Did you know that final exams in law school are 100% of the course grade? That surprised Ashlyn Roberts (GOV-APP, ‘16). But PHC prepared her well. Roberts, along with her husband, Shane (GOV-APP, ‘18), graduated from George Washington University Law School in 2021. Roberts went on to work at Wiley Rein LLP and clerk for The Honorable Paul B. Matey on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, leaving that position for her daughter’s birth in October. She will be joining PHC faculty as Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy this fall!
Roberts had always wanted to go to law school, and throughout PHC she competed in both Moot Court and Mock Trial, helping lead the team to two National Championship titles in Moot Court and an honorable mention at the Mock Trial National Championship Tournament.
She took two gap years after PHC, working as an assistant to Michael Farris, the chancellor at the time; then as an assistant to former Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Frank Gulizza; and finally as an assistant to Vice President Howard Schmidt. She also coached Moot Court and Mock Trial for PHC and taught Constitutional Law and a Moot Court intensive for HSLDA Online Academy.
Roberts and her husband began attending George Washington Law School in 2018. “Going to law school with my best friend—I can’t describe it. It was great!” she said. “It was such an encouragement to have somebody else in the trenches with you, going through it together.” They even won the Van Vleck Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition together in 2020.
At George Washington, Roberts grew to appreciate PHC’s spiritual foundation, which had prepared her to be in a liberal, non-Christian environment. PHC’s rigor also prepared her for the format of law school classes. “Learning to be an organized and self-motivated student at PHC was huge for transferring that to law school because you have to stay on top of your reading and lectures and attend class.” With her entire grade depending on the final, she could not rely on other mid-semester assignments to keep her accountable.
After graduating in 2021, Roberts worked for Wiley Rein LLP in Washington, D.C., where she participated in real litigation, including second-chairing a major healthcare arbitration. A real trial differs from Mock Trial in that it has higher stakes, and the lawyers don’t have as many opportunities to practice with their witnesses, so it’s not as predictable. Mock Trial also condenses the legwork that lawyers do before trials. However, Mock Trial still prepared Roberts. “It gave me a basic understanding of the rules of evidence, it gave me a passion for trial, and it gave me practical experience of working with a team,” she said.
Roberts hopes to bring fresh ideas to the Mock Trial class she’ll teach at PHC, including covering the differences between Mock Trial and real trial. She wants to equip students interested in litigation with skills and knowledge they can use beyond Mock Trial. Roberts also plans to use examples as much as possible. “My goal and my hope is when we learn about hearsay, for example, to pull real examples from the exhibits and the witness statements and different things in this year’s case problem.”
She is excited to return to PHC. "As a student, I could have only hoped and dreamed that I would one day be able to come back on the faculty," she said. "I really enjoyed teaching between college and law school, so to be able to come back to my alma mater as a professor is a great honor and I can’t wait!"
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Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.