing really well in her classes (she is top of her class), and somehow finding time to do extracurriculars like the debate team and competition cheerleading. She is basically a superhero. She has been growing up so fast, and it has been great to see her develop into a person with depth and a focus that is honestly inspirational. She even recently got her permit — meaning that it is almost time for me to set up personal Lyft services soon.

Watch out Georgia drivers, we have a rookie on the road!

• Taylor spent her semester remotely working a full-time externship** with the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). During her time on the job, Taylor was able to have many practical experiences that I am sure will help inform her classroom time moving forward. Some of the things Taylor was able to do included participating in a trial practice meeting to prepare an employment discrimination party represented by the federal government for court, interviewing government employees across multiple staff levels to understand their relationship to work and aspirations in public service, writing multiple research memos analyzing how to bring a successful employment discrimination claim based on sex, disability, language, race, or national origin to federal court, and assisting a Mediator with negotiations between attorney-represented parties. Taylor’s semester was different than mine because she was able to get some perspective into what lawyer life at a government agency could be like while I went to in-person classes for the first time.

** An externship is an internship that takes place during the semester that a law student works for school credit.

• Another major highlight for the update is that Taylor’s parents, Kim and Clinton, came to Georgia in November for the very first time in their lives! Just before Thanksgiving they came to visit, and it was a wonderful time! Taylor and I were able to show them all around the city, my hometown of Kennesaw, and where we now live in Athens. They were able to get a great feel for the highlights of what we love about Georgia, and of course there is so much more to show them. But it was great to finally be able to get them down here to show them our life. They had a great time, and we are looking forward to more trips to Georgia with them in the future!

• My last personal highlight is that my grandfather, Bennie Niles, Jr., passed away on December 8th. This is the first time I have dealt with a personal family loss in my life. My grandfather was a friendly, kind, and inspirational man. I loved hearing his stories about his life from growing up in rural South Carolina, to moving to New York for work, to becoming one of the first Black-owned cleaning services in Clearwater Florida. He was a man of faith who was always full of love, and always had a song in his heart. If you caught him on a good day, and a good day was basically every day, he would sing a few tunes for you. I am thankful for the time I had with him, but now may he rest in peace.

School

• This semester was my first semester with in-person classes. It was strange to be almost halfway done with law school and to have to navigate the halls for the first time. I am not going to lie, it was strange for me…but I will get more practice!
• This semester I decided to challenge myself with two classes in the business school, and it was a great decision. As someone who did not get the quantitative training of an economics degree in undergrad, the Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity classes that I took this semester were eye opening. After buying myself my first financial calculator since high school, I was able to learn more about the numbers in the world that I hope to be in as a lawyer. In my Entrepreneurial Finance class, I learned all the VC math that I did not know went into evaluating companies. In my Private Equity class, I learned more about the private equity industry and marketplace (inclusive of venture capital) and the application of corporate finance concepts, legal structures and business strategies commonly used by the industry. The classes were extremely helpful in widening my lens on the industries that I am interested in. I now feel like I can add more immediate value to spaces where it is not expected for lawyers to be able to do some of the numbers or understand what the numbers mean for the life of any given deal.
• In September, Taylor and I both made the smallest advocacy team at the University of Georgia School of Law. After three challenging rounds of competition and an interview, we were both selected to the UGA Law Negotiations Team! This team was only accepting eight second year students, so it was special that we both made it! This team will allow us to compete over the next four semesters in simulated negotiations to practice advocating for a hypothetical client seeking the best mutually beneficial deal for themselves and a hypothetical client on the other side. Taylor hopped right into her first competition in November, and she crushed it with her partner! With a few practices and natural talent, Taylor and her partner were able to place 6th out of 26 teams in the regional competition!

Looking Ahead

• This upcoming spring semester, I will be working at the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit** under The Honorable Judge Jill Pryor in Atlanta. I am so excited to have the opportunity to learn from Judge Pryor and her clerks this spring. I believe that my writing, research, and communication skills will greatly benefit from the experience. I am also looking forward to spending more time in Atlanta this semester too.

**The Court of Appeals is the court that sits under the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States has been sectioned off by circuit so that each circuit has a different set of judges to hear federal appeals from those states. The Eleventh Circuit covers Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.

• In February, I will be competing in my negotiations competition for the year. My competition is a transactional law competition which has a simulated M&A transaction so that my team and I can learn and practice the skills of contract analysis, drafting and negotiation. I am excited to practice soon and compete in the spring with my teammates! It should be a good time!
• Aside from working for Judge and my transactional law competition, I am very excited to take some interesting classes next semester. Some of the classes that have me really excited include a Business Negotiations course, a Corporate Social Responsibility course, and a class called Innovation in the Practice of Law.

Conclusion

In closing, I am trying to reconnect with a lot of people! I feel like it has been a second since I have connected with many folks, so I’ll be reaching out for calls, coffees, zooms, and lunches to start off 2022. Also, if anyone who reads this wants to connect, hit me up, and we will find time to do the same! I am always open to reconnecting or connecting for the first time.

Happy Holidays! Enjoy the season however you do, stay safe, and let’s start 2022 off strong!