PHC alumna becomes law school professor

PHC's moot court program, Core Curriculum, and Christian environment prepared Kelsey Morris (Government, '08) for a career in law, most recently her role as Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing at Pepperdine Law School. 

How moot court prepared Morris for law school

Morris said her three years competing in PHC’s moot court program—the top in the nation—was excellent preparation for law school.

“Typically, when people go to law school they haven’t even seen moot court yet,” she said. Morris's experience at PHC allowed her to compete on Pepperdine Law School’s moot court team early.

She said that moot court is one of the best ways to prepare for law school. "There is a particular way that lawyers solve problems, by using case law. It is very logic based," she said. "Moot court in particular cultivates that legal reasoning piece that is so critical in your early career as a lawyer.”

Almost a pre-law major in and of itself: PHC’s Core Curriculum

PHC's 63-credit Core Curriculum also prepared Morris well for law school. The Core is “almost a pre-law major in and of itself,” she said. “Given the number of classes that you take in American government, Constitutional Law, Logic, Rhetoric, … the critical thinking that develops early on is such a great foundation.”

Morris found even the Core courses not specifically targeted toward law helpful in the legal field. “Lawyers are communicators,” Morris said. “Because of that, studying great works of literature is hugely important, not only to read great writing but also to think about great storytelling, because as lawyers we are also storytellers.”

PHC’s history, philosophy, and political theory courses, as well as PHC’s Principles of Biblical Reasoning class, prepared her for the legal field too. She said that taking all these courses together helped her to understand the nature of humanity, and subsequently the role of the law in ordering society.

Christian Vocation and the Law

PHC also grew Morris’s faith. “I didn’t really come into my faith as my own until I was at PHC and was surrounded and challenged by really strong Christians who wanted to talk about how to live out your faith,” she said.

Both her time learning at PHC and studying at Pepperdine helped her see the importance of Christ’s lordship over vocation and calling, regardless of what that calling was.

“I strongly felt that God had called me to be a lawyer,” Morris said. “It fit so well; I love that work.”

She joined a large law firm right out of law school and faced a challenging work environment. “Those first years of practice were also the years when I cried out to God so much for help, for understanding, for patience, for controlling my ego, controlling my temper, all of this character refinement that I needed to go through,” she said.

Working in commercial litigation, she had many opportunities to show Christian love to others. She worked with many colleagues, opposing counsels, witnesses, bailiffs, and judges.

“There’s all these different and unique ways where you have opportunities to show love to people as a lawyer,” she said. “And frankly, to surprise them with it, because it’s so rare in the legal profession.”

Many of them knew that she was a Christian simply because she went to PHC and Pepperdine Law, both Christian schools. Some shared that they were Christians too, and they encouraged each other. Others were not Christians but wanted to discuss faith. Others did not like her Christian faith.

“Not everything is easier when you’re a Christian. Sometimes people don’t want to work with you because they have assumptions about how you are going to be as a colleague.”

At the same time, God opened doors for her to pursue commercial law for over a decade—and then, He opened a door she wasn’t expecting.

Morris becomes a professor

During her time in commercial litigation, Morris met a lawyer who was on the other side of the case she was arguing but who had also attended Pepperdine Law. She brought it up, but at the time he seemed only to want to discuss the case. 

A year later, that lawyer joined the staff at Pepperdine, and Morris ran into him again. She discovered that he is a strong Christian. He also told her about an open teaching position at the law school and encouraged her to apply.

“God opens these doors to make sure we can never take credit for them ourselves,” Morris said.

At the time, Morris had been trying to decide what to do with her career in litigation. She had been working part-time to have more time for her children, but she was also interested in advancing in her career. It seemed like those goals would conflict in commercial litigation.

“When the opportunity at Pepperdine came up, it seemed like God was saying ‘come over here, I’ve got something new for you,’” Morris said.

Morris teaches two sections of Legal Writing, a course for first-year law students. The first semester focuses on objective or predictive writing and analysis, and the second semester on persuasive legal writing. Last year, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing, and this coming fall she will be an Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing.

Morris is grateful for her education at PHC, and for the way God has led her in her career as well.

--

 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.